Agricultural History Review, Volume 70 Part 2 (2022), p. 312

This volume is a rewriting and re-analysis of three previous articles by the author on the subject of Erringden, in the light of further research he carried out for his PhD examining upland environments. It is a detailed study focusing on one particular medieval park, collating documentary and cartographic sources along with landscape analysis to paint a clear and thorough picture of the rise and fall of Erringden Park through time. It does this against a backdrop of comparative examples from other English parks.

First setting the scene with a review of the geography of the area, Smith then discusses the reasons behind the creation of the park and the steps taken to develop, structure, and manage it. He also examines the deer themselves, including the various species, the potential carrying capacity of the land, and the likelihood of additional fodder being supplied in the winter. Smith notes that there is little evidence for actual hunting taking place at Erringden, but that it is large enough both for the usual parkland bow-and-stable hunting as well as the more vigorous par-force hunting normally enjoyed in an unenclosed landscape.

Smith then introduces a wider range of potential uses for Erringden. Given its upland location, isolated from the main manors of the de Warennes, he argues that it may have been used primarily as a place in which to increase and maintain deer stocks by breeding, and by driving wild deer in from the surrounding, unenclosed lands. These animals could then have been used to resupply lowland parks, which were more conveniently placed to be used for elite hunting. Smith also notes that the park incorporated two pre-existing vaccaries, or cattle farms, with a possible horse stud-farm located immediately outside its bounds. These are discussed along with the potential for agistment (leasing out of land for pasture), timber extraction and ironworking, all of which would have provided a supplementary income for the manor. Such a range of uses are also known from other parks, and the large size and relatively isolated location of Erringden made them very suitable adjuncts to the primary aim of rearing and keeping deer.

In the closing sections of the book Smith turns his attention to the demise of the park, examining the reasons for disparkment, as well as the division of the land between a number of tenants, and then the subsequent sub-division of these tenancies. He carefully constructs a detailed analysis of the landholdings based on topographical features, before finishing the study with a review of the ownership structure.

This is an attractively presented book, with full-colour images throughout. The text is straightforward and clear, explaining technical and obscure terms for the reader, and incorporating a useful glossary of these. One slightly strange layout issue was that the sources of images and graphed data were not given in the captions, or as footnotes, but only in an appendix at the end of the volume. As a result, it was sometimes it was unclear whether these were the work of the author. The documentary evidence was treated very thoroughly, with extensive footnotes and a substantial bibliography of primary and secondary sources. Another aspect that could have been improved was the linkage between the supplied maps and the text. The author displayed a detailed knowledge of the locality and assumed that readers were also familiar with the various landscape features. This would not be an issue for the local audience, but for readers based further afield, more comprehensive maps would have been useful, showing the location of the minor place names mentioned in the text. In particular, an overview based on an early edition of the Ordnance Survey map would have been very useful to locate the described features in the modern landscape. Similarly, a national map showing the locations of other parks mentioned in the text would have been helpful. Nevertheless, these are minor quibbles in an excellent study.

The volume was published by the Hebden Bridge Local History Society, and it will certainly appeal to readers from the region, who will be treated to a detailed local perspective. More widely, for those interested in medieval hunting, or in landscape development and use, this in-depth work adds a useful case study to the corpus of knowledge. At a wallet-friendly price, prospective purchasers can be confident that they will more than get their money’s worth, and so this volume can most definitely be recommended as a useful addition to the bookshelves of readers of the Review.