Laxton Castle

About Laxton
The village of Laxton lies in central Nottinghamshire, about midway between the towns of Tuxford and Ollerton, astride the Mercia Mudstone ridge which forms the western boundary of the valley of the River Trent (SK 726667).  Today, Laxton is well known nationally for the survival of the system of Open Field farming.  At present there are 15 Open Field farmers, cultivating about 480 acres (194 hectares) in three open fields, much reduced relics of their former extent.  In addition there are large areas of enclosed land within the parish, and a number of farmsteads with their origins in the 18th century, which wholly comprise enclosed land. 

Land within the village and parish of Laxton is divided in ownership between numerous freeholders and tenants of the Laxton estate.  In 1981 the estate was purchased from the Ministry of Agriculture by the Crown Estate Commissioners. On purchase, the Commissioners gave a Parliamentary undertaking of their intention to continue the Open Field System (England's only remaining example) and associated customs. 

In the Middle Ages Laxton was a large and important settlement.  In the 12th and 13th centuries it was the caput of first the de Caux and then the de Everingham baronies and until 1287 the administrative centre of the Royal Forest of Sherwood.  In the later Middle Ages Laxton's wealth surpassed that of nearby towns such as Tuxford, and although going through a period of decline in the 14th century, village fortunes were revived in the early 16th century when the Roos family acquired the manor, constructing a new brick manor house within the ruins of the medieval castle.

Archaeological study of Laxton has focused on understanding the layout of the village and evidence for the date and reasons for the development of this important planned settlement.  The text below summarises the principle elements of the village plan.  A full review of the village plan and suggestions for its genesis may be found in the article that can be downloaded from the link at the bottom of the page.

The Village Plan
Any examination of the archaeology of Laxton must begin with a study of the morphology of the village which provides the framework upon which other observation rest.  Early maps of Laxton reveal a settlement with a regular plan-form, which might indicate that the village was a planned creation, perhaps laid out in a single episode.  The date and origin of such planned villages, of which Nottinghamshire has a number, is unknown.  In Laxton's case it is possible that the layout of the planned village may be linked to the sudden increase in significance of the settlement gained by the appointment of its feudal lord to the office of Keeper of Sherwood Forest.

Morphologically Laxton may be broken down into a number of distinct elements:

A: The Castle.  The castle stands on high ground to the north of the village.  It consists of two principal elements, a small strongly defended motte and inner bailey of c.1.5ha extent and a larger, less strongly defended, outer bailey c. 2ha in area.   The inner bailey is typical of many smaller, early Norman earthwork castles and is detached from the village while the outer bailey abuts Hall Lane, the back lane of the North Row of the village. 

B: The North Row.  Laxton's North Row is c.720m long.  It comprises an east - west street, Main Street, more or less in a straight line from the western edge of the village to its junction with the East Row in a small green at Crosshill, and for a further c.270m beyond Crosshill, where its name changes to Bar Road.  In 1635 the north row contained 38 tofts, though many of these, particularly in the east, appear to be amalgamations of smaller units.  Many of the tofts of 1635 have a frontage of approximately the same width, with wider or narrower tofts apparently the result of sub-division or amalgamation.  The crofts lying beyond each toft terminate at their northern end in a back lane (Hall Lane) that runs parallel to Main Street.  Many of the croft boundaries are gently curving, perhaps suggesting that they were encroachments onto pre-existing arable strips.  A north - south lane, also named Hall Lane, runs south from the entrance to the outer bailey of the castle to meet Main Street adjacent to the parish church

C: The South Row. Laxton's South Row is c.750m long and comprises a north-south street, running in a gentle curve south from Crosshill to the southern edge of the village.  In 1635 the south row contained 25 tofts, again many of these appear to be amalgamations of once smaller units.  Tofts in the South Row also appear to share a roughly similar frontage width. The apparent similarity in frontage of many of the tofts in the north and south rows, and the similarity in total frontage of the north and south rows suggests a degree of metrological regularity in the layout of Laxton, a phenomenon also noted in some Yorkshire villages and strongly indicating their creation as a single episode under the control of a strong guiding hand.

D: The East Row. In 1635 the area to the west of the South Row, from Crosshill to the southern boundary of the village, was described as the East Row.  This area, comprising in 1635 some 22 tofts, lacks the regular layout of the North and South rows. At its southern end the properties have curving boundaries which might reflect the alignment of former cultivated strips, suggesting that they might be relatively late encroachments on to former areas of arable. At the extreme north end of East Row there is a group of five properties, adjacent to the parish church of St Michael, which exhibit a moderately regular plan form.  These properties (shaded above) may fill a regular rectilinear space, and it is tempting to see them as the infill of a substantial open space adjoining Crosshill.  

E: South of Main Street. The area of the village to the south of Main Street shows no indication of regular layout and in 1635 was occupied by a number of farm and cottage plots and the parish church. As is the case with the East Row it seems unlikely that this area is part of a deliberately planned settlement and again may represent encroachment on to vacant ground.  Perhaps significantly much of both this area and the East Row were once contained within a sub-manor, first documented in 1232 but certainly in existence prior to this time.  It may be that land contained within the jurisdiction of the sub-manor was excluded from the planned development of the North and South Row.

F and G: Peripheral Areas. A small area containing some 11 tofts lies in a triangular area between Toad Lane and Top Lane at the western edge of the village (F) .  The layout of this portion of the village is reminiscent of the similarly constrained area at the southern extremity of the East Row (G) and once again the curving property boundaries in both areas suggest encroachment on to former arable strips.

Read the full text of : Settlement Morphology and Medieval Village Planning: A Case Study at Laxton, Nottinghamshire. Tran Thoroton Soc Nottm. Vo 106, 2002.