List of technical terms
Berewick A term used in the Domesday Book to indicate land that was attached to the Manor but was not in the same location – it was outlying from the place it was controlled from.
Croft A back garden area to the toft where the villager could grow crops and keep animals.
Crop marks Archaeological and natural geological features which can be seen from the air due to differential crop growth.
Earthworks Upstanding archaeological features – often termed ‘humps and bumps’.
Hollow way A route way that has been worn down over the years to produce a hollow route through the surrounding area. These are often the main communication routes through the settlement and out into the surrounding field system.
Hundred An administration district within a shire.
Longhouse A typical type of medieval peasant house. There is great regional variety but they are usually long and rectangular with an entrance way in the centre of one or both of the long sides.
Lynchets A type of field system that was formed on steep ground. Lynchets were flat platforms to allow crops to be grown, and often form ‘flights’ up a hill side.
Manor A term used in the Domesday Book and later to signify a territorial and legal landholding.
Moated Site Often, but not always, rectangular in shape, an area surrounded by a moat that could hold a house, but other uses included orchards, gardens and industrial sites.
Outlier Used in the context of the Domesday Book to mean the same as berewick.
Ridge and Furrow The remnants of medieval ploughed fields. The corrugated pattern was formed as the fields were ploughed using a particular method. In some areas these still remain as upstanding earthworks, in other areas they can still be seen as crop marks in ploughed fields.
Toft The area surrounding a medieval house. These can vary in size and nature across the country.
Villeins Peasant farmers who were tenants and were tied to the Lord of the manor.
Wapentake This is the same as a hundred but is used in areas which came under Anglo-Scandinavian control in the ninth and tenth centuries.
Abbreviations
CUCAP Cambridge University Collection of Aerial Photography
DMH Deserted Medieval Hamlet
DMV Deserted Medieval Village
DMVRG Deserted Medieval Village Research Group
HER Historic Environment Record
MSRG Medieval Settlement Research Group
MVRG Medieval Village Research Group
NMP Nation Mapping Programme
NMR National Monuments Records
OS Ordnance Survey
RAF Royal Air Force
RCHME Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England
VCH Victoria County History
County records codes
The following codes are used to indicate the source of county-based records primarily the Domesday Book, and local Historic Environment Records.
BNES Bath and North East Somerset
BEDS Bedfordshire
BERK Berkshire
BIRM Birmingham
BRIC Bristol City
BUCK Buckinghamshire
CAMB Cambridgeshire
CANT Canterbury
CHES Cheshire
CHIC Chichester
CYOK City of York
COLC Colchester
CORN Cornwall
COVY Coventry
CUMB Cumberland
DERB Derbyshire
DEVN Devonshire
DORT Dorset
DUDY Dudley
DURH Durham
ESUX East Sussex
ESSX Essex
EXET Exeter
EXMR Exmoor
GLOC Gloucester City
GLOS Gloucestershire
GLOD Greater London
GMAN Greater Manchester
HAMP Hampshire
IWGT Isle of Wight
HERE Herefordshire
HERT Hertfordshire
HUMB Humber Archaeology Partnership
HUNT Huntingdonshire
KENT Kent
LKDT Lake District
LANC Lancashire
LECY Leicester City
LEIC Leicestershire
LINC Lincolnshire
MERS Merseyside
MKYN Milton Keynes
MIDX Middlesex
NFOK Norfolk
NHAM Northamptonshire
NELN North East Lincolnshire
NLIN North Lincolnshire
NYMR North York Moors
NHBD Northumberland
NOTC Nottingham
NOTS Nottinghamshire
OFDC Oxford
OXFD Oxfordshire
PETB Peterborough
PLYM Plymouth
PORC Portsmouth City
RUTD Rutland
SANW Sandwell
SHRO Shropshire
SOLH Solihull
SOMT Somerset
SGLO South Gloucestershire
SOHP Southampton
SOED Southend
SYOK South Yorkshire
STAF Staffordshire
SOKT Stoke-on-Trent
SUFF Suffolk
SURY Surrey
SUSX Sussex
TEES Tees Archaeology
TORB Torbay
TAWR Tyne and Wear
WARW Warwickshire
WEBK West Berkshire
WMOD Westmorland
WILT Wiltshire
WINC Winchester
WOLV Wolverhampton
WORS Worcestershire
WSUX West Sussex
YOER Yorkshire, East Riding
YONR Yorkshire, North Riding
YOWR Yorkshire, West Riding
YORK Yorkshire
YODL Yorkshire Dales