Surveying the pale, in the rain

Last Sunday we carried out our first fieldwork on the deer park at Leagram, with a training day led by Dave and Rebecca from English Heritage who showed us how to carry out earthwork surveys, the old fashioned way. No GPS for us (there's no satellite reception at Leagram!) so we turned back the clock and used poles, tapes, drawing tables and a dumpy level. The only nod to the 21st century was the wonderful invention of waterproof film - which was a lifesaver as the weather was wet, very very very wet!

We hope to carry out some more survey work soon, so please get in touch if you are interested in joining us (whatever the weather).

The afternoon training session: drawing a cross section of the bank and ditch

Inspecting the site on a drier day: the ditch and bank, the line of the pale, is quite clear on this section of the deer park boundary near to Windy Hills

Weld paintings bring the park to life

Last month I mentioned that we had been to view some paintings of Leagram by John Weld, owner of the estate from 1866-88. We are now able to reproduce a few copies here, with thanks to The Harris Museum & Art Gallery, Preston. We hope to be able to exhibit these at an open day this Autumn, and to use some of the other paintings in our forthcoming interpretation materials

These two images are of Birchen Lee farm (above) and Loud Mythom

Most of the images show views which are surprisingly unchanged in the last 170 years. Many of the Leagram farm houses were re built at around this time, after a 'hurricane' destroyed many of the then thatched roofs. These 'new' farms still bear the initials GW or JW after the father and son George and John Weld.

Portrait

Here is Sir Richard - with kind permission of the Governors of Stonyhurst College

My apologies, it appears that Sir Richard was only married the once, to Maud Bold; wheras his son, plain Richard Shireburn (died 1629) had the three wives - Katheirne Stourton, Ann Hoghton and Ann Holden - one at a time ofcourse!

Rascally Sir Richard

Today I have been to visit Stonyhurst College to help photograph the portraits they have there of the Shireburn family. Sir Richard Shireburne (or Sherburne, as they spelt it then) purchased Leagram deer park in 1563, soon after it was 'disparked' and so he was an influential person in the subsequent development of the area.

Sir Richard was a rascally fellow, having had 3 wives in succession, and fathering several children both in and out of wedlock. He was also a known Catholic who managed to serve a total of 4 monarchs of varyious religious allegiance. His portrait appears wise and serene: so he was a clever man too!


Sir Richard began the improvements to the original medieval Stonyhurst manor which eventually became the grand house it is today, and he built the old Hodder Bridge nearby. He also founded a long line of Richard Shireburnes who ran the estate until Sir Nicholas Shireburne took it on in 1690. He and his wealthy wife Catherine carried out expensive renovations of the house and gardens, but sadly they had no heir and eventually Stonyhurst and the deer park at Leagram was passed to their distant relations the Weld family of Lulworth. It was the Welds who gave Stonyhurst to the college that runs the place today: it's open to the public during the summer school holidays and the house and gardens are well worth a visit. The Weld family still own the estate that once included the deer park, and reside at Leagram Hall: they are supporting the Leap in the Park project.

Sir Richard and some of his descendants will appear in our soon to be published report - so look out for his portrait! Thanks to Graham Cooper for arranging the visit and the photography today.

Beyond the pale

I've just had a wonderful afternoon out with a few friends walking part of the line of the pale - the old boundary of the deer park - at Leagram, and looking for evidence of salters. The deer park was enclosed to keep the deer inside, ready for hunting, and the pale was made of a deep ditch, planted with thorn bushes and topped with a wooden fence. A salter was a place where deer outside the park, in our case in the Royal Forest of Bowland, could leap over the pale to eat the lush grass in the park. It was built in a clever way: lower on the inside and higher outside, so that once the deer had got into the park they could not jump back out again. Here's a sketch from Jennie showing what a salter might have looked like:

We have unearthed a couple of old maps from 1595 and 1608 which show the line of the pale and the site of gates and salters, and we are trying to locate these in today's landscape.

A 1595 map of Leagram Park, reproduced by kind permission of Lancashire Archives (DDST Box 15 No.9)

We hope to survey some of the pale in detail, with expert guidance provided by English Heritage, and we are planning a workshop on Sunday 28th April so please get in touch if you would like to join in and help: cathy.hopley@lancashire.gov.uk

Discoveries at the Harris Art Gallery

Yesterday I went to the Harris Art Gallery in Preston with a small group of our volunteer researchers. We had arranged to meet the cuartor there to view some watercolours painted in the 1840's by John Weld who was the owner of Leagram Park estate: one of our deer parks. The paintings are not currently on view, so we were allowed 'behind the scenes' to see them and to arrange to have digital copies made of them.

Here we are viewing the paintings

John Weld was a fascinating man who travelled around Europe and much of England drawing and  painting pituresque scenes and church interiors. He was also an archaeologist and historian, and he wrote a 'History of Leagram' which was the basis of much of our research into the deer park.

We hope to be able to display copies of some of the paintings on our website, and to trace some house and family histories related to them and the tenants of the park. If possible we will arrange for the originals to be on view at an open day in Chipping which we are planning for later on in the year.

further research and sketching

What a glorious day here in Bowland today, the oystercatchers are calling and Spring is in the air!

Back at the deer park we are continuing to research our two parks at Radholme and Leagram, and focussing interest on the late 15th century. Jennie is drawing reconstruction illustrations to include some local families and places too. We have decided to set them in the 1480's when Edward Stanley was the park keeper and our schools pack will include some role-playing about him, his family and local villagers. This will tie in with the primary school history curriculum which focusses on the Tudor period - and it is great for me as I am in the middle of reading Hilary Mantel's books about Thomas Cromwell, largely set in 1535! Sadly, Henry VIII never visited our Royal Forest, but  the books do give you an idea of what England was like at that time.

We are also continuing to look into the boundary dispute between Richard Shireburn, who owned Leagram Park in 1608, and the Master Forester of nearby Bowland Forest. We have a wonderful map from The National Archives which was drawn up to help resolve the argument, and it is very accurate. In the coming months we will be using it to do some field surveys to map out the line of the pale and the many deer leaps that appeared to exist along it. If you'd like to get involved in this, please get in touch: cathy.hopley@lancashire.gov.uk

Have a look at one of Jennie's sketches of leaping fallow deer on her facebook page