| Word |
Meaning |
| ancestors |
A person from whom we are directly descended. |
| blacksmith |
Blacksmiths are craftsman who works with iron, a furnace and an anvil. |
| bridle path |
A Bridle path, is a route suitable for horses and pedestrians and from which vehicles are legally barred. |
| Celts |
An early Briton, who had Indo-European origins. |
| census |
A Census records information about the people which live in a parish. The details which they record include occupations, age, birth place, name and place of resident. Censuses are recorded every ten years starting in 1801. Censuses after 1901 are regarded as secret and are unavailable to the public. |
| chapelry |
A section of a large parish which has its own chapel and sometimes a resident priest who was subordinate to the parish minister. |
| commons |
These were areas of land where people had the right to graze their animals. |
| doles |
Doles are part of the common meadows allocated to tenants of the related open fields. |
| Druids |
Members of an ancient order of pre-Christian priests. |
| enclosure |
Enclosure replaced the old system of open fields where the land was split up between the people in the parish. During enclosure the people of the parish surrounded their land with a hedge, walls or ditches. |
| Enclosure Acts |
These were a range of acts past from the 1600's to 1800's to help with the enclosure of land. |
| Enclosure Awards |
These were legal documents which recorded the enclosing of land. They record the areas of land which were to be used as highways or for public use and the areas which were to be held in private hands and the people involved. |
| furrow |
A long narrow trench made by a plough. |
| glebe land |
Land held by a clergyman. |
| hollow way |
A sucken lane, the result of centuries of erosion on unpaved roads. |
| lancet window |
A tall pointed arch window in a church found in Early English architecture. |
| leat |
A ditch which send water to a mill. |
| linear settlement |
This is where the settlement is strung out along a road, river or canal. |
| monastic |
Relating to monks or nuns. |
| nucleated settlement |
This is where the building are all grouped together, usually around a cross-roads. |
| priory |
A monastery in the charge of a prior rather than an abbot. |
| ridge |
A cultivated strip in an open field. It was ploughed in such a manner that the strip became a ridge with furrows on either side acting as drains. |
| ridgeway |
An ancient track way on high ground, following the line of a ridge. |
| selion |
A cultivated strip in an agriculture field. |
| smithy |
A blacksmiths' shop |
| squatter |
A person who occupies land without a right. |
| tenant |
Someone who pays the rent to use land or a building. |
| wheelwrights |
People who made wheels. |
