The Management of Dering Wood, Smarden, since the Medieval Period: Archaeological and Documentary Evidence

THE MANAGEMENT OF DERING WOOD, SMARDEN, SINCE THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD: ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE NICOLA R. BANNISTER In the Autumn of 1999 the Woodland Trust commissioned an archaeological assessment of Dering Wood which had been purchased in 1997 by public subscription and with Heritage Lottery funds. It is a popular place for quiet recreation and dog walking. Part of a horse toll ride route runs around its edge. An understanding of the history and archaeology of the site was required for a twenty-year conservation management plan being produced by the Trust. Dering Wood has probably had continuous woodland cover since at least the early-medieval period and preserved within it are archaeological features pertaining to that long period of woodland management. Archaeological studies of Wealden Woods have been few and this assessment provided an opportunity to look at a large area in some detail. Totalling over l 24ha (307 acres), Dering Wood forms part of a much larger complex of woodland which straddles the parish boundaries of Smarden, Pluckley and Egerton. The adjacent pattern of fields strongly indicates that these were assarted (cleared for cultivation) from a once much larger wooded area. The land where Dering Wood is situated is low-lying and bisected by several small streams. The soils, developed on Weald Clay, vary from slightly more acidic in the drier southern part of the wood to more calcareous in the northern part. 1 Dering Wood is bounded to the north by the PluckleySmarden Bell road (an old drove way) and to the south by the Charing Cross-Ashford railway line. The botanical structure of the woods is dominated by hornbeam (Carpinus betulus) which has grown into mature coppice with standards of Sessile Oak (Quercus petraea) and inter-planted with plantations of Sweet Chestnut coppice (Castanea sativa) on the drier 221 NICOLA R. BANNISTER ground. In the nineteenth century Turkey Oak (Quercus cerris) was planted amongst the coppice. There is a varied shrub layer with a number of mature Wild Service trees (Sorbus torminalis). Along the main NW-SE access track, formerly the old carriageway laid out by Sir Edward Dering, there is also evidence of nineteenth-century amenity planting. Dering Wood is a Kent Wildlife Trust 'Site of Nature Conservation Interest' and is on English Nature's 'Ancient Woodland Inventory'. It contains over 30 ancient woodland indicator species including yellow archangel (Lamiastrum galeobdolon), broad heleborines (Epipactis helleborine) and wood millet (Milium effusum) plus over 50 species of bryophytes. 2 At the southern end of the wood, former assarted arable fields were planted in the late nineteenth century with chestnut and oak. The method adopted for the study comprised a desk-based assessment of archive material relating to the site concentrating on manuscript maps and documents detailing the history of ownership and management of Dering Wood and the immediate area. Sketchplotting is the most cost-effective method of initially recording archaeological features in woodland. The assessment highlights those areas where more detailed surveying is needed. The archaeological features within Dering Wood were recorded in a three-week period over New Year 2000 and the results are shown on Fig. 1. Dering Wood is exceptional in its density and quality of linear earthworks and drainage systems. This richness reflects both the wet nature of the land and the complex history of its ownership. Differences in form of the ditches and banks suggest that there have been several phases of management activity dating from the late medieval period to the twentieth century. The History of Dering Wood The origins of Dering Wood probably go back to the Jutish herdsmen of c. AD 500. The present wood lay within the area of Wealden common belonging to the Lathe of Wye (Wi-wera-lit - lathe of the men of Wye). The area which is now occupied in part by Dering Wood is defined in an Anglo-Saxon charter by the locations of dens belonging to the manor of Little Chart. In AD 843 Aethelwulf, King of Wessex and Kent, granted to Aethelmod, his minister, land at Chart in Kent with woodland called snad and bean eccer and its swine pastures. 3 The location of these dens has been discussed elsewhere.4 They apparently formed a ring around what is now Dering Wood, suggesting that most of the wood was probably still unclaimed common grazing. The woodland in the charter is probably Beanacre 222 THE MANAGEMENT OF DERING WOOD, SMARDEN, SINCE MEDIEVAL PERIOD Wood at Hurst Hill and an area called 'The Forest', north of Snoadhill. The naming of wood in the charter is of particular interest. It strongly suggests that these woods were already well known land marks, and that they were defined and enclosed from the surrounding land. 'Snad' means a 'piece cut off' and its origin predates the creation of the dens. It implies an area separated from the Wealden common.5 These enclosed areas are thought to have been wood pasture separated from the common pasture for the particular use of the king. The action of enclosing an area of woodland means that its resources are being actively managed and conserved with the necessity for protecting young coppice shoots from grazing animals. The name 'Beanacre' meaning 'land where beans are grown', suggests that this area was settled and in part cultivated. It corresponds with the area identified by Witney as broken forest on the fringes of the Weald.6 The charter of AD 843 is reflecting the breakup of the Wealden common of the Lathe of Wye into individual dens or swine pastures and the granting away of land from the king to favoured ministers.7 The dens of the manor of Little Chart included Aetingden, Mereden, Uddenhom and Hilgaringdenn and have been identified in the locality of Smarden. 8 Aetingden is identified as Iddenden lying within Pluckley and Smarden at the north end of Dering Wood. Its name is derived form a Jutish 'folk' name, i.e. the den belonging to the people of Aeting.9 The name has survived in several post-medieval documents. The manor rolls for Little Chart of 1698 refer to the Free School of Romney having land in lddenden at a rent of 2d. School Wood lies to the north-west of Dering Wood (TQ 8850 4440). Sale particulars for Perrin Farm (now Oakiands TQ 8890 4420) refer to a field opposite School Wood as belonging to Romney School. Ward refers to other tenancies in Iddenden (in Pluckley) but does not give their references. However, Iddenden Corner is identified in a deed of 1573-4 which refers to a piece of woodland of 10 acres lying close to it (TQ 8988 4470). 10 This is where the Smarden-Pluckley parish boundary changes direction and the wood is identified as Horman' s Wood, which now lies within Dering Wood. 11 Meredenn is identified as Little Biddenden Green (TQ 890 430) which once formed part of a much larger den of the manor of 􀂞hilham. According to a 1680 rental of this manor the den had a holding of 100 acres in Burnt Wood (now part of Dering).12 Mereden, originally of Little Chart must have been sold or exchanged with Chiiham between AD 843 and 1680. Holdgaringden is Hi I garden near Maltman' s Hill (TQ 905 430). Ward identifies this den as adjoining lddenden on the north in the 223 ,RJT'HWOOD KF:Y t􀀋lod,l,...,,,tlt1): Ulli.llJJ.1.UI Oi4tlri w,llli tmi■, tllglri 􀀖 u...J...L.LJ.J .. - .. I(,.,. - 􀀎 - .. ""'"'"' Nil.Iii - 11,111111111 t.,11"'11Hbl11 ... llft1b􀀠•1,11 t1itcti . . . . . . ..... :=:=::: Tl'frt't..pa,11, (:& Pel'-'"' 0 S4•\I A,&C• ton1i.ri,orprot;'" ,r.o.-. .. .,. r-:., Fig. I Dering Wood: Sketch Plot of Earthworks. Location (inset). (Surveyed by N. R. Bannister and A. C. Foad; drawn by N. R. Bannister) 􀀅.--- . .,{ -· ) ·􀀈 •1)(,.,1,- NICOLA R. BANNISTER vicinity of Dering Wood and extending south along the SmardenPluckley border into Bethersden. The Little Chart manor rolls refer to lands east of a common called the 'Heath', close to Maltman's Hill (TQ 904 430). Today, on the slightly more acidic soils at the southern end of Dering Wood, patches of heather still grow and bracken dominates the ground flora. The Smarden Tithe Map refers to Hill Garden close to the parish boundary. 13 Thus from the location of the Little Chart dens, Dering Wood lies on the boundaries not only of several Jutish swine pastures, but also straddles the later medieval parish boundaries of Pluckley, Smarden and Pivington (now incorporated into Pluckley and Little Chart). The area has apparently always been regarded as marginal land: only suited to common grazing and/or timber production. This is probably due to its low-lying and wet nature, combined with pockets of acid soils. However at some point in the medieval period the manor of Little Chart laid claim to the area and the woods were divided up and enclosed, probably as part of the sub-infeudation of the manor into individual farms. 14 At the time of Domesday the manor of Little Chart formed part of the hands belonging to the monks of Christ Church, Canterbury. The manor had been granted to them by Archbishop Ceolnoth who had purchased it from a Saxon prince called Halethe. 15 The monks in 1223-4 granted the manor and lands to Peter de Bending, who apparently ran up large debts with Jewish moneylenders. On reclaiming their manor the monks then passed it to Thomas de Brockhull of Saltwood, who was also enfeoffed of the nearby manor of Calehill from the de Frene family in 1349-50. Eventually the two manors descended in ownership to the Darells of Calehill, a prominent Kentish family. 16 Gradual assarting of the wood, creating the small farms of Giles, Berry Court (the Farm in the Wood) and Maltman's, etc., has produced the irregular outline of the woodland seen today. The pattern of the possible medieval enclosure within Dering Wood can be seen on the Tithe Maps for Smarden and Pluckley which show the area of woodland subdivided into several ownership compartments of varying sizes (Fig. 2). The largest of these is Fagotter's Wood, foHowed closely by Burnt Wood to the south, and Birch Wood on the more acidic soils. The earliest reference found for part of Dering Wood itself is a grant made in 1540 for a wood called 'ffagotter' s' plus three pieces of land adjacent to the wood, totalling 60 acres. 17 The deed also describes the bounds of 'Bourned' (Burnt) Wood to the west, the lands and wood of William Kirby to east and south and the king's highway to the north. The land was in the occupation of John Baker, 226 THE MANAGEMENT OF DERING WOOD, SMARDEN, SINCE MEDIEVAL PERIOD Source : Smar