Deer parks

The managed exploitation of deer and its role in the history of the Irish landscape from prehistoric times is examined with particular reference to hunting and deer parks. Being the chief surviving physical manifestation of past deer management, deer parks were first introduced by the Normans, though they became a dominant feature in Ireland only during the 17th and 18th centuries, after which their numbers declined with the ascendance of fox hunting. One of the largest and best recorded of these parks, the 3,000-acre Great Deer Park at Glenarm, Co Antrim, is subject here to special attention.

The warhorse is arguably the most characteristic animal of the English Middle Ages. But while the development and military uses of warhorses have been intensively studied by historians, the archaeological evidence is too often dispersed, overlooked or undervalued. Instead, we argue that to fully understand the cultural significance and functional role of the medieval warhorse, a systematic study of the full range of archaeological evidence for warhorses (and horses more generally) from medieval England is necessary. This requires engagement with material evidence at a wide variety of scales-from individual artefacts through to excavated assemblages and landscape-wide distributions-dating between the late Saxon and Tudor period (c. AD 800-1600). We present here a case study of our interdisciplinary engaged research design focusing upon an important English royal stud site at Odiham in Hampshire. This brings together several fields of study, including (zoo)archaeology, history, landsc...

Between 1992 and 2009, Wessex Archaeology carried out a programme of archaeological evaluation, excavation and watching briefs at Beddington Sewage Farm in the London Borough of Sutton. The works covered approximately 100 hectares and were undertaken in advance of gravel extraction, subsequent landfill and restoration.
The site lies within a broad loop of the River Wandle, which flows west from Croydon, through Beddington, before turning north at Wallington and eventually joining the Thames at Wandsworth. Ground levels within the site average around 30m OD. The underlying geology is London Clay, overlain by river terrace deposits of the Hackney Gravel Member.
Despite widespread and occasionally severe truncation resulting from development of the sewage works, archaeological remains from several phases of activity survived, particularly across the central and southern parts of the site. These included features associated with later Bronze Age pits and ditches uncovered during earlier excavations. A more comprehensive report on the investigations is to be published elsewhere. The archive has been deposited at the Museum of London Archaeological Archive (under code BDN92).

Following the granting of Scheduled Monument
Consent further excavations at Buzzart Dykes, Perth
and Kinross and Kincardine Park, Aberdeenshire and
a new excavation at Kincardine Castle, Aberdeenshire
were undertaken as part of the Scottish medieval
deer parks project, a PhD being undertaken by
Kevin Malloy based at Wyoming University, USA.
The excavations at Buzzart Dykes retrieved further
evidence for the construction of the park boundaries
and have identified a substantial building of medieval
date just outside the park to the north east. Work
at Kincardine Park concentrated on another section
of the park boundary and that at Kincardine Castle
investigated one of its rooms. All of the archaeological
fieldwork, post excavation and analysis were carried
out under the supervision of Derek Hall.

The warhorse is arguably the most characteristic animal of the English Middle Ages. But while the development and military uses of warhorses have been intensively studied by historians, the archaeological evidence is too often dispersed, overlooked or undervalued. Instead, we argue that to fully understand the cultural significance and functional role of the medieval warhorse, a systematic study of the full range of archaeological evidence for warhorses (and horses more generally) from medieval England is necessary. This requires engagement with material evidence at a wide variety of scales — from individual artefacts through to excavated assemblages and landscape-wide distributions — dating between the late Saxon and Tudor period (c. AD 800–1600). We present here a case study of our interdisciplinary engaged research design focusing upon an important English royal stud site at Odiham in Hampshire. This brings together several fields of study, including (zoo)archaeology, history, la...

The warhorse is arguably the most characteristic animal of the English Middle Ages. But while the development and military uses of warhorses have been intensively studied by historians, the archaeological evidence is too often dispersed, overlooked or undervalued. Instead, we argue that to fully understand the cultural significance and functional role of the medieval warhorse, a systematic study of the full range of archaeological evidence for warhorses (and horses more generally) from medieval England is necessary. This requires engagement with material evidence at a wide variety of scales — from individual artefacts through to excavated assemblages and landscape-wide distributions — dating between the late Saxon and Tudor period (c. AD 800–1600). We present here a case study of our interdisciplinary engaged research design focusing upon an important English royal stud site at Odiham in Hampshire. This brings together several fields of study, including (zoo)archaeology, history, la...

"Landscapes of Luxury?: Park landscapes and their wider context in medieval Europe.
Session Organisers: Derek Hall (UK), Kevin Malloy (USA)

Recent new documentary and fieldwork research by the session organisers on medieval parks in Scotland has concentrated on exploring three different deer parks and their associated elements.  This ground breaking research has started to date the use of these features and consider the nature of their design, construction and relation to the landscape.  This session is designed to open up discussion on the concept of enclosed spaces for both hunting and display in medieval times across Europe.  The relationship between high status residences and their landscapes will also be considered and an attempt made to compare and contrast function, form and construction of these little studied
features.