28. The Bassingbourn Field Book / edited by Valory Hurst

The Bassingbourn Field Book was produced in the mid-1500s by Edmond Twyngho. His survey covers all parts of the parish of Bassingbourn and was revised twice within twenty years or so, in 1570 and again in 1578.

The transcription set out in this volume is from The Bassingbourn Field Book, reference P11/28/1, in the Cambridgeshire Archives which is a copy of the amended original. It was written in 1695, or soon after and includes a survey of the open fields in the adjacent parish of Kneesworth, as well as various other items of differing periods relating to land use in the two parishes, such as field orders and the flocks of sheep. The Kneesworth land details have not been included here.

A detailed 16th-century survey with a complicated history, invaluable for understanding the landscape history of this parish.

About the Editor. Since 1998 Valory Hurst has been researching the landscape of southwest Cambridgeshire, motivated by being part of the South West Cambridgeshire Project, and the resulting Landscape Group. She has investigated early commons, field systems, settlement patterns and tracks across the region, developing a pattern of clues to reading the earlier landscape. Identifying the Roman road linking Arrington Bridge to the A1 with other members, began a search for communication routes, leading to rediscovering Avenell Way, the Late Iron Age route from Odsey to Cambridge. Recent research has concentrated on the area of Bassingbourn and its surroundings in the medieval and early post-medieval period.