Urban Commons

 Beverley Common, North Yorkshire (photo © English Heritage NMR, ref 17182/17)'Commons' have been an important element in the mental concept and physical lay-out of English towns and cities since the Middle Ages. They are often believed to have served in the past exclusively as grazing land where livestock could wander freely (giving rise to another widely used term: 'stray'). But they were in fact intensively used for all manner of activities, from agriculture to industry, from military training to merry-making.

Like many medieval parks and later gardens, the creation of some commons served to protect much earlier archaeological remains. Today, commons are still the part of the open landscape most familiar to local urban populations. They are often regarded as green spaces whose value is primarily ecological, or for leisure activities. But they are also now some of the areas most at risk from the threat of urban expansion. Despite this, they have remained neglected in terms of research by historians and archaeologists.

The English Heritage research, which commenced early in 2003, comprised a small number of exemplary field investigations and detailed surveys carried out by English Heritage's Landscape Investigation Team, designed to illustrate the potential archaeological interest and importance of urban commons. Our interest in carrying out this research stems from an investigation undertaken in 1995 of Newcastle-upon-Tyne's Town Moor, which recorded two probable prehistoric settlements as well as evidence of mining, cultivation remains and traces of the 18th-century racecourse, all within a mile of the modern city centre. And all virtually overlooked by archaeologists, historians and those involved in the urban planning process.

 Medieval ridge-and-furrow cultivation under light snow on Lincoln's West Common (photo by Paul Everson © English Heritage)Fieldwork for the Urban Commons Project began with investigations of the West and South Commons at Lincoln. Over the summer of 2004, we examined commons in York, Beverley and Doncaster. Fieldwork on Walmgate Stray, in York, revealed several lines of trenches, where soldiers would have practiced for fighting in the mud of the Western Front.  At first, we were baffled by a curious series of humps and bumps beneath a line of trees.

It was not until a tenant of one of the gardens on the adjoining allotments recalled the existence of a Second World War army assault course, hidden from the air by the overhanging branches, that the penny dropped. 

Racing, grazing, dog-walking and golfing are Beverley Common's modern uses. (photo by Al Oswald © English Heritage) The investigation of the five ancient commons of Beverley, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, has also been carried out. In the past, burial mounds dating to the Bronze Age and Iron Age have been identified on the largest of the town's commons - the Westwood - and an early photograph shows a long-forgotten First World War airfield on the site of the modern racecourse. The track of the original racecourse, dating to the 18th century, can still be identfied in a different part of the common.

The results of this project form the basis of a new book entitled 'An Archaeology of Town Commons: A very fair field indeed'. Futher details can be found at www.english-heritageshop.org.uk