HELP

Contents

- How to use the Digital Stories
- Some Common Queries
- Glossary

How to use the Digital Stories

We have combined images, text and film to create digital stories of our investigations; these may take a few seconds to download.

A base image will appear with some introductory text.

Click on START to continue.

Click on the HOTSPOTS in sequence. A pop-up box will appear to provide additional information, pictures or video. Once you have read the information, or watched the video, click on the cross at the top of the pop-up box to close it and go on to the next hotspot.

Some common queries

I have clicked on the hotspot but nothing has happened
The information in each pop-up is best understood if read in numerical sequence. Therefore, only one hotspot is active at a time. Each hotspot is numbered but if you are unsure which is next, move your cursor slowly over the image and you will notice when you go over the next hotspot in the sequence the area becomes darker. Once you have activated all the hotspots in sequence, they remain active and you can re-open them in any order and leave them open if required.

What are the © and "i" symbols at the bottom of the pop-up?
© is the copyright information for the photograph or text
"i" provides additional information about when the text or photograph was created and who created it.

I cannot see all of the pop-up
Sometimes the pop-up opens outside of the area of the base photograph. If this happens, move your cursor over the pop-up until the hand symbol appears, then left click and drag the pop-up into the centre of the base image.

Zoom and Pan

This allows you to enlarge the base image and see sections of it in more detail.

To use: click on the ‘zoom and pan’ button (a bar with a thumbnail of the base image) and the magnification tools will appear.

To magnify: click on the ‘+magnifying glass’ icon, the base image will become bigger and you will no longer be able to see the entire image. You can move around the base image by moving you cursor over the thumbnail on the bar. If you wish to remove this bar, click on the ‘Zoom and Pan’ button. Click the same button again to reinstate.

Click on the ‘-magnifying glass’ to return the image to its original size.

The zoom and pan facility only enlarges the base image; it is not possible to enlarge the images in the pop-up boxes. To take a closer look at these images, go to the Image Gallery.

Once you have finished looking at the digital story, click on ‘back to investigation’ at the bottom of the page.

Glossary

ADVOWSON
The right of presentation of a candidate to a benefice or church office.

AGGER
The cambered embankment constructed to carry a Roman road

ANGLO-SAXON BRITAIN
The period 410 to 1066

ARABLE
Land that is, or can be, cultivated to grow crops.

ARCHAEOLOGY
The scientific study of past human life and change through analysis of material remains that humans have left behind

BRONZE AGE
The period in history after the Stone Age characterized by the development of bronze and its use, especially for weapons and tools. The specific dates of the Bronze Age vary considerably from one part of the world to another. In Britain the Bronze Age is considered to have been the period from around 2100 to 750 BC.

CARUCATE
Derived from the Latin word caruca, meaning plough, this is a measure of land used in Danelaw (North and Eastern) counties in Domesday. Equivalent to a hide and represented the amount of land which could be ploughed by one plough team.

CIVIL PARISH
A unit of local administration adopted by government for taxation and other purposes.

CROPMARK
Variations in crop growth revealed as colour and height differentiations in standing crops or vegetation (best seen from the air), indicating the presence of buried features such as pits, ditches and walls.

DANEGELD
An Anglo-Saxon tax that could be levied across England, so called because the money raised would be used to buy off or fight Danish invaders.

DEMESNE
The home farm belonging to and farmed by the lord of the manor

DEVELOPMENT CONTROL
Under the Planning Acts, the functions of the planning authority in deciding on planning applications and enforcing compliance with the planning laws.

DOMESDAY SURVEY
In 1086 King William ordered a general survey and valuation of landed property in England. The survey became known as ‘Domesday’ (the popular name for the Final Day of Judgement) probably because it was the final proof of legal entitlement to land.

ECCLESIASTICAL PARISH
A unit of church administration and taxation.

ENCLOSURE (INCLOSURE)
See Parliamentary Enclosure.

ENGLISH HERITAGE
The government agency charged with the protection and care of the monuments and heritage resources of England.

EXCAVATION
The process of methodically uncovering and searching for remains of the past.

FEUDAL SYSTEM
The political, military, and social system in the Middle Ages, based on the holding of lands in fief or fee where land is held subject to feudal obligations between the lord and his tenant.

FEATURE
A feature is something made by people in the past that has not been or cannot be moved, e.g. a house floor or a hearth (fire pit).

FURLONG
An internal division of the open fields containing strips usually belonging to several farmers, which all lie in the same direction.

GELD
See Danegeld.

GLEBE
The farm belonging to the rector of the parish.

HAMLET
A small settlement with no ecclesiastical or lay administrative function.

HEADLAND
A strip of land where a plough and team could turn at the end of the furrow in the open fields.

HIDE
A measurement of land for tax assessment used outside Danelaw counties (where carucates were used): approximately 120 acres, depending on local variations in the acre.

HISTORIC ENVIRONMENT RECORD (HER)
A database (usually computerised and sometimes online) of all archaeological sites and find locations from a given area, usually a county: maintained by the County Council or Unitary Authority. Previously known as a Sites and Monuments Record (SMR).

HUNDRED
Large administrative subdivisions of land, each having its own representative body from local villages. Domesday commissioners collected information from these assemblies for the Domesday survey. In Danelaw counties the equivalent was the Wapentake.

IN SITU
Latin expression meaning "in its original position".

IRON AGE
Period of human history after the Bronze Age, characterized by the development of iron and the use of this technology. The dates of the Iron Age vary considerably from one part of the world to another. In the British Isles the Iron Age lasted from about 800 BC until the Roman conquest and until the 5th century AD in non-Romanised parts.

MANOR
An area of land consisting of the lord's demesne and of lands from whose holders he may exact certain fees, etc. The district over which the court of a Lord of the Manor had authority.

MEADOW
A piece of grassland, often near a water-course, permanently covered with grass which is mown for use as hay.

MEDIEVAL (MIDDLE AGES)
The period 1154 to 1484.

MINSTER
The church in a monastery; a church of major importance in the region.

NATIONAL MONUMENTS RECORD
The public archive of English Heritage: it holds more than 9 million items on the archaeology and historic buildings of England.

NOMINA VILLARUM
A list created in 1316 of villages assessed for the purposes of a military tax.

OPEN FIELD
An area of arable land with common rights after harvest or while fallow (uncultivated to regain its fertility): usually without any fences, hedges or walls.

ORDNANCE SURVEY
The principal map-making agency in Britain.

PARLIAMENTARY ENCLOSURE
The legal process which authorised the division of the open fields and wastes to create farms occupied by a single farmer.

PASTURE
A field for the grazing of livestock.

PLOUGH
In Domesday Book the word implies a plough team with its eight oxen and the plough itself. The measure of a carucate was originally the amount of land which such a team could plough in one day.

POST-MEDIEVAL
The period after 1485 until the eighteenth century.

PPG (Planning Policy Guidance)
These are prepared by the government after public consultation to explain statutory provisions and provide guidance to local authorities and others on planning policy and the operation of the planning system.

PREHISTORY
The time before the development of written records; ends about 3,000 years ago.

RIDGE AND FURROW
Earthworks created by constantly ploughing strips in the open fields in the same way, i.e. towards the middle, creating an undulating corrugated effect.

ROMAN BRITAIN
The Period 43 AD to 410.

ROMANO-BRITISH
People in Britain living under the rule of the Roman Empire and adopting Roman customs and culture.

SHERD (SHARD)
A broken fragment of pottery.

TITHE
A tenth of the produce of land and stock (ie. payment in kind), allotted originally for church purposes — later commuted to a rent-charge (ie. payment in money) — finally commuted to a lump-sum redeemable by instalments up to AD 2000.

TITHE SURVEY
This survey followed the Tithe Commutation Act of 1836 and covered all lands in England and Wales which were subject to the payment of tithes.

TRE
Tempora regis Eduardis. A latin phrase from the Domesday Survey meaning ‘in the time of King Edward the Confessor’; and by implication, when all in the realm was legally correct and ownership would have been rightfully secured.

TOWNSHIP
A unit in the farming landscape: an area which contained a settlement and its field system.

VICTORIA COUNTY HISTORY (VCH)
Founded in 1899 and originally dedicated to Queen Victoria, the VCH undertakes ongoing research into England's places and people from earliest times to the present day.

VICTORIAN BRITAIN
The period 1837 to1901.

VILL
A rural community: used by royal administration in medieval times as its smallest unit of government.

VILLA
A type of house. Roman villas were high-status and usually associated with a rural estate.

VIRGATE
A quarter of a hide: used in the Domesday Survey for tax purposes.

WATCHING BRIEF
A formal programme of observation and investigation conducted during any operation carried out for non-archaeological reasons within a specified area or site on land or underwater, where there is a possibility that archaeological deposits may be disturbed or destroyed. The programme will result in the preparation of a report and ordered archive.

WAPENTAKE
Same as a hundred, in the Danish counties of England.