Tofts and bovates!!! More marvellous details, thanks Tim. As you
can guess I am now quite keen to pay another visit to this area and
have a good look.
Quoting Tim Cattley <timjhcat(a)tiscali.co.uk>:
When one travels through northern Cambridgeshire, The Isle of Eley
and South
Lincolnshire, the first thing that strikes you is that it appears as flat as
a billiard table, as flat as the eye can see with only the dykes and
roadways above the dark and peaty soil and it is not easy to spot what were
in previous times, islands because of the small differential in height.
If you were to access the Bishops Transcripts for Catley from around 1140's
to circa 1300, they will tell you how many Bovates of land the Abbey had, I
have not looked at the Transcripts for some time but I seem to remember that
they included another measure of Tofts as well as Bovates but just how
either equate to Acres or Hectares I do not know.
Indeed I know not if the Transcripts are available on line. Back in the
1980's I got some copies from our County Town Reference Library and they
made interesting reading as they were an annual account of the monastic
settlement and gave figures such as how many monks and nuns were there, how
many sheep/cows etc and what crops grown on how many Bovates.
From these accounts, it should be possible I would have thought, to get an
idea as to the size of the land on the island and elsewhere
----- Original Message -----
From: L L Milnes <landairwater(a)xnet.co.nz>
To: <CATLEY-L(a)rootsweb.com>
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 4:08 PM
Subject: Re: [CAT...] Catley Abbey Map.
> Extraordinary to look at it in that perspective, Tim. Thanks for those
> background notes.
>
> I received the two helpful letters, yours and David's, about finding the
map
> site together, and tried his first. It worked! (Great joy, as my
> computer has been playing up.)
>
> As a farmer myself I then printed off the Abbey map and then the
present-day
> overhead photo. I compared the seeming title boundaries, indicated by
> different shadings (ploughed field, low crops, dry grass, whatever) and
> hedges etc. It did seem to me as though the titles, the legal ones,
might
> be the same today, judging from how the farmers are using the land. But
I
> hadn't taken into account the fenlands as you say.
>
> Here where I live (we Catleys are consistent - this is partly a wetlands
> area, too) when I fly overhead I am always craning my neck to see how my
> paddocks look or if I can spot the boundaries in the green-brown-gold
> patchwork quilt far below.
>
> It is really fascinating to think of the Catley Abbey area fens as they
were
> and the island you mention. I have driven through the UK fenlands,
> further south than that, and marvelled at how the peaty land has
retracted,
> so it now lies far below the road.
>
> Down here, we have the usual drain/don't-drain struggle going on. The
> (Dutch engineer equivalent) local pro-drainers say the peatlands can fall
30
> feet, if drained. They are actually soft lands floating on a sort of
lake.
>
> I am a don't-drainer, partly because of ecological-environmental concerns
> and partly because the Council makes me pay each year for the "privilege"
of
> having a small wetland area on my farm drained and it comes to more than I
> could possibly profit from grazing the land.
>
> LLM
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Tim Cattley" <timjhcat(a)tiscali.co.uk>
> To: <CATLEY-L(a)rootsweb.com>
> Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 1:27 PM
> Subject: Re: [CAT...] Catley Abbey Map.
>
>
> > Glad to hear that Davids quick Post Code fix worked for you Lyn.
> >
> > Am not into satellite technology so can not help you re questions
> > as to who took the photos.
> >
> > As for the current field boundaries. I do not think they have any
> > bearing on the Abbey site as it was between 1143 and circa 1500.
> >
> > At that time the land on which the Abbey sits was an island but the
> > Bishops Transcripts indicate that the Monks (and Nuns) had been
> > given various pastures to use which were possibly on other land
> > tracts not connected to the Island.
> >
> > You have to visualise that the whole area was marshy fenland
> > with the Monastic site built on a low lying island. You will see
> > on the map that the height above sea level at the Abbey is
> > just 25 feet!
> >
> > An interesting project would be to use a much more modern
> > Ordnance Survey map of the area and join the "spot heights"
> > together and see if a contour map can be drawn which
> > illustrates the island as it was.
> >
> > One has to realise that progressive draining of the Fens took
> > place through drainage ditches and dykes and pumping of
> > water over at least 400 years to produce the solid ground
> > that is there today. Much of it was due to Dutch engineers
> > who were imported to carry out this work and the pump source
> > was windmills.
> >
> > Even today the Fens encompass a massive watercourse of
> > drainage channels and dykes, the windmills have gone but
> > the pumping is continued by electricity.
> >
> > Timcatt
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: L L Milnes <landairwater(a)xnet.co.nz>
> > To: <CATLEY-L(a)rootsweb.com>
> > Sent: Saturday, January 28, 2006 9:20 PM
> > Subject: Re: [CAT...] Catley Abbey Map.
> >
> >
> >> The "address" box and that postcode worked beautifully, David.
> > Brilliant.
> >>
> >> What a wonderful site that map site is. I am grateful for the patient
> >> scholarly work of countless Englishmen, who (as I keep noticing) have
so
> >> much to offer us via the internet.
> >>
> >> I went into the aerial photo mode, Tim, using the button on the map
site.
> > I
> >> see it has been done by Getmapping plc.
> >>
> >> It crosses my mind to wonder whether "Google Earth" with its
worldwide
> >> satellite photo images which zoom right down to local village level
would
> >> contribute any extra. Maybe not, since Getmapping presumably bought
its
> >> images from a satellite system like that.
> >>
> >> I see the triangular boundary on which the Abbey stood still seems to
be
> > an
> >> agricultural entity. The seltzer site boundary and the Catley
cottages
> >> field boundary, both next door, don't seem to have changed either.
> > That's
> >> judging from the agricultural uses.
> >>
> >>
> >> Lyn Milnes
> >> in New Zealand
> >>
> >> ----- Original Message -----
> >> From: "Meredith-Fam-Hist" <meredith_meredith(a)ntlworld.com>
> >> To: <CATLEY-L(a)rootsweb.com>
> >> Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 4:54 AM
> >> Subject: Re: [CAT...] Catley Abbey Map.
> >>
> >>
> >> > I've just had a bash and it didn't want to play.
> >> >
> >> > However, if you trim the address down to:
> >> >
> >> >
http://www.old-maps.co.uk
> >> >
> >> > ...then select 'Address'and insert post code LN4 3TD for your
search,
> >> > then select 'Catley Cottages' and you should be viewing the
map!
> >> >
> >> > David Meredith
> >> > Nottingham
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > ----- Original Message -----
> >> > From: "Tim Cattley" <timjhcat(a)tiscali.co.uk>
> >> >
> >> >
> >> >> It works within the UK just as an entry of :- old-maps.co.uk
> >> >>
> >> >> If you can get into this site then select the place name:- Digby.
> >> >> County:- Lincolnshire.
> >> >>
> >> >> Once zero'd in on Digby:- scan right (East) and follow the
road
> >> >> that travels out of the village that goes to the village of
Walcot.
> >> >>
> >> >> The Catley site which includes the Catley Abbey, the Catley
> >> >> Abbey Seltzer Spring and Catley Cottages are about 2/3rds of the
> >> >> way along this road from Digby towards Walcot where the road first
> > takes
> >> >> a very obvious right and then left turn in a zig zag form.
> >> >>
> >> >> At the bottom of the toolbar you should see an icon to obtain an
> >> >> aerial
> >> >> photo. The visual quality is not good but one can certainly see
> >> >> more than just crop marks in the grass and the building
> >> >> foundation walls look to be quite complicated within the
> >> >> modern triangular boundary lines.
> >> >>
> >> >> Even now, looking at the height above sea level markers shown
> >> >> on this old map, the Abbey site was at 25 feet and thus with a
little
> >> >> imagination one can visualize it being an island standing alone in
> >> >> the marshes back in 1143 AD when it was first built.
> >> >>
> >> >> Timcatt
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
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> >>
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> >>
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> >
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>
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