Laxton, Nottinghamshire
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Laxton is a small village in the
civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...
of Laxton and Moorhouse in the English county of
Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...
, situated about 25 miles northeast of
Nottingham Nottingham ( , East Midlands English, locally ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located south-east of Sheffield and nor ...
city centre. The population of the civil parish (including Moorhouse) at the 2021 census was 251. Laxton is best known for having the last remaining working
open field system The open-field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe during the Middle Ages and lasted into the 20th century in Russia, Iran, and Turkey. Each manor or village had two or three large fields, usually several hundred acr ...
in the United Kingdom. Its name is recorded first in the
Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...
of 1086 as Laxintone, and may come from
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...
Leaxingatūn, meaning the 'farmstead or estate of the people of a man called Leaxa.' It is possibly the eponym of the town of
Lexington, Massachusetts Lexington is a suburban town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located 10 miles (16 km) from Downtown Boston. The population was 34,454 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The area was originally inhabited by ...
, and thus ultimately of all the other communities named Lexington in the United States, directly or indirectly.


Features

The village has the remains of a Norman
motte and bailey A motte-and-bailey castle is a European fortification with a wooden or stone keep situated on a raised area of ground called a motte, accompanied by a walled courtyard, or bailey, surrounded by a protective ditch and palisade. Relatively easy ...
castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...
( Laxton Castle) and is also the site of the
Beth Shalom Holocaust Centre The National Holocaust Centre and Museum, previously known as Beth Shalom (lit. "House of Peace", is a Holocaust memorial centre near Laxton in Nottinghamshire in England. Opened in 1995, it is England's only dedicated Holocaust museum, though ...
. In addition, there are the remnants of a substantial system of fish-ponds, presumed to have belonged to the castle or to the
manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...
built later on the site of it, two mediæval mill mounds, and ridge-and-furrow earthworks. St Michael the Archangel's Church, Laxton, mostly dates back to the 12th century; after this, the earliest known standing structure is a farmhouse dating from 1703. Most of the village's architecture sits firmly in the local vernacular tradition, with nearly a fifth of the buildings dating from the 18th century, and around 40% from each of the 19th and 20th. Conservation Status of Laxton 'Laxton Fields' has been designated a target area for Higher Level Stewardship by
Natural England Natural England is a non-departmental public body in the United Kingdom sponsored by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. It is responsible for ensuring that England's natural environment, including its land, flora and fauna, ...
to promote conservation of the historic landscape and biodiversity.


Open fields

Laxton parish today has much conventionally farmed land but retains also a significant part of the mediaeval open field system. Fields, divided into strips, are farmed in common among the landowners of the village. Today, there are three open fields remaining; the Mill Field, the South Field and the West Field. A 1635 survey of the parish carried out by Mark Pierce (still extant and held in the
Bodleian Library The Bodleian Library () is the main research library of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1602 by Sir Thomas Bodley, it is one of the oldest libraries in Europe. With over 13 million printed items, it is the second-largest library in ...
) shows that these three fields were in use at that date, but that they were significantly larger than their current size. There was also a fourth field, the East Field, which was considerably smaller than the others, and farmed as part of the West Field. This was fully enclosed, and today is a number of small fields. The strips within the fields have also changed significantly, with changes in technology. Originally, a single strip would have represented approximately a single day of
plough A plough or ( US) plow (both pronounced ) is a farm tool for loosening or turning the soil before sowing seed or planting. Ploughs were traditionally drawn by oxen and horses but modern ploughs are drawn by tractors. A plough may have a wooden ...
ing; such a strip today would be far too small to be really practical for a
tractor A tractor is an engineering vehicle specifically designed to deliver a high tractive effort (or torque) at slow speeds, for the purposes of hauling a Trailer (vehicle), trailer or machinery such as that used in agriculture, mining or constructio ...
-drawn plough. Instead, over time, strips have been consolidated to provide workable parcels of land; the result today is that the average strip size has increased significantly over mediaeval times. However, the practical aspects of open field farming are still very much what they would have been 500 years ago. Laxton is unique because the open field system is still alive and in daily use. Although the village is now recognised as an important heritage site, it is home to working farmers, who rely on the land for their income. While modern expectations and needs mean that all the farmers own land outside the open fields, the open fields are not part of a museum or showcase but a living part of the agricultural landscape. The system is protected today by a Parliamentary undertaking given by the Thoresby Estate on their 2020 repurchase of the Laxton estate from the Crown Estate and by a Countryside Stewardship agreement held between the
Court Leet The court leet was a historical court baron (a type of manorial court) of England and Wales and Ireland that exercised the "view of frankpledge" and its attendant police jurisdiction, which was normally restricted to the hundred courts. Etymo ...
and the then-
Countryside Commission The Countryside Commission (formally the Countryside Commission for England and Wales, then the Countryside Commission for England) was a statutory body in England and Wales, and later in England only. Its forerunner, the National Parks Commissi ...
. The sykes, four areas of grassland, are also protected by SSSI status. Laxton's strip fields were depicted on a postage stamp designed by David Tress that was issued in 1999 by the Royal Mail as part of their Millennium stamp series; the stamp also doubled as Royal Mail's contribution to that year's Europa postage stamp issue with the theme of Parks and Reserves. Image:Laxton village.png, View across Laxton's open fields


Moorhouse

Moorhouse is a
hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
2 miles east of Laxton, but within the wider parish area, Previously known as ''Laxton Morehouse'', it is a scattering of farms, farmhouses and cottages amongst a wider rural setting. These are grouped around three roads meeting by a single junction: Green Lane, Moorhouse Lane, and Ossington Lane. It maintains a notable Grade II* Anglican chapel.


Beth Shalom

Opened in September 1995, Beth Shalom Holocaust Memorial Centre was the first venue in Britain dedicated to the
Holocaust The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
as its primary purpose.Beth Shalom web site
About Us
/ref> The venue is based around an old farm house () which has a purpose-built exhibition centre with lecture theatre, and a Memorial Garden. A feature of the garden is a black stone on which are inscribed the names of the Nazi death camps. The vision for the centre came when James and Stephen Smith visited Israel with their parents. Some time later, on another visit, they saw
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...
in Jerusalem, and were inspired to build a memorial in Britain. The centre is also home to the Aegis Trust, an all-party group working for genocide prevention. One of their interests is in Kigali,
Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...
. Image:Beth Shalom memorial Garden 02.jpg, Holocaust Memorial at ''Beth Shalom'', Laxton Image:Beth Shalom memorial Garden 01.jpg, Holocaust Memorial Garden at Beth Shalom


In the media

The village was featured in an episode of '' Terry Jones' Medieval Lives'' in 2004, which recorded part of the proceedings of the yearly
court leet The court leet was a historical court baron (a type of manorial court) of England and Wales and Ireland that exercised the "view of frankpledge" and its attendant police jurisdiction, which was normally restricted to the hundred courts. Etymo ...
. Laxton featured again in the second episode of '' Michael Wood's Story of England'' in 2010, which filmed the working of the open field system.


See also

* Listed buildings in Laxton and Moorhouse


References


External links


Laxton History Group

Laxton's Visitor Centre

Stuart Rose – Laxton farmer

Open Field, Laxton parish magazine

'Laxton: Living in an Open Field Village' 1635–1908
University of Nottingham

Trent & Peak Archæological Trust (archived)
Laxton's fields on a 19p Royal Mail stamp

Beth Shalom and Aegis Trust sites

'Laxton Map' at the Bodleian Library
{{authority control Villages in Nottinghamshire Newark and Sherwood