Between Two Forests: the Social and Topographic Evolution of Medieval Anstey

This paper originated from background research for the University of Leicester Archaeological Services (ULAS), relating to developer-funded excavations on a pasture close in Cropston Road, Anstey. Excavations in 1990 and 1992 in this former medieval toft (house and garden) produced residual Saxo-Norman pottery (i.e. from later layers) and post-hole structures of the 12th‐14th centuries, followed by evidence for abandonment (Browning and Higgins, this volume) (illus. 3: X). Initial examination of the 1886 Ordnance Survey map indicated that the modern plan of Anstey village held clues to its history. Linking the village’s development to a complex history of assarting (woodland clearance) and multiple manors proved to be a complex exercise in detection. Inevitably, the trials and tribulations of such a process, as well as the occasional joyous moments of insight, are hidden beneath the constructed coherence of a finished narrative. Origins Anstey parish lies in the former hundred of West Goscote. The surface geology is formed of glacial boulder clay except for a band of fluvial deposits (silt and gravel) along the line of the Heathe (or Rothley) brook. Modern farmland within the township is predominantly pastoral. The present pattern of tarmac public roads in Anstey was to an extent created by enclosure, but their topography suggests that they were partly selected and modified from a pre-existing pattern of lanes (illus. 1‐3). In particular, the straight stretches of the Anstey to Thurcaston and Cropston roads and of parts of Gynsill Lane stand out as de novo products of the 1762 enclosure award. It has been suggested that Anstey Way is on the line of a Roman road from Leicester to Ratcliffe on Soar. Its line northwest of Anstey village is uncertain though a possible crop mark is overlain by ridge and furrow. This suggests that parts of the presumed route had fallen into disuse by the late Saxon period (Lycett 1999). The place-name Anstey is derived from the Old English word, anstig. A great deal of discussion has surrounded the interpretation of this place-name. Gelling (1984, 63‐4) suggested that it meant ‘one-way’ and referred specifically to settlements on a short stretch of road with forks at either end. This applies well to the Hertfordshire and Leicestershire Ansteys and to the Warwickshire Ansty. However, a number of examples in counties along the south coast fit better with the alternative interpretation of the place-name as meaning ‘steep road’ (Gelling and Cole 2000, 66‐7). Atkin (1997‐8 and 1998) has stressed the location of many Anstey place-names on watersheds and noted that some Ansteys were specifically associated with the residence of royal officials. She 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 911