The Village Green

OS 6-inch series, Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland. CLICK on map to enlarge.

Although Seaton Ross doesn’t have a green today, it did have one – until 1814. And it wasn’t near the middle at all.

In “The Vale of York – The Evolution of a Landscape” (1955). Maurice Kirk said: “The nucleated village was and is typical of the Vale settlements, particularly the long street village…  Some were long and straggly, especially those on the flood plain of the Derwent…  Some villages have no obvious green, others have a wide street-green; others have a green at the end of the village, or even occupying the other side of the street in a single-sided village.” The green was used to rest cattle or sheep in transit from field to field or to market.

detail from “John Foster Plan of Seaton Ross Common and Carr” – 1814. CLICK on map to enlarge.

The Seaton Ross enclosure map has an easy to miss small addition to the area enclosed, near the bottom of the map. This is shown on the left. It reveals an area with a large pond (the oval shaded area) being taken by M.C. Maxwell – the main landowner in the village. It also reveals that this part of South End at that point was known as Green Road.

Further evidence comes from the first Ordnance Survey maps – the 6-inch map of 1852 (LH below) shows an area called ‘Green’ and opposite it (red circle) is Green Farm (now ‘The Old Farmhouse’). By 1908 it is no longer identified but is just shown as two fields (RH below).

OS 6-inch series 1852 and 1908, Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland. CLICK on either map to enlarge.

Seaton Ross’s green was both “…at the end of the village” and arguably “…occupying the other side of the street in a single-sided village“.

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