The Parchments, which can be viewed by anyone at the County Archives in Northallerton, were interpreted for chairman John Lund.
The interpretation falls into two parts:
- first it sets out how two principal roads (PDF, 217k) are to be formed – the one we know today as the B1257, the other Braygate, perhaps better known simply as the Malton to Coneysthorpe road.
- second, it sets out the “allotments” (PDF, 654k) – the pieces of land that each of those who grazed in common can now call their own.
Getting precise definitions of the word perch is not easy – this measurement seems to alter quite dramatically. It is thought to be between 25 and 29 square metres. Other websites will give a slightly different definition of its exact size. It seems there are 160 square perches to an acre.
A rood is about 40 square perches – but it is also called a rod.
An acre is 4,840 sq yards or about 4050 square metres. However that is today’s measurement – originally it was much smaller and is thought to have been the amount of land an ox could plough in one day.
Stinting – possibly the numerical limitation of grazing rights used to manage livestock numbers on common grazing land.
Anyone interested in conducting more in depth research is very welcome to share their findings with us.
All the above links should take you to a page which will provide further details. Details of County Archives can be found on the North Yorkshire County Council website.
County Archives kindly provided photos of the parchments as well as the written documents which are in PDF form (see links above), for which Broughton Parish Meeting is very appreciative. Unfortunately because of the need to reduce the size of photos to include them on this website, the photos will give only an idea of the parchments and the physical state they were in rather than being a document which is readable.
AGW 2011
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