Mark Pierce's Map
Printed 20th-century tracing of Mark Pierce’s plan of Laxton and Moorhouse, 1635 (from MS 280)
The manor of Laxton was bought in 1625 by Sir William Courten (1572-1634), a London merchant. He ordered the surveyor Mark Pierce to undertake a survey and draw up a plan of his property. The plan and survey were formerly owned by Earl Manvers at Thoresby Hall, but were sold in the mid-twentieth century to the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. This tracing was owned by Audrey Beecham, lecturer in Economic and Social History at The University of Nottingham. A version was published in C.S. Orwin and C.S. Orwin, The Open Fields (Oxford, 1938).
The plan shows 2280 narrow strips of land in the four open fields surrounding Laxton village centre, in the open fields of the hamlet of Moorhouse, and in the low-lying meadows. The miniature depictions of livestock and of people farming, hunting and hawking give a vivid picture of agricultural life in Laxton.
More: Manvers Estate Map
Laxton: Farming in an Open Field Village home