CLIMATE, VEGETATION AND MAN
IN THE HUDDERSFIELD DISTRICT
BY T.W. WOODHEAD

11. VEGETATION IN 1086. DOMESDAY SURVEY. ANGLO-DANISH CULTIVATION

It is not until the time of the Domesday Survey, in 1086, that we get historical records which help us to say with some certainty what the vegetation was like. The details shown in Model 9 are based on the records in Domesday Book, and the place-names given are those used in this survey. At this time the summit plateau was covered with cottongrass peat moss or morass, the higher scree-covered slopes were clothed with Birch-Oak Forest; while on the lower, naturally drained spurs, dipping gently to the north-east, Angles and Danes – and later the Norse – had settled and cultivated the land.
In this district no less than fifty-four settlements are recorded in the Domesday Book, and in this survey details are given of the respective areas of "ploughland" and "pasturable woodland". This gives us a good idea of the extent of human interference by this time, and the changes that would be effected by destruction of the primary vegetation by cultivation in the "ploughlands," and in the woodland ground flora due to grazing and manuring by domesticated animals. All the "ploughlands" avoid the Alder-Willow Swamps and the ill-drained river plains; and between these and the "pastural woodlands," Oak-Hazel Forest predominated on the moister soils over the shales, while Birch-Oak Forest would cover the higher slopes and sandstone terraces.

The effect of climatic conditions and topography on human operatpions is clearly reflected in the differences in area of "ploughland" in different situations, e.g., there were seven carucates of "ploughland" at Clifton six at Huddersfield, four at Almondbury, two at South Crosland; while to the S.W. only two carucates are alloted between four places, viz., Holme, Yateholme, Austonley, and Quick, showing a rapid decrease as we approach the moorlands and peaty morass of the summit plateau. Thus in two directions was man's extension limited:-1, by the ill-drained and often flooded river-plains; and by the cold, wet, peaty morass of the uplands.

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