The old field names of Steventon
The Saxon Charters
For almost a thousand years, the lands of Steventon were farmed in the Open Field system. Although the land itself belonged at times to the King and at other times to the Church, the people of the village worked the land as tenant farmers. They were allocated strips of land scattered throughout the three vast open fields of the parish: there were no dividing hedges and one strip seemed to merge into the next in one get flat expanse extending as far as the eye could see. However, despite the apparent confusing appearance of the land, there was order. Strips were gathered into furlongs, and furlongs into fields and all was farmed in a collective manner under communally agreed rules. To aid this organisation, furlongs and other key features were given names so the community had common reference points in their collaboration. These names give a fascinating glimpse into the distant past.
A crucial factor in avoiding land disputes was to know where one community’s land stopped and the neighbouring land started. These boundaries were first established in Saxon charters and many of these have survived. They were effectively legal documents recording the grant of a estate of land generally from the king to a favoured subject. The oldest recorded names relating to the lands of Steventon appear in a Saxon charter from the year 956 describing the boundary of neighbouring Milton. Along the border between Steventon and Milton, the Charter records three key landmarks:
seofan þornum meaning The Seven Thorns and thought to be the point where the parish boundaries of Milton, East Hendred and Steventon meet in the south of our parish along Featherbed Lane.
Smalan wege meaning narrow way and probably referring to a forerunner of the High Street as it descends Steventon Hill above the railway or another track in the near vicinity.
Lacing which was the Saxon name for the Mill Brook, which crosses from Steventon to Milton just west of the A34.
A slightly later charter from the year 958 describing the boundary of Drayton records a feature still to be seen today and driven past by us every time we head for Abingdon:
Mær dic which is known today as the Mere Dike and is the ditch running under the Drayton Road marked by white railings just before the A34 bridge.
There is no surviving charter for Steventon itself but because charters do survive for neighbouring Drayton, Milton and East Hendred, we have a complete description of the boundaries of our village as they existed in the 10th century at the time of King s Eadwig and Edgar. Remarkably, these boundaries are almost identical to those of the modern parish.
