Further reading
Archives relating to Laxton
Original records relating to Laxton's history are held in many different places, including The University of Nottingham, the British Library, and Nottinghamshire Archives. We have drawn up a guide to archive sources relating to Laxton (in pdf format) to explain what material is available and where to find it.
Printed books and films
Keith Challis, 'Settlement morphology and medieval village planning: a case study at Laxton, Nottinghamshire', in Transactions of the Thoroton Society, 106 (2002), 61-9 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Not]
J.V. Beckett, A history of Laxton: England's last open-field village. (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1989). [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Not 254.D14 BEC]
Laxton, England’s last open field village [videorecording and accompanying pamphlet] (Nottingham: University of Nottingham, 1988) [King’s Meadow Campus Video Not 254.P3 BEC and King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Pamphlet Not 254.P3 BEC. The video can also be viewed at and purchased from the Laxton Visitor Centre]
J.V. Beckett and T. Foulds, 'Landholding and Society in Laxton in 1841', in Transactions of the Thoroton Society, 89 (1985), 100-21 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Not]
Edith Hickson, Life at Laxton c.1880-1903: the childhood memories of Edith Hickson, edited by Brian Wood, Charles Watkins, Cathleen Wood. (Nottingham: Department of Adult Education, University of Nottingham, c.1983) [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Pamphlet Not 254.D28 HIC]
Frank Moody, My lifetime memories of Laxton (Laxton?: privately printed, 1981). [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Pamphlet Not 254.D34 MOO]
'The open-field village of Laxton', special edition of The East Midland Geographer, Vol. 7, part 6, no. 54 (1980). [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Pamphlet Not 254.P3 EAS]
A.R.H. Baker, 'Laxton: preservation for the people', in Geographical magazine, vol 52, no. 5 (1980), 321-324
Laxton estate [press releases concerning the sale of the estate]. (London: Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, 1979-1981). [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection os.Pamph Not 254.P3 MIN]
J.D. Chambers, Laxton: the last English open field village (London: HMSO, 1964, new ed 1979) [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Pamphlet Not 254.P3 CHA]
Geoffrey Lee, 'Where open fields survive', in Country Life, vol. 161, 4158, 10 March 1977
Anon, Laxton trail. ([Nottingham]: Nottinghamshire County Council, 1976?). [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection os.Pamph Not 254.D34 NOT]
J.F. Hoare, 'The Laxton open fields estate', in Agriculture: the journal of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, vol 79, no.3 (1972), 93-7
J.D. Chambers, Nottinghamshire in the eighteenth century : a study of life and labour under the squirearchy. 3rd ed (London: Frank Cass, 1966) [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Not 1.D25 CHA]
John R. Rundle, 'Laxton today', in Agriculture: the journal of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, vol 62, no. 4 (1955), 170-172
A.W. Keeton, A.W. Laxton and its past [mainly a guide to Laxton Church] (Nottingham: R. Milward, 195-?) [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Pamphlet Not 254.D14 KEE]
C.S. Orwin and C.S. Orwin, The Open Fields, 1st ed., including the text of the terrier to Mark Pierce's map (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1938). [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Not 254.P3 ORW]. There was also a 2nd edition (1954) and 3rd edition (1967), both excluding the terrier.
J.B. Holmes (director), Mediaeval village [Booklet to accompany a documentary film about Laxton]. (London: G.B. Instructional, 1936?) [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Pamphlet Not 254.P3 MED. The film itself is part of the collections of the Media Archive for Central England (MACE)]
C.S. Orwin and C.S. Orwin, History of Laxton. (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1935). [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Not 254.D14 ORW]
J.D. Chambers, 'The Open Fields of Laxton', in Transactions of the Thoroton Society, 32 (1928), 102-25 [King's Meadow Campus East Midlands Collection Periodicals: Not]
Selected websites
All links were correct in September 2010.
Laxton: Farming in an Open Field Village online exhibition, by Manuscripts and Special Collections
Website of Stuart Rose, a Laxton farmer, Clerk to the Gaits and Commons, and trustee of the Visitor Centre in Laxton, Nottinghamshire. He gives guided walks in and around Laxton, talks about all aspects of the village today and its heritage, and manages the Laxton Heritage Museum. The website includes descriptions and photographs of life in Laxton, including farming, crop rotation, Jury Day, and the Court Leet.
Mark Pierce's original 1635 map and survey (terrier) of Laxton have been fully digitised by their owner, the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. Follow the link from the University of Oxford Digital Image Library page, and click on the 'Titles' link to begin browsing the images of the two items. The project to map the description of each plot of land to the map is continuing, and will eventually be presented from the main project page, 'Bringing Laxton to Life: a unique insight into feudal England' (http://www.odl.ox.ac.uk/collections/maplaxton.htm).
Electronic version of a report of the Thoroton Society autumn excursion to Laxton, taken from Transactions of the Thoroton Society, 6 (1902) and published on the Nottinghamshire History website.
Laxton Visitor Centre website, giving information about the centre, interpretation panels and guided walks, and general information about the village of Laxton.
Laxton History Group website, giving information about the group's activities. The Group are involved in plans for the Laxton Heritage Day on 3 July 2011
Website about the archaeology of the motte and bailey castle at Laxton and a long-term field project training students in measured and geophysical survey, run since 2003 by archaeologists at Birmingham and Nottingham Universities.
Nottinghamshire Archives holds the Laxton parish registers and other parish records including churchwardens accounts, Vestry Meeting minute books, parish account books, Overseers of the Highway accounts, poor rate assessments, settlement certificates, removal orders, settlement examinations and bastardy bonds.
Newark and Sherwood Museum Service has material relating to Laxton in its collection of over 60,000 items and approximately 12,000 photographs relating to the history of the Newark and Sherwood District. Social History items from the 19th and 20th centuries and temporary exhibitions are displayed at Newark Millgate Museum. The reserve collections and enquiry service are housed at the Resource Centre, Brunel Drive, Newark. Items relating to Laxton include:
- Archaeological items including a Neolithic axe head and fragments of Roman pottery, and a gunpowder scoop carved from bone
- Photographs including aerial views, photographs of the Jury, the Dovecote Inn, the parish church and Laxton Castle
- A variety of maps
- VHS Videotape on Laxton and its Field System
- Two pamphlet boxes in the Local History Reference Collections containing a wide variety of documents, reports, cuttings, sales particulars and books about Laxton
Next page: Catalogue records