by Sara Vernon
Seven Acres Country Park lies approximately two miles east of Bolton Town Centre and forms Breightmet's natural western boundary. Today Seven Acres Country Park encompasses more acreage than the nineteenth century-dubbed-name implies. Former folds such as Ellis Fold along with its surrounding enclosed fields are now incorporated into the country park making the entire area more than fifteen acres. Bolton's Pony Club now uses these former fields and having no relevancy upon the naming of Seven Acres; so what does Seven Acres actually mean?
The earliest known detailed map we have for Seven Acres and indeed Breightmet is 1764. The attached schedule shows past land usage and the size of field. There are no field names reflecting acreage of seven along the eastern banks of Bradshaw Brook and yet this 18th century map and schedule still held the answer. With a quick calculation and with adding the acreage of fields numbered [A16], [A18], [B7], [B8], [B10], [B13] and [G11] excluding all acreage attached to woods and water I found it totalling to no more than 5¼ acres. Yet by separately adding the acreage [of the said fields] set aside for water and woods, the total acreage becomes 6¾ acres and 12 perches, hence the dubbed place name 'Seven Acres'.
This water, wood acreage is significant, being used as a socioeconomic indicator to show that these two natural features were more economically viable than that of arable or pasture.
The unknown cartographer illustrates a wooded ridge along the eastern bank of Bradshaw Brook. This high convex ridge is locally known as Thicketford Brow; in 1764 it was commonly dubbed as Kindor Bank getting its name from John Kindor [b1728 - d1801] the tenanting farmer. The schedule informs us of the field names but refers little upon the type of vegetation being cultivated. In fact, most of the field names reflect the topographical - geographical features of Seven Acres and indeed Breightmet.
Perambulating through Seven Acres it becomes apparent that this new country park has many ancient woodland features attached to its eastern side. The most striking feature being the amount of coppiced sycamore trees. Why was this? It was not until I reread old lecture notes on medieval woods and forests when the answer became clear. The sycamore, dubbed 'The Lancashire Weed' by many, became established in the North-West c1600AD. With this date in mind [dendrochronologists are always trying to pre-date the earliest known established date] I set out to rediscover the relevance of the coppiced sycamore and its industrial connection to the named fields, Mill Stead [G11] and Cynder Hill [C6]. Could the 1764 Schedule reveal any information? The Schedule informs us that Mill Stead had twenty-four perches [just over of an acre] of water, which continuously fed the mill from a series of retting pools and in turn was fed by a labyrinth of culvert leats running from Bradshaw Brook. The former bleach works [Tootills] harvested these retting pools which stood on the lotted land [G11]. By establishing that [G11] was previously used as a place for the manufacturing of bleached cloth therefore could this past bleach-industry explain the high density of coppiced sycamore trees within the perimeters of Seven Acres Country Park?
The sycamore is a robust broad-leaf tree belonging to the Maple Family. There is one school of thought regarding this compound palmately deciduous tree, which is, the wood has a certain degree of porosity and having no distinction between the heartwood and the sapwood and its colouring being a dense white and faded-yellow with a wax-like shine. Thus, when cut, the wood retains its natural colour, making it an ideal timber to be used within the bleaching industries. When used for beams it does not stain once the treated cloth is stretched over, making the wood of the sycamore into a highly versatile and profitable commodity. This explains the high density of coppiced sycamore and fits in perfectly with Dr Higham's highly suggestive written material.
It is the topographical name 'Thicket' that indicates growth density. 'Thicket' simply implies 'dense', referring to the closeness of the sycamore Tree. There is written account which notes that people could swing across the Brook via the branches without getting their feet wet. This small blurb must have been passed down orally prior to the 1845 map being drawn for this map clearly illustrates that the eastern bank was covered with a high density of trees with the western bank cleared for pastoral and arable cultivation.
Strolling through Seven Acres, especially upon the high ridge of Kindor Bank and within the field perimeters of Pamfort [A2], we come across the 1764 field boundary marked by mixed species of Blackthorn and Hawthorn. This pre-parliamentary hedge boundary is the most noticeable feature along the ridge being more than 100 metres long and forming a single-ridge giving the ridge height of two feet and the bank width of four feet. Nearby, there is evidence of pollarding and lone shredded standards and bundle planted trees suggesting past agricultural usage that had once been the main industry upon the ridge of Kindor Bank. The height of the Willow pollards suggests that sheep were reared upon this flat ridge. This correlates with the small amount of dispersed sheep bones being unearthed within the field perimeters of Barnor Spout Meadow [A4] and Pamfort [A2].
Nevertheless, what is remarkable about this 18th century map and the attached schedule that it informs us that Breightmet was enclosed in a piecemeal fashion with Seven Acres Country Park being privately enclosed thirty-one years before the 1795 Enclosure Award Act for Breightmet. By 1845, all of Breightmet's waste / common land has been stripped of its peasantry identity in turn making Breightmet into a semi-agricultural-landownership-landscape attached to a monoculture field structure. The 1764 Schedule reveals that the total land covered by hedges and fences amounted to 5 Acres and 11 Perches of which approximately only quarter-of-an-acre still remains as living hedges.
Walking south along this manmade feature, a few archaeological features become noticeable including a two hundred-year-old midden along with a natural spring-fed leat running westerly into Bradshaw Brook. This spring is clearly illustrated on the 1764, 1845 and 1908 maps. Holly surrounds this small spring. Holly (llex aquifolium) was often used to depict a well / spring and is sparsely dispersed throughout Seven Acres. This evergreen shrub can take up to one hundred years to mature and was carefully managed during this time with being cultivated for its leaves as winter cattle fodder. There is no documentary or field evidence to suggest that Holly was ever cultivated for the sole use for fodder within the perimeters of Seven Acres Country Park.