Page 3 Maps, Social History and Landscape

 Maps

Maps are full of fascinating information, giving an insight into land use and occupation over time.  Here are links to some old maps.

If you are curious about the Deben and the Thames Estuary in general, visit this informative site.

Suffolk map by John Speed in 1611

1805 OS Map showing some dwellings perhaps where the wildflower meadow now is.

1845 Deben Survey by Captain Owen Stanley (Source UKHO Archive. Copyright Protection has now lapsed)

Old maps of Martlesham 1884 and 1881        

British History Online - Map of Suffolk, (Southampton, 1881-1893) 

The Aerial Archaeology Mapping Explorer is a tool that displays archaeology that has been identified, mapped and recorded using aerial photographs and other aerial sources across England.                  

Early Georgian OS map 1805

Geo referenced maps (with transparency overlay)

Map of Barrows and Tumulii     https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1008504 

River walls - when were they built?  Some say in the 1500s.  This is at the time that they were probably constructed at Butley.  Why? - probably because grazing land was in short supply and, despite the enormous cost of construction, the pasture was worth it.

In Google Earth, you can go back in time to see old aerial and satellite images.

You can look up settlements in the Domesday Book where you can find references to:

Martlesham , which was near Hill Farm (?) with the spring arising in Lumber Wood for water.  There were 22 Households: 10 villagers. 1 freeman. 11 smallholders.  The lands including the church and a mill.  Their Tenant-in-chief in 1086 was Ranulf brother of Ilger.

Barkestone , which was in the SE corner of Martlesham Wilds.  There were 4 smallholders.  Their Tenant-in-chief in 1086 was Robert son of Corbucion.

This is a map of fields, with names, from recent agricultural use:

Social History

People have lived and worked on the land at Martlesham Wilds since neolithic times (see the Aerial Archaeology Mapping Explorer).  There is a church (see below), a parsonage, Hall and outbuildings. 

A history has been summarised here.   

Early maps and surveys by Hodskinson and Johnson

 An early map of Suffolk drawn by Hodskinson in 1783, shows two separate farmsteads in Martlesham Wilds  - one at Martlesham Hall, and also an unnamed farmstead lying isolated on the edge of a hill to the north east of woodland in a location closely approximating that of Hill Farm.

Details of the usage and ownership of the land was given by Isaac Johnson, cartographer and surveyor based in Woodbridge, who surveyed the parish in 1832.  At that time, Martlesham Wilds was split between two different landowners - the Manor of Martlesham Hall and Shermans.

The north of Martlesham Wilds was owned by the lord of the manor, Frederick Goodwin Doughty.  Edward and John Shepherd (aka Sheppard) were the tenant farmers for most of Doughty's land, and they lived at Martlesham Hall, which was by now a farmhouse. Doughty, who lived at Cumberland House in Woodbridge, retained a number of small woodlands, including Lumber Wood, and plantation strips in the Wilds.

The south was owned by George Augustus Sherman, and was farmed by Henry Edwards.  Apart from the isolated farmstead, the only other building was a field barn sitting alongside a private track. It is now completely lost.

The tithe re-assessment of 1837 shows that Martlesham Wilds was comprised of about 56 small plots or fields of arable, pasture, marsh and grazing marsh, saltings, whins and woodland.  70% of the land was arable, about 20% was marsh and grazing marsh, and the remainder was 7% pasture and 3% saltings. 

The summer grazing marshes were created by 'walling off' the saltings with a grassed river bank, which probably started as early as the 16th century but took place very slowly.

Tithe map and apportionments for Martlesham Parish - Suffolk Archives ref: FC37/C4/10

An archaeological desk-based assessment for Adastral Park (2017), states (section 3.17) that:

"Martlesham manor was held in 1316 by Richard Brewse and in 1328 by Sir John de Verdon with whom it remained until 1391 when it passed to Sir Imbert Noon. The Noon family held the manor until the early 17th century when it passed to William Goodwin. In 1758 it came to Anne, daughter of John Goodwin and wife of George Doughty and by 1840 was held by Frederic Goodwin Doughty. "

A line of genealogy is provided by British Isle Genealogy

St Mary's Church at Martlesham

The church is noted in the Doomsday Survey of 1086 as in 'Merlesham'.  There may have been more houses around it prior to the Black Death of 1348 but the village is now located around the ford (a bridge since 1929) over the river Fynn near the Red Lion pub.  Doomsday Book.

Landscape

Trees are important in our landscape and you can see the location of ancient trees online:  Trees

Forest Research - paper on new native woodlands. Two research sites were in Suffolk.

As you walk around Martlesham Wilds, assess the trees, shrubs and other vegetation in relation to the soil, landscape and disturbance from agriculture, or not.  Alder trees are associated with wet soils, for instance.  Bluebells prefer shade and acid soil.

Ponds

There were number of ponds already at Martlesham Wilds and, in 2025, new ones were created.  One of these was a 'Ghost Pond' in that it existed before modern agriculture removed field boundaries and obstacles in its way.

This pond was in 'Cow Meadow' just west of the current reservoir and north-west of Hill Farm.  It can be seen in the older OS maps.

In early April 2025, a team of volunteers marked out a grid around the potential old site of the pond and used an auger to try to find the remnants in the soil below.  The auger was over 2 metres long and samples were extracted and laid out.

The topsoil was dark brown and below this was a grey clay loam with orange mottles, where oxygen had turned the iron in the soil 'rusty'.  Deeper down the profile, a darker brown, rather than grey, clay loam was seen, possibly the sediment layer of the pond?  Lower still, the silty clay of the London Clay was found with a typical blue tinge.

Water was found to partially fill the auger holes seeping through channels from below, showing that the pond might fill itself from water percolating from the soils uphill.

The area that enclosed where potential sediment layers were found were marked out ready for excavation, which was done in August 2025.

Four new ponds were excavated, starting in July 2025.

Learning from example

There are a number of examples in the UK where rewilding and/or replanting of agricultural land has taken place.

The most famous is Knepp in Sussex.  This site has very heavy clay soil and a mixture of grazed parkland, wetland and scrub.  As well as cattle, there are deer and pigs.  There is good parking and a cafe.

Heartwood Forest near St Albans was transformed after being acquired in September 2008 and the planting of 600,000 trees in subsequent years.  The site is managed by the Woodland Trust and has car parking and marked walks (but no toilets).  There is a mixture of old woodland, new planting and open grassland.

The Land Trust

The Land Trust is a charity that is committed to the long term sustainable management of open space for community benefit.  Visit their website to find locations to visit.