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Social Reformation

Post-Medieval
16th - 18th centuries
16-10 generations ago

Dry-stone walls become a common feature of the Peak District landscape during this period

In contrast to the Medieval period, the Post-Medieval is seen as the time when capitalism rather than feudalism came to define society and land-use. This was a long-term process and capitalism only came to dominate how society was organised and land used from the 18th century onwards.

Finding Clues

Until enclosure, common rights included the use of stone for troughs, doorsteps, lintels and millstones

The Peak District was largely seen as an upland backwater. Farming, rural settlement and commons continued much as before. More open fields and some commons were progressively enclosed, usually by agreement between landowners but often at the expense of tenants who had little say about the removal of their common rights.

Granges, such as this at Abney, gained new owners after the Dissolution of the Monasteries

The dissolution of the monasteries in the middle of the 16th century had a major impact on landownership.

While there were no monastic houses in the region, there were many granges or agricultural estates which had been granted to religious houses by lords of the manor in the Medieval period. Many prominent local families benefited from acquiring monastic estates, while others actually came to prominence with the acquisition of monastic land.

Most monastic granges were already being farmed by private tenants and while ownership changed, farming continued much as before. The new owners began to catalogue their newly acquired assets and it is around this time that many of the earliest estate maps of the region are drawn as part of this process. One well-known grange is Welbeck Abbey’s land in the Upper Derwent.

A stone packhorse bridge 'in use' at Nag's Head, Edale

Packhorse routes continued to provide the main transport system. Many were assessed during the 17th and 18th centuries for condition due to concerns about how quickly goods could be transported between the burgeoning industrial centres. The initials of road surveyors and commissioners are often found on waymarking stones along with the date the route was inspected and major destinations. Improvements included paving, new waymarkers and rebuilding bridges in stone.

The late 16th century hall at North Lees near Hathersage

New houses were built in stone by local gentry and many of the region's villages have fine halls and manor houses dating from the late-16th and 17th centuries. Status, permanency and wealth were displayed in the architectural ornamentation of the houses.

Lead mining was extremely productive at this time. By the 17th century most of the main rakes had been worked down to the water-table and drainage levels, known as soughs, were driven into hillsides to lower the local water level. New smelting technologies were introduced using foot and water powered bellows in charcoal-fuelled furnaces.

Millstones were produced on a more industrial scale during the 17th century

Other industries expanded at this time. Stone quarrying became larger in scale from the 17th century. Due to a disruption in supplies of millstones from continental Europe in the 17th their production in the Peak District increased dramatically. They were exported throughout much until continental trade began again in the 18th century.

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