Potteric Carr
Encyclopedia
Potteric Carr is a large area of land to the south east of Doncaster
, in Yorkshire
, England
, some 3,000 acres (12 km²) in size.
"Before I came to the town, I passed the ford of a brooke, which, as I remember is called Rossington Bridge…. The soil about Doncaster hath very good meadow, corn and some wood".
As Leland travelled into Doncaster from Bawtry, he passed through a landscape unfamiliar to us today. Sherwood forest then extended to the very boundaries of Doncaster and venerable oaks dotted the landscape from Bawtry
to Hatfield. To the west of the road from Rossington Bridge into Doncaster, Leland passed the "largely impenetrable morass of bog and fen known locally as Potteric Carr". Earlier he would have caught glimpses in the east of a similar wild tract of marshy country which then covered the whole of the flat land between the Don and the Trent.
The passage of time has left us with precious little of those former conditions and Potteric Carr in particular has seen many changes. The following sections give a brief description of the changes which have taken place over 2000 years.
occupation much of lowland Britain
was open farmland with regemented field systems used for agriculture since the Iron Age, which can be seen in Dr Derick Riley's air photographs of nearby Bawtry Road and Hurst Lane where the Roman Till Bridge Lane runs through the earlier Iron Age field systems. However, Most of the land to the east of Doncaster is only a few metres above sea level and consequently would at that time have comprised a vast marshy area. There is evidence that the Romans made some attempts at drainage but their work fell into disrepair on their departure from Britain. Little is known of the next 1000 years but, by the time of Henry VIII
, Potteric Carr was just a small part of Hatfield Chase, the largest deer chase in the realm. The chase eventually fell from royal favour about the time of the reign of Elizabeth I
, due to its permanently inundated state.
Over the next 150 years a number of largely unsuccessful attempts at draining the Carr were made and during this time a duck decoy was established. The duck decoy was a method, perfected in the Netherlands
, of catching ducks. The idea may have been introduced to the area by Dutch workers who came to Britain with Cornelius Vermuyden
who is noted for his drainage schemes in the English Fens and the nearby Isle of Axholme
. The proceeds from the decoy were distributed amongst the poor of Doncaster. The decoy was operated for about 130 years but its closure was foreshadowed in the 1760s when a civil engineer, John Smeaton
, carried out the final and most effective drainage scheme so that by the end of the century much of the area was under agriculture. So successful was the drainage that the only remnant of the original flora
was probably confined to a small area in and around the now disused decoy.
In the first half of the 19th century a number of afforestation schemes were carried out at the Old Eaa, Young Eaa and Beeston and many hedges were planted.
Thus by the middle of the 19th century the landscape was probably typical of an English rural scene with fields, hedges, trees and larger tracts of woodland all being maintained by the efficiency of the drains. The great industrial era was just around the corner, however, and the next 100 years would see further remarkable changes to the area.
was built across the Carr cutting through the Old Eaa Plantation and the centre of the decoy totally destroying in the process the last refuge of many scarce plants. The construction of this railway was the beginning of an era in Doncaster and, to this day, the town is considered as a major railway centre. With the railways came workshops and new residential development was required to house the employees of the railway workshops. Hence, rows of inexpensive houses were erected around the periphery of the town particularly in the Wheatley and Hexthorpe areas.
The railway was a lifeline for another new industry – the coal industry – which was rapidly eclipsing the agriculture which had dominated the area in the 18th century. Both industries were hungry for land and in 1862 the Great Northern Railway Company purchased 160,000 square metres between the Doncaster-Sheffield
road and the decoy for the construction of a marshalling yard for coal traffic. The work was completed in 1866, and the sidings ended at about the centre of the decoy. At the same time the Gainsborough
branch line was being constructed and this cut through Stoven's Plantation just as the main line had done in 1849.
In the ensuing years, Doncaster expanded considerably, particularly after deep coal seams were found in the district and, in conjunction with this, there was a further expansion of the railway system. Around 1880, the extension of the decoy sidings completely destroyed the Decoy Wood and, at the turn of the century, the Dearne Valley Railway sliced another piece of land from the Carr fragmenting Stoven's Plantation yet again.
In 1908, the South Yorkshire Joint Railway
was constructed, with a link to Dinnington
in the south. Where this line crossed the main London
-Edinburgh
line, loop lines were constructed to link the north and south sides of the decoy sidings and also the Dearne Valley Line
– the area became what has been described as the ‘Spaghetti Junction’ of the local railway network.
Within the next 20 years several local collieries were opened commencing with Maltby in 1910 and this resulted in a considerable amount of railway activity in the area, particularly in the inter-war period. A development which was associated with the railway sidings was the deposition of an area of colliery waste on the south side of the Great Northern Railway. This area, Childers Wood, has since been colonised by an interesting and now well developed tree community, comprising mainly silver birch
.
Certain link railways were never fully utilised however and, following the post war decline in railway freight traffic, some of the lines on the Carr became disused. It is paradoxical that at a time of increasing land values these lines became derelict and, more importantly, so did several parcels of land sandwiched between the railways – land which was obviously not an economical proposition for farming.
This industrial period, which brought so much activity in the early quarter of the 20th century, considerably fragmented the area though the wildlife for which the Carr was once famous had long since gone.
In 1951, an underground seam from Rossington Colliery
undermined the area of Low Ellers, and was followed by further seams which affected the whole of the Carr between 1960 and 1967. The effects were not immediate. In 1955, the area of Low Ellers was no more than a damp pasture and even by 1959 had not become much wetter. From this time onwards, however, the effects of subsidence became more severe and by 1963 the eastern side of Low Ellers had been transformed into marsh with a small, but permanent, area of open water. The subsidence continued and by 1965 Balby Carr had also flooded whilst the marsh at Low Ellers had extended. After a lapse of 200 years the term "inundated" could once again be used to describe part of Potteric Carr. Those areas which had not become completely flooded were at least very wet. One loss during this period were the trees in the Young Eaa Plantation and a part of the Old Eaa Plantation which died as a consequence of the flooding. There followed, however, a very fast colonisation of the area by marsh plant communities which once typified the Carr and naturally, following this, the return of the animal life.
In parallel with this, as a result of Beeching, various railway line across the Carr became disused leaving, primarily, the East Coast Main Line with the Lincoln spur, and the main north-south mineral line (former South Yorkshire Joint). The former Dearne Valley line was closed though a short link was preserved from the South Yorkshire Joint to the Edlington Colliery, though this was later closed when the colliery was closed in the 1980s.
's Potteric Carr Nature Reserve
, and since then the reserve has been developed and extended and now covers 200 hectares (500 acres). It comprises a mixture of habitats
from open water and marsh through reed fen, wet woodland (carr land) and scrub. In places, there are remnants of the kind of habitat that existed 300 years ago.
Doncaster
Doncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
, in Yorkshire
Yorkshire
Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, some 3,000 acres (12 km²) in size.
History
One of the earliest references to Potteric Carr comes from the itinerary of Leland c.1540:"Before I came to the town, I passed the ford of a brooke, which, as I remember is called Rossington Bridge…. The soil about Doncaster hath very good meadow, corn and some wood".
As Leland travelled into Doncaster from Bawtry, he passed through a landscape unfamiliar to us today. Sherwood forest then extended to the very boundaries of Doncaster and venerable oaks dotted the landscape from Bawtry
Bawtry
Bawtry is a small market town and civil parish which lies at the point where the Great North Road crosses the River Idle in the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England. Nearby towns include Gainsborough to the east, Retford south southeast, Worksop to the southwest and...
to Hatfield. To the west of the road from Rossington Bridge into Doncaster, Leland passed the "largely impenetrable morass of bog and fen known locally as Potteric Carr". Earlier he would have caught glimpses in the east of a similar wild tract of marshy country which then covered the whole of the flat land between the Don and the Trent.
The passage of time has left us with precious little of those former conditions and Potteric Carr in particular has seen many changes. The following sections give a brief description of the changes which have taken place over 2000 years.
From Roman Times until 1849
At the time of the RomanAncient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
occupation much of lowland Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
was open farmland with regemented field systems used for agriculture since the Iron Age, which can be seen in Dr Derick Riley's air photographs of nearby Bawtry Road and Hurst Lane where the Roman Till Bridge Lane runs through the earlier Iron Age field systems. However, Most of the land to the east of Doncaster is only a few metres above sea level and consequently would at that time have comprised a vast marshy area. There is evidence that the Romans made some attempts at drainage but their work fell into disrepair on their departure from Britain. Little is known of the next 1000 years but, by the time of Henry VIII
Henry VIII of England
Henry VIII was King of England from 21 April 1509 until his death. He was Lord, and later King, of Ireland, as well as continuing the nominal claim by the English monarchs to the Kingdom of France...
, Potteric Carr was just a small part of Hatfield Chase, the largest deer chase in the realm. The chase eventually fell from royal favour about the time of the reign of Elizabeth I
Elizabeth I of England
Elizabeth I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death. Sometimes called The Virgin Queen, Gloriana, or Good Queen Bess, Elizabeth was the fifth and last monarch of the Tudor dynasty...
, due to its permanently inundated state.
Over the next 150 years a number of largely unsuccessful attempts at draining the Carr were made and during this time a duck decoy was established. The duck decoy was a method, perfected in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, of catching ducks. The idea may have been introduced to the area by Dutch workers who came to Britain with Cornelius Vermuyden
Cornelius Vermuyden
Sir Cornelius Wasterdyk Vermuyden was a Dutch engineer who introduced Dutch reclamation methods to Britain, and made the first important attempts to drain The Fens of East Anglia.-Life:...
who is noted for his drainage schemes in the English Fens and the nearby Isle of Axholme
Isle of Axholme
The Isle of Axholme is part of North Lincolnshire, England. It is the only part of Lincolnshire west of the River Trent. It is between the three towns of Doncaster, Scunthorpe and Gainsborough.- Description:...
. The proceeds from the decoy were distributed amongst the poor of Doncaster. The decoy was operated for about 130 years but its closure was foreshadowed in the 1760s when a civil engineer, John Smeaton
John Smeaton
John Smeaton, FRS, was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbours and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist...
, carried out the final and most effective drainage scheme so that by the end of the century much of the area was under agriculture. So successful was the drainage that the only remnant of the original flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
was probably confined to a small area in and around the now disused decoy.
In the first half of the 19th century a number of afforestation schemes were carried out at the Old Eaa, Young Eaa and Beeston and many hedges were planted.
Thus by the middle of the 19th century the landscape was probably typical of an English rural scene with fields, hedges, trees and larger tracts of woodland all being maintained by the efficiency of the drains. The great industrial era was just around the corner, however, and the next 100 years would see further remarkable changes to the area.
Industrial development 1849–1950
In 1849, the Great Northern RailwayGreat Northern Railway (Great Britain)
The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....
was built across the Carr cutting through the Old Eaa Plantation and the centre of the decoy totally destroying in the process the last refuge of many scarce plants. The construction of this railway was the beginning of an era in Doncaster and, to this day, the town is considered as a major railway centre. With the railways came workshops and new residential development was required to house the employees of the railway workshops. Hence, rows of inexpensive houses were erected around the periphery of the town particularly in the Wheatley and Hexthorpe areas.
The railway was a lifeline for another new industry – the coal industry – which was rapidly eclipsing the agriculture which had dominated the area in the 18th century. Both industries were hungry for land and in 1862 the Great Northern Railway Company purchased 160,000 square metres between the Doncaster-Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
road and the decoy for the construction of a marshalling yard for coal traffic. The work was completed in 1866, and the sidings ended at about the centre of the decoy. At the same time the Gainsborough
Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
Gainsborough is a town 15 miles north-west of Lincoln on the River Trent within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. At one time it served as an important port with trade downstream to Hull, and was the most inland in England, being more than 55 miles from the North...
branch line was being constructed and this cut through Stoven's Plantation just as the main line had done in 1849.
In the ensuing years, Doncaster expanded considerably, particularly after deep coal seams were found in the district and, in conjunction with this, there was a further expansion of the railway system. Around 1880, the extension of the decoy sidings completely destroyed the Decoy Wood and, at the turn of the century, the Dearne Valley Railway sliced another piece of land from the Carr fragmenting Stoven's Plantation yet again.
In 1908, the South Yorkshire Joint Railway
South Yorkshire Joint Railway
South Yorkshire Joint Railway was a committee formed in 1903, between the Great Central Railway , the Great Northern Railway , the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway , the Midland Railway and the North Eastern Railway to oversee the construction of a new railway in the Doncaster area of South...
was constructed, with a link to Dinnington
Dinnington
Dinnington is a town in rural South Yorkshire, England, and part of the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham. It is roughly equidistant from Sheffield, Rotherham and Worksop, and is located at an elevation of about 100 metres above sea level....
in the south. Where this line crossed the main London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
-Edinburgh
Edinburgh
Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
line, loop lines were constructed to link the north and south sides of the decoy sidings and also the Dearne Valley Line
Dearne Valley Line
The Dearne Valley Line is the name given to a railway line in the north of England running from York to Sheffield via Pontefract Baghill and Moorthorpe.-History:...
– the area became what has been described as the ‘Spaghetti Junction’ of the local railway network.
Within the next 20 years several local collieries were opened commencing with Maltby in 1910 and this resulted in a considerable amount of railway activity in the area, particularly in the inter-war period. A development which was associated with the railway sidings was the deposition of an area of colliery waste on the south side of the Great Northern Railway. This area, Childers Wood, has since been colonised by an interesting and now well developed tree community, comprising mainly silver birch
Silver Birch
Betula pendula is a widespread European birch, though in southern Europe it is only found at higher altitudes. Its range extends into southwest Asia in the mountains of northern Turkey and the Caucasus...
.
Certain link railways were never fully utilised however and, following the post war decline in railway freight traffic, some of the lines on the Carr became disused. It is paradoxical that at a time of increasing land values these lines became derelict and, more importantly, so did several parcels of land sandwiched between the railways – land which was obviously not an economical proposition for farming.
This industrial period, which brought so much activity in the early quarter of the 20th century, considerably fragmented the area though the wildlife for which the Carr was once famous had long since gone.
Recent Developments 1950 – 1968
After suffering the effects of various drainage schemes, considerable agricultural activity and also industrial expansion, Potteric Carr was to endure yet another development which was to have a tremendous effect on the area.In 1951, an underground seam from Rossington Colliery
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
undermined the area of Low Ellers, and was followed by further seams which affected the whole of the Carr between 1960 and 1967. The effects were not immediate. In 1955, the area of Low Ellers was no more than a damp pasture and even by 1959 had not become much wetter. From this time onwards, however, the effects of subsidence became more severe and by 1963 the eastern side of Low Ellers had been transformed into marsh with a small, but permanent, area of open water. The subsidence continued and by 1965 Balby Carr had also flooded whilst the marsh at Low Ellers had extended. After a lapse of 200 years the term "inundated" could once again be used to describe part of Potteric Carr. Those areas which had not become completely flooded were at least very wet. One loss during this period were the trees in the Young Eaa Plantation and a part of the Old Eaa Plantation which died as a consequence of the flooding. There followed, however, a very fast colonisation of the area by marsh plant communities which once typified the Carr and naturally, following this, the return of the animal life.
In parallel with this, as a result of Beeching, various railway line across the Carr became disused leaving, primarily, the East Coast Main Line with the Lincoln spur, and the main north-south mineral line (former South Yorkshire Joint). The former Dearne Valley line was closed though a short link was preserved from the South Yorkshire Joint to the Edlington Colliery, though this was later closed when the colliery was closed in the 1980s.
Since 1968
In 1968, a small part of Potteric Carr was made into the Yorkshire Wildlife TrustYorkshire Wildlife Trust
The Yorkshire Wildlife Trust is a wildlife trust covering the traditional county of Yorkshire, England.The Trust is part of the UK-wide partnership of 47 Wildlife Trusts.It was formed in 1946, as the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Trust, essentially to preserve its first nature reserve Askham Bog on the...
's Potteric Carr Nature Reserve
Potteric Carr Nature Reserve
Potteric Carr Nature Reserve is a nature reserve at Potteric Carr, south of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England and managed by the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust as their flagship - and largest - reserve....
, and since then the reserve has been developed and extended and now covers 200 hectares (500 acres). It comprises a mixture of habitats
Habitat (ecology)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant or other type of organism...
from open water and marsh through reed fen, wet woodland (carr land) and scrub. In places, there are remnants of the kind of habitat that existed 300 years ago.