15
curved end, the unploughed headland was much
reduced in width. This was not necessary at
the baulk as there was enough turning space.
I next turned my attention to the probable size
of the open field served by the baulk.
Mascalls Lane, which I assume to be a very old
road, would have been the southern boundary and
streams would have enclosed the rest of the
area shown on the plan. This allows an area
of approximately 90 acres, and the baulk would
have been well placed in the centre of the
strips and joined Mascalls Lane; the other end
I assume would have stopped at the stream.
Obviously, the date when the present fields
were created is of interest. The existing
hedges, where present, are very gappy, but a
date of just over 400 years is suggested by the
number of species present using the Hooper
method of hedge dating. A survey of the
parish of South Weald of 1788/9 shows two small
fields at the end of the baulk by the boundary
stream which were called Little Ropers. There
is an area of dark soil here which would
suggest a habitation site. South of the area
of the plan is a property called Great
Ropers. The whole area would have been owned
by a family called Roper until 1517 and a will
of John Roper of 1479 would almost certainly
have referred to this property. I can safely
assume Little Ropers was not present in the
open field strips, so would date from their
enclosure or shortly after - certainly before
1517 - as a later date would be unlikely to
have used the Ropers family name.
Shortly before 1500 the amount of land being