Late eighteenth-century farmhouse at Laxton, Nottinghamshire This Nottinghamshire township is unique in still being farmed as three open fields with strips divided amongst the tenants in much the same way as it was throughout the medieval period. The semi-natural features of this unique landscape have been largely safeguarded by a tailor-made Countryside Stewardship scheme, but in 1996 attention turned to the management of the village core. The regional team joined with the local authorities to commission the Trent and Peak Archaeological Trust to survey the buildings of the village and to analyse the development of the farm complexes. A final report is being prepared, but it has become clear that an archaeological approach to the management of the buildings of the village is entirely justified, since each individual farm shows a complex and individual sequence of changes while conforming broadly to wider changing circumstances. The continuation of the unique farming system depends to a large extent on finding space for new housing for local people, and the survey has allowed the full range of conservation interests to be weighed fairly in the quest for the right solutions for sustainable development.
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