This land, characterised by small irregular fields with hedgerow boundaries - with little boundary loss since at least 1851, is likely to have resulted from assartment. This interpretation is supported by at least three place names of hamlets within this area - 'Wood Seats' (first recorded 1366 'Folds or dwellings in the wood'); 'Launderhouse' (now Whitley Hall first recorded 1531 meaning 'house in wood pasture' or 'small wood'); and Whitley (first recorded 1366 meaning 'Bright forest clearing'). (Placename evidence from Smith 1961 and Field 1972). Taylor (1975) considered that this type of piecemeal assartment from ancient forests 'was probably continuous from early Saxon times and even then may have been a survival of Roman enclosure . . . [however it] is best documented in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries' (1975:94). SMR records PRN 4336 and PRN 4337 relate to two 'bowl type' furnaces recorded in advance of construction of a oxygen pipeline across this area in 1993 (Atkinson, 1993). These furnaces were found in association with a pottery assemblage dating from 'at least the 13th century' (Cumberpatch pottery report in ibid.). Carbonised plant remains recovered from samples associated with the furnaces in order to 'understand the site within its context' (ibid.) yeilded evidence, chiefly of oats with small quantities of rye and barley as well as a variety of weeds of cultivation. The botanical assemblage was interpreted as characteristic of 'the explotation of fairly heavy and acidic soils' particularly suitable for the cultivation of oats. The furnaces are sited near the apex of a ridge running parallel to Elliot lane which runs to the summit of Greno Knoll. Legibility of the former woodland is partial as long sinuous boundaries remain.