Historic maps show this area as one of small irregular enclosures which were probably assarted from ancient woodland. Between 1938 and 1965 maps the layout of the fields changes. This is likely to be due to opencast coal mining which was prevalent in the area from 1942 onwards. 1942 is the date that the Directorate of Opencast Mining was former (Gray 1979,41). The exact date of the mining is uncertain. There is partial legibility of the enclosed landscape prior to the opencast activity as some of the boundaries have been reinstated in similar positions and the boundaries around the mining area remain. Also small farmsteads have survived the mining activity.