The Hanging Water allotments are first depicted on the 1923 25 inch OS map. Prior to that the area is shown as fields. The major paths through the allotments closely follow the field boundaries as depicted on the 1st edition OS map of 1855 and the Fairbanks plan of 1795. Some of the hedges and trees may belong to the early boundaries. Legibility is partial due to this. The origin of the moorland landscape is uncertain though this area is likely to be moorland by the Roman period (see Bevan 2003 for discussion of environmental evidence).