Royds Clough plantation is depicted on the 1st Edition OS map of 1855 and was probably planted at the time of the Bradfield parliamentary enclosure award of 1826. Prior to this, the steep sided clough was probably open moorland. Legibility of the previous landscape is invisible. The date of origin of the moorland is uncertain but it had probably developed in this area by the Roman period (see Bevan 2003 for discussion of environmental evidence in the area).