Area of regular enclosure whose pattern has been interrupted by the construction of the Motorway in the 1960s. Prior to this it was also affected by the tramways and railways built across the area to transport the ironstone which was mined in Tankersley park to the Elsecar and Milton ironworks (see Jones 1995, 80-115). Tankersley deer park was developed in 1303 after Hugh de Elland was granted the right to free warren (Hey 1986, 82). Disemparkment began after 1730 and by 1772 (copy of map of this approximate date in James 2005) the park was much reduced with the creation of regular fields. There is fragmentary legibility of the former deer park as the fields were formed within the boundaries of the former park wall. The origin of the former moorland landscape is uncertain though this area is likely to be moorland by the Roman period (see Bevan 2003 for discussion of environmental evidence in region).