The economic and social evolution of Lancashire's coastal areas c. 1150-1550: the evidence of minor place-names

What was the economic and social exploitation of the landscape in West Lancashire c.1150-1550? The evolution of Lancashire's coastal and mossland areas is of great interest in light of recent floods and changes to management of wetlands, and yet Lancashire's early history is little known. This proposed CASE studentship willuncover important aspects of historical land-use in Lancashire by investigating and mapping minor place names, which contain rich evidence on land use that cannot be gathered in any other way. The appointed student will gather field and boundary names from documents in Lancashire Archives, create a database, and locate the names on the ground. The names will be mapped using ArcGIS in order to reveal developments in the landscape. The student will employ the resulting maps, the names themselves and other documents in order to shedlight on more than four centuries of Economic and Social land use: from the earliest written evidence until the beginning oflarge-scale encroachment on the wastes in the Elizabethan period.