Archaeological investigations and historical researchers (including David Oates and members of the Village Society. have thrown considerable insight into our forefathers’ use of this land.

The earliest written record known is a deed held in the National Library. This records that in 1251 the Abbot of Eynsham, as owner of Histon St Ethedreda manor, was exchanging a triangular field, called “Lam”, with Hugh of Burford, the Rector of the church in return for another field. It is understood this triangular field was a meadow for lambing and possibly this exchange related to the then burgeoning growth of the English wool trade.

It is feasible from this time onward the northern part of the site was pasture for centuries.

There is a suggestion that the pattern of a medieval ridge and furrow system can be seen in the current landform, especially in remote sensing imagery.

The direction of ploughing is east-west over most of the site, south of the dashed line in the picture. (This line corresponds with the currently named Willow Walk.) North of Willow Walk the ploughing appears to be north-south, towards Gun’s Lane, though the land form is less distinct here (see above).

The ridge and furrow feature arises as the ploughmen worked to form a long strip – to minimise the effort of turning frequently. Each time they turned, they would turn clockwise, apparently. This means that over time soil is pushed to the edge of the strip to form the ridges that can still be detected today.

The alignment was orientated so the land in the furrows would drain downhill. It is thought that the first vegetation colonising the Set-aside grew in the deeper, formerly cultivated soil of the furrows.

Some of the clearings across the site might be old headlands made by oxen plough teams turning at the same points over many years. The raised earth is consolidated under foot.

There is a suggestion that the East Pond is on the site of what was the village pond prior to the Black Death. At this time, it is thought most Histon folks lived on the ridge, relatively close to St Andrew’s and St Etheldreda’s churches.

(The remains of St Etheldreda’s church lie in the grounds of Abbey Farm).

In more recent times, the East Pond was partially filled in by the builders of nearby houses. Histon & Impington Archaeology Group (HIAG) discovered some early 20th century artefacts when the pond was deepened in 2022.

By the time of enclosure in 1806 Lam Meadow was in the ownership of John Angier, whose farmhouse was The Gables. The land from Willow Walk to the south was called Barcroft and in the ownership of Thomas Panton (after whom Cambridge’s Panton Street was named).

Ordnance Survey of England One Inch to One Mile Sheet 188 (surveyed 1880 to 1886, published 1898). Reproduced with permission of the National Library of Scotland.

The 1897 One-Inch Ordnance Survey map of the area shows what is now Croft Close Nature Reserve identified as “Parks & Ornamental Grounds”.

The land seemingly continued as this until the 1940s as can be seen from the Great Britain Land Utilisation Survey 1928 map and the 1940 Bartholomew map.

It is believed that in around 1948 the Croft Close Nature Reserve land was ploughed and remained in arable production through to the mid-1990s. At some time, potatoes were reportedly grown. There is a photograph purportedly dated to the year 2000 showing the area as a ploughed field but about this time agricultural production ceased and the land “set-aside”.

Great Britain Land Utilisation Survey 1928

Reproduced with permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Source: Google Earth. This map includes data from: AirbusData SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCOLandsat / Copernicus

It is unclear from the 1945 aerial photograph whether the land was still pasture at that time, but a few trees are evident, including in the region of Thomas de Colville’s apple orchard!

The image from 2000 suggests cultivation may just have stopped, except possible for a 40 by 35m rectangular area in the middle of the field. Interestingly this is in the vicinity of a borehole sunk in September 1977 to 3.3m deep. (The water was 1.5m down.) The north-south lines of vegetation in Lam Meadow are much more apparent in this picture.

Whether the land was formally entered into the EU’s Set-aside Scheme is unclear; regardless natural flora were allowed to establish. This was a form of rewilding.

Although there was no deliberate planting, some residents, most notably the Neal family took an interest in managing the emerging landscape. Certain saplings were allowed to develop unhindered; some were coppiced at varying intervals.

This action has largely shaped the land into the form apparent today. At some stage in the last 30 years rabbits colonised part of the area and are thought to be responsible for the areas of closely cropped turf in the centre of the site.

Other creatures have also had a very visible impact on the landform, including browsing by Muntjac deer stunting saplings, acorn-carrying jays contributing oak trees across the site and grey squirrels planting the walnut seeds.