Assarting is the act ofclearingforested lands for use inagriculture or other purposes. InEnglish land law, it was illegal to assart any part of aroyal forest without permission. This was the greatesttrespass that could be committed in a forest, being more than awaste: while waste of the forest involves felling trees and shrubs, which can regrow, assarting involves completely uprooting all trees—the totalextirpation of the forested area.
The termassart was also used for a parcel of land assarted.Assart rents were those paid to the BritishCrown for the forest lands assarted. The etymology is from the French wordessarter meaning to remove or grub out woodland. In northern England this is referred to asridding.[1]
In theMiddle Ages, the land cleared was usuallycommon land but after assarting, the space became privately used. The process took several forms. Usually it was done by one farmer who hacked out a clearing from thewoodland, leaving ahedged field. However, sometimes groups of individuals or even entire villages did the work and the results were divided into strips and shared among tenant farmers. Monastic communities, particularly theCistercians, sometimes assarted, as well as local lords.[1] The cleared land often leaves behind an assart hedge, which often contains a high number of woodland trees such assmall leafed lime orwild service and contains trees that rarely colonise planted hedges, such ashazel.[2] Examples are inDorset, where there is a difference in the hedges in the west and the east of the county, atHatfield Broad Oak inEssex where the modern hedges still follow the boundaries of an ancient forest, and atShelley inSuffolk where there is an unusually long hedge made up ofcoppicedlime trees that is the remnant of a nineteenth-century woodland clearance.[3]
Assarting has existed sinceMesolithic times and often it relieved population pressures. During the 13th century, assarting was very active, but decreased with environmental and economic challenges in the 14th century. TheBlack Death in the late 1340s depopulated the countryside and many formerly assarted areas returned to woodland.[1]
Assarting was described by landscape historian Richard Muir as typically being "like bites from an apple" as it was usually done on a small scale but large areas were sometimes cleared. Occasionally, people specialized in assarting and acquired the surname or family name of 'Sart'.[1]
Field names in Britain sometimes retain their origin in assarting or colonisation by their names such as: 'Stocks'; 'Stubbings'; 'Stubs'; 'Assart'; 'Sart'; 'Ridding'; 'Royd'; 'Brake'; 'Breach'; or 'Hay'.[1] Many Northern French places called 'Les Essarts' or ending with '-sart' refer to that practice.
This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chambers, Ephraim, ed. (1728)."Assart".Cyclopædia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences (1st ed.). James and John Knapton, et al. p. 151. Retrieved11 June 2014.