User:AnemoneProjectors/Fairlands Valley Park

Fairlands Valley Park is a recreational space of 120 acres (49 ha), situated in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England. The main feature of the park is a series of four linked man-made lakes. The park is the largest recreational space in the borough of Stevenage, and also includes woodland, grassland, .......

Early history of the site

Fairlands Valley Park is built on the site of Fairlands or Fairlane Farm, which took its name from a road that ran past the farm, linking the village of Shephall with the hamlet of Pin Green. Fairlane is listed in the Westminster Abbey Survey for 1315, when it was part of the Abbot's memorial land. It is possible that the inhabitants of the nearby moated homestead in Whomerley Wood used water meadows in the valley for grazing, when the water table was higher than it is today.

In the Tudor period, Fayrelane was farmed by the Hyde family, and by 1684 the farm was owned by Sir William Lytton of Knebworth. The farm consisted of 369 acres (149 ha). The Tyttmus family later farmed the site for many years, as freeholders and later as tennants to the Lyttons. The Manor of Fairlands formed a small part of the growing Lytton estates.

In 1812, the farm was known as Fairlawn Farm, and it consisted of over 400 acres (160 ha) of land. A second farm, New Farm, was built at the southern end of the valley in the mid-19th century, consisting of 24 acres (9.7 ha). Fairlands Farm later became known as Marriott's Farm, and New Farm as May's Farm, after the surnames of the occupants. The Marriotts were the last family to farm the valley before it became a public park.