Harewood Common
History of the site
The meadows back onto the ancient semi-natural woodland of Harewood Forest which up until Roman times would have been a woodland resource for timber, coppice, hunting, foraging, grazing and pannage.
Archaeological research suggests that the site may well be the historic frontage to the woodland with the tree line being the outer wood bank. The meadows themselves would have been part of Cow Down, open chalk downland, until the Enclosure Act in 1784. In recent years the fields were used for agriculture, predominantly cattle grazing and haymaking.
