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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Northumberland => Topic started by: ambleetc on Sunday 05 June 11 10:16 BST (UK)
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Hi
I have a record of a family member who was baptised in 1799. The place of residence was Plainfield House - can anyone tell me anything about Plainfield House as I can't seem to find any references to it. I am sure that the family would have been agricultural workers at Plainfield House. Any help appreciated!
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ambleetc,
The Northumberland County Farm Index database ( it lists Northumberland's communities of all sizes mid 1800s within their appropriate townships and parishes)
It lists " Plainfield" as lying within the "township" of Flotterton, within the parish of Rothbury.
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Genuki web site from 1868 gazetteer shows...
FLOTTERTON
a township in the parish of Rothbury, 4 miles west of Rothbury. At Plainfield
in this township, Lord Derwentwater and others first raised the standard of the Pretender ( " Bonnie Prince Charlie" ) in England.
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Flotterton was one of the 28 townships that made up the parish of Rothbury.
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See Greenwood's map of 1828
http://communities.northumberland.gov.uk/007482FS.htm
Plainfield, north of Flotterton, just sneaks onto the left hand side of the map.
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Godrey Watson, in his book " "Goodwife Hot", Northumberland's Past in it's Place Names" in writing of Scandinavian place names around Rothbury, says
" .... Some like Plainfield have been anglicised, the name denoting an Expanse of land shaped like an Arrow, ends with the Old English " feld" , meaning a piece of Open Country, more extensive than a Clearing. Yet it begins with the Scandanavian word " fleinn" and indeed as recently as 1572 the place was known as Flaynefeld.
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Today there is a farm , Plainfield Farm at Plainfield. ( postcode NE65 7LE).
Looks to be the only building(s) in this very rural area.
The old map for c1865 shows an identical situation.
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Michael
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Hi Michael,
Thank you for your very detailed and helpful reply. I can see the areas you mention very clearly on the maps on Communities Northumberland, and it does sound very much like Plainfield Farm is where my relative would have been born as this fits in with the very strong likelihood of them being Ag Labs.
I appreciate your time and trouble in replying.
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Hi
Found this old thread as I was also looking up locations for an ancestor, Edward Luke, born at Plain Field House in 1747 (listed on Dissenter's Births register, Alwinton).
There is a 1769 map by Armstrong that clearly shows Plain Field but no specific location of any big estate house or such so would just be farmstead I think. If you click on the thumbnail image you'll get a full scale image of the map.
http://www3.northumberland.gov.uk/catalogue/dserve.exe?dsqServer=w2k3calm1.woodhorn.org.uk&dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Catalog&dsqPos=2461&dsqSearch=%28%28text%29%3D%27map%27%29
Pete
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Thank you very much indeed - and yes, I can see Plain Field quite clearly on the map. Thank you for sharing this information