Recent palaeoenvironmental evidence for the processing of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in eastern England during the medieval period

Gearey, B.R., Hall, A.R., Bunting, M.J., Lillie, M.C., Kenward, H. and Carrott, J. (2005) Recent palaeoenvironmental evidence for the processing of hemp (Cannabis sativa L.) in eastern England during the medieval period. Medieval Archaeology. pp. 317-322. ISSN 0076-6097

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Abstract

[FIRST PARAGRAPH] Hemp (Cannabissativa L.)— whose origins as a domesticated plant probably lie in C.Asia — has been cultivated in England since at least a.d.800 (and before this perhaps in the Roman Period), mainly for its ¿bre, which was used to make sails, ropes, ¿shing nets and clothes, as well as for the oil from hempseed. Hemp cultivation may have reached a peak during the early 16th century, when Henry VIII decreed that increased hemp production was required to supply the expanding navy. Evidence for the locations where the crop was cultivated and processed is available in several different forms, including written evidence in parish records and government reports, place-name evidence (e.g.Hempholme and some instances of Hempstead), and features on old maps, such as Hempis¿eld (hemp¿eld).

Item Type:	Article
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	Reproduced with the permission of the publisher.
Academic Units:	The University of York > Archaeology (York)
Depositing User:	Repository Officer
Date Deposited:	18 Dec 2006
Last Modified:	19 Feb 2013 11:50
Published Version:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/007660905X54125
Status:	Published
Refereed:	Yes
Related URLs:	http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/007660905X5412...
URI:	http://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/id/eprint/1832

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