Can You Help With This Folklore Query?

We are looking for local knowledge and local references which might explain the name of the Jack’s Croft cottages in Hickling and, particularly, whether there is any connection to the field behind them; if you can help, please contact us.

The Oxford Dictionary of English Folklore:

Jack’s Land: In Scotland, there is a relatively well-known custom of ‘Cloutie’s Croft’, the name given to a portion of the best land of a farm which is always left untilled and uncultivated as it belongs to the Devil. In many areas of England, similar patches of untouched land were found, although the dedication to the Devil was rarely so explicit or clear-cut, and they bore local names such as ‘Jack’s Land’ or ‘No Man’s Land’. In addition to being uncultivated, this land usually had some sort of sinister reputation, or at least was believed to be unusually infertile (see a Devon example in Henderson, 1879: 278). References in N&Q [notes & queries 1:s3 1851] attest to the Scottish custom and a similar one in Ireland, and mention another sinister piece of land at Hickling, Nottinghamshire, known as ‘Jack Craft’.

• The reference in the Oxford Dictionary of Folklore clearly references our village.
• The only current/surviving references point to the Jack’s Croft cottages on Pudding Lane.
  • Chris Granger lists property ownership in 1856, including: Wm Collishaw jr renting from James Severn – Jack Croft, land, 9 acres 12 roods, rental value £4.05.00 pa.
• Interestingly the cottages currently known as 1&2 Jack’s Croft back on to a plot of land with disused farm buildings which is now recognised as a protected green/open space in the Conservation Area Appraisal. This piece of land is rough pasture and doesn’t appear to have been cultivated in the recent past (at least); it is often used for car parking for big village fundraising events.
  • We are in the very early stages of working on a new transcript of the Enclosure Schedule for Hickling (1775); although the shape of this field seems to be clearly delineated, we haven’t (so far) identified any references linking to Jack’s Croft/Land. Unfortunately, the field and current location of the Jack’s Croft cottages don’t have a separate number on the Enclosure Schedule and Map but the map does seem to show them together in a connected plot.
• The northern edge of the field is now bordered by the houses on Harles Acres; there are surviving photographs of Harles Acres when the area was still being farmed. It would be useful to identify older field boundaries and ownership to try to identify whether this area linking to the road has always/ever been viewed as ‘separate’ and any individual stories attached to it.