turn were overcome by the Normans by 1100 AD. Leading into the Medieval period The primary industry was agriculture, but iron was smelted too, good timber and charcoal was produced, and grain was milled. Local craftsmen produce some cloth, make clothing, farm implements, and utensils while others provide transport services and labour. Cragg was part of a township called Cruttonstall (later called Erringden) and adjacent to the township of Sowerby (Sorebi from the Norse). All the land between Cragg and Sowerby was gradually cleared of dense forest to make way for agriculture as the population grew. The land to the West, and a large part of Cragg Vale, was soon to be partly cleared and 'impaled' as a huge deer park and royal hunting ground. Medieval In late Medieval times the deer park fell into disrepair and was finally dispaled. Knights no longer took the rough ride down The Withens toward Wakefield tourney. The wild boars, stags and wolves were in serious decline and sheep were now the major local industry. 18th and 19th century During the late 18th century, the area was the home of a band of counterfeiters known as the Cragg Coiners. Having a good supply of water from the moors, Cragg was always a likely home for industry based on water power. From mid-1700 onwards, water then steam power, and combined water wheel and steam engines dominated the valley with the cloth mills. There were a number of families involved in mill ownership during this time. Sutcliffes, Greenwoods, and Hinchliffes amongst others. Yet in 1758 there were but 3 mills in Cragg. A paper mill (just up from and on the opposite side of the main road the Robin Hood Inn), a corn mill (at Hoo Hole), and a mill for fulling woven cloth from the farms. The water driven mills that flourished at Turvin, Marshaw Village (by the Hinchliffe Arms pub) and on Elphin Brook (down Cragg Vale) posed no real threat to local farm based weavers at that time. However, from 1808 onwards things began to change alarmingly for the worse. Steam power was heavily adopted from around 1805 on. Child labour became the norm. Now began the mill owners infamous abuses. At one time or another from 1740 to the early 20th century there have existed around 11 mills in Cragg. Turvin, Victoria, and Pepper Bank mills on Turvin Brook; Marshaw (opposite the