The common crane (Grus grus) is a tall, elegant waterbird, known for its complex courtship displays. It is the third most numerous crane species in the world, with an estimated population of around half a million. Its breeding range stretches from northern Europe to eastern Siberia, with the largest numbers found in Russia, Finland, and Sweden.
The British Isles lie at the western edge of this range, and until the 15th century, cranes were a familiar sight across Britain’s fenlands and wetlands. They were so plentiful that they featured regularly on the menu at medieval feasts. At the lavish enthronement of George Neville as Archbishop of York in September 1465, it is said that 204 of these elegant birds were served, alongside 4,000 mallards and teal, 1,000 egrets, 500 partridges, 400 woodcocks, 204 bitterns, 200 pheasants, and 100 curlews, as well as vast quantities of meat, fish, cakes, ale, and wine.
Cranes have left their mark in the archaeological record as well. Their bones have been discovered at dozens of sites across the British Isles, including Mesolithic locations such as Star Carr in Yorkshire, Gough’s Cave in Somerset, and Goldcliff East in Monmouthshire, the Neolithic Mount Pleasant henge in Dorset, an Iron Age settlement at Blunsdon St Andrew in Wiltshire, and various Roman sites including Wroxeter in Shropshire, Silchester in Hampshire, Stonea in Cambridgeshire, Caerleon in Newport, London Wall, and even Orkney off the northern coast of Scotland where the remains included a chick. These finds indicate that cranes were once widespread throughout Britain.
The remains of a now-extinct species of large crane, comparable in size to the sarus crane (Antigone antigone), that inhabits parts of the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, and northern Australia, have also been found at Bronze and Iron Age sites alongside bones of the common crane.
Further evidence of the crane’s historical presence in Britain can be found in place names. Most English place names are of Anglo-Saxon or Norse origin, dating back between 1,000 and 1,500 years. Birds are a common feature in many of these names, which usually consist of a noun paired with an adjective or two nouns placed side by side, with cranes among the most frequent.
Examples of English placenames that include cranes:
Cranfield – Old English cran + feld (open country)
Cranmore – Old English cran + mōr (marsh) or mere (lake)
Cranham – Old English cran + hamm (land surrounded by water)
Cranwich – Old English cran + wisc (marshy meadow)
Cransford – Old English cran + ford (ford)
Tranmere – Old Norse trani + melr (sandbank)
Tranwell – Old Norse trani + wella (spring)
As we have seen, cranes once inhabited parts of Scotland too. On the western bank of Loch Kinord in the Cairngorms lies an area known as Bogingore. Its original Gaelic name, Bogan Corra, translates as “little bog of the crane”, offering a linguistic clue to the bird’s past presence in the region.
Another piece of evidence linking cranes to Scotland comes from the Battle of Dun Nechtain, an important conflict fought on the 20th of May 685 between the Northumbrians, led by King Ecgfrith, and the Picts under King Brude mac Bile (also known as King Bridei III). The battle ended in a decisive Pictish victory, with Ecgfrith and much of his army killed. This defeat marked the end of Northumbrian dominance in northern Britain and affirmed Pictish independence.
The precise location of the battle remains uncertain. For centuries, it was known by its Norhumbrian name, Nechtansmere, meaning “Nechtan’s lake”. However, the 9th-century Welsh monk Nennius referred to the event as Gueith Linn Garan, Old Welsh for “Battle of Crane Lake”. This suggests that Linn Garan may have been the original Pictish name for the site, providing yet another historical link between cranes and the landscape of early medieval Scotland.
A bestiary is a compendium of animals, both real and mythical, accompanied by moralising descriptions. These books were among the most popular illuminated manuscripts in northern Europe during the Middle Ages.
In medieval bestiaries, cranes were depicted as vigilant sentinels, taking turns to keep watch for danger during the night. The crane on watch was said to hold a stone in its claw, so if it fell asleep, the stone would drop and wake it. This behaviour was interpreted allegorically: the watchful crane symbolised protection from the devil, safeguarding the flock, and the stone represented Christ, held in the crane’s mind. If the crane fell asleep, symbolising falling into sin, Christ would be forgotten, and the crane would then cry out in confession.
This symbolic image carried over into heraldry. Cranes were commonly shown standing on one leg, holding a stone in the claw of the raised leg, a motif known as a “crane in its vigilance” or “crane in his vigilance”.
A notable example appears in the coat of arms of the Borough of Waverley in Surrey. The crane represents one of the borough’s principal villages, Cranleigh, derived from the Old English cran (crane) and lēah (glade), where it’s thought cranes once bred at Vachery Pond.
Cranes were highly prized in falconry for both their size and the challenge they presented. Their ability to defend themselves with their sharp beaks made them a difficult and noble quarry. They were considered among the most prestigious birds to hunt, and gyrfalcons, gifted by Norwegian kings, were specially trained for the task. King John was particularly fond of crane hawking. It is recorded that on Holy Innocents’ Day, 28 December 1212, at Ashwell in Cambridgeshire, he brought down seven cranes and, in penance, fed fifty paupers. On an even more successful hunt in Lincolnshire in February 1213, he reportedly killed nine.
In addition to falconry, cranes were also caught using a rather unusual and ingenious, if somewhat cruel, method. Fowlers would craft paper cones and place them point-down in shallow holes in the ground. A small fish, used as bait, was placed at the bottom of each cone, and the inner surface was coated with birdlime, a sticky substance traditionally made by boiling holly bark for several hours until it formed a thick paste.
Attracted by the bait, the crane would thrust its head into the cone. As it did so, the birdlime would cling to its feathers, rendering it unable to fly. With its head covered and vision obscured by the cone, the bird became easy to catch.
Auceps e chartis confectos arte cucullos
Interius visco Unit : in scrobibus locat : indit
Pisa : venit Grus esuriens : rostrum ingerit : haeret
Charta oculos velans, volucri prohibetque volatum.
Cranes were valued for their meat and eggs, and recipes for preparing crane can be found in several medieval cookery books. One such example appears in A Noble Boke off Cookry ffor a Prynce Houssolde or Eny Other Estately Houssolde, one of the best-preserved early English recipe collections. Hand-written in Middle English for the aristocracy, it includes detailed instructions on how to prepare crane for the table.
A crayne rost
A crayne let him bled as a swann and draw hym at the vent then fold up his leggs and cut off his wings by the joint next to the body then wind the nek about the broche and put the bill in the brest against the wings and leggs as he gothe, and ye sauce hym tak and anynte hym and sauce hym with pouder of guinger mustard venygar and salt and serue it, also ye may sauce it with sauce pelito.
Let the crane bleed like a swan, then draw it at the vent. Fold its legs and cut off its wings at the joint next to the body. Next, tie the neck around the skewer and place the beak against the breast, aligning it with the wings and legs as it cooks. For the sauce, take some and season it with powdered ginger, mustard, vinegar, and salt before serving. You can also use pelito sauce for additional flavor.
At some point during this period, crane numbers began to seriously decline, with the population mostly confined to East Anglia, prompting the introduction of laws aimed at protecting them. In Cyfraith Hywel, the legal system of medieval Wales prior to the final English conquest, there are specific clauses relating to the hunting of cranes.
Tres aves non debent occidi in terra non sua sine licentia ipsius cuius terra est: scilicet, aquila, grus, corvus, id est, kycveran; quorum occisor xl denarios reddet.
Tri edyn ny dylyir eu llad ar tir dyn arall heb ganhat: eryr, a garan a chicuran: y neb a’e latho, talet dec a deugeint aryant.
Three birds that ought not be struck down on another’s land without permission from the one whose land it is: the eagle, the crane and the raven. Anyone who may strike them down pays forty pence.
Later, in 1533, Henry VIII passed the Acte ayenst Destruccyon of Wyldfowle, which prohibited the taking of cranes’ eggs. Violators faced a fine of twenty pence and up to a year in prison, the most severe penalty allowed under the Act.
However, it is unlikely these laws were introduced out of concern for wildlife conservation. More plausibly, they were intended to ensure a sufficient supply of game for the nobility to hunt and consume.
All of the above evidence strongly suggests that cranes were once breeding birds in the British Isles, not merely winter visitors.
But less than a decade after Henry VIII’s Act of Parliament, the last recorded evidence of cranes breeding in Britain appears. In June 1542, the Chamberlains of Norwich noted a payment of five shillings for a “young pyper crane” taken from Hickling in Norfolk.
Later, in 1603, George Owen’s Description of Pembrokeshire includes an account of the crane’s nesting habits, though he does not specifically indicate whether breeding was still occurring successfully at that time.
in the bogs breed the crane, the bitten, the wild duck, teal, and diverse others of that kind
The crane’s extinction in Britain is most commonly attributed to overhunting and habitat loss, particularly due to land drainage, most notably the draining of the Fens.
While there is some evidence of Roman hydraulic systems in the Fens, along with limited medieval drainage efforts and a short-lived scheme under Charles I in the 1630s, large-scale success did not come until the 1820s, when wind-powered pumps were replaced by steam engines. By that time, however, cranes had already vanished from Britain.
This suggests that hunting was the primary cause of their decline. Cranes had been hunted in Britain since Roman times. They were considered a delicacy and frequently appeared at lavish medieval feasts. In addition to the 204 cranes served at George Neville’s enthronement feast mentioned above, we know that 115 were served at Henry III’s Christmas banquet in York in 1251 to celebrate his daughter Margaret’s marriage to Alexander III of Scotland. Richard II also held a grand feast in the late 14th century that included over 100 waterbirds, among them cranes, herons, and curlews, indicating that cranes were still relatively plentiful during that period.
By the 16th century, however, their numbers had sharply declined. In 1528, the French ambassador visiting London was presented with twelve cranes. Yet, by the time Queen Elizabeth I visited Kirtling in Cambridgeshire on 1 September 1577, an event of far greater importance, only a single crane was offered, in stark contrast to the ‘seventy bitterns, twenty-eight young herons, and twelve spoonbills’ provided for her entertainment.
What happened in that relatively short span of time to cause such a dramatic decline?
The answer appears to lie in the development of firearms during the 16th century. The shift from bows and arrows to muskets and rifles revolutionised hunting. The crane, being a large bird and relatively easy to approach, became an easy target. Accounts from the Le Strange family of Hunstanton, now the longest surviving gentry family in Norfolk, record cranes being killed with guns in 1533.
This new technology enabled hunters to kill cranes in greater numbers than ever before, accelerating their decline and ultimately contributing to their extinction in Britain.
Although cranes had ceased breeding in Britain, they continued to be recorded as migratory visitors during autumn and winter. For instance, Volume 12 of the Wiltshire Archaeological and Natural History Magazine, published in August 1869, notes that although the bird had become exceedingly scarce, an occasional straggler still appeared at rare intervals.
The magazine also recounts an interesting anecdote from Mr James Waylen regarding a sighting of a crane in Wiltshire.
“In 1783, it was recorded in the Salisbury paper that a gentleman shot a Crane, on whose leg was found a piece of copper which he himself had attached in the year 1767, after having caught the same bird by means of a hawk: the copper plate bore his initials, and the date 1767”. I am afraid that I have no more modern instance of the occurrence of the Crane in Wiltshire.’
Similarly, Volume I of the Magazine of Natural History and Journal of Zoology, Botany, Mineralogy, Geology, and Meteorology, published in May 1837 and edited by Edward Charlesworth, mentions that flocks of cranes once frequented the marshes of Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire, but had now become increasingly rare.
“In September, 1826, a fine specimen was shot in the parish of Buckland Monachorum, near Plymouth, which is now in Mr. Drew’s collection; it was wounded in the wing, and made a most desperate resistance.”
