Review of 2024

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Well – this year has seen the Website relaunched, with new mapping software. For all of 2023 it was down and not accessible. While not the same as the previous version, it is working and functional – and can be managed by the team rather than needing technical support – which makes it more adaptable and editable….

The new website format

Most of 2024 has been spent trying to tackle updating those counties which don’t yet have full descriptions. At the start of 2024 I set myself the challenge of looking at the records for a DMV every day of the year…… As with all New Year’s resolutions – it did not quiet happen – but we have made headway! At the start of the year I was half-way through Hampshire, and this has been completed along with Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Isle of Wight and just now Kent! Those who know your Pre-1974 counties will be crying – what about Herefordshire! That is being handled by a former student – and we will come to that one in the future!

So by the end of the year I completed the last 22 sites for Hampshire, the 44 for Hertfordshire, 18 for Huntingdonshire, 32 for Isle of Wight and 69 for Kent…… so 185 sites – not quiet the 300 odd I was hoping for – but I got disillusioned with Kent – more on that in the next post! So these sites will appear on the website by the end of February – the editing and chasing down references needs completing – but they will appear soon!

I will also be moving onto to large counties this year – Leicestershire and Lincolnshire…… the latter has over 200 DMVs listed so we will have to see if I can make it through all of them for this time next year!

Let us see how far we get in 2025!

Kent Part 4….

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This week was not as productive and we only managed to look at 5 of the sites – with some mysteries along the way!

  • Estochingesberge
  • Etretone
  • Fairfield
  • Fawkham
  • Gore’s End

So Estochingesberge must have been listed as the Domesday manor of Stochingeberge, with the only example of the former spelling coming from the Domesday Moncharum, a later text which copies much of the original Domesday Book. As this place has been associated with Stockbury which still exists, this is a doubtful DMV.

Etretone was a similar case of an unidentified Domesday Manor, but has been attributed to Atterton by the Phillimore Edition of the Domesday Book which is now in the suburbs of Dover, and was probably always in this area.

The church at Fairfield is in a spectacular location surrounded by marshes, but probably was never the location of a nucleated settlement.

Oast House Archive / St Thomas-A-Becket Church, Fairfield, Kent / CC BY-SA 2.0

The village of Fawkham still exists and most of the documentary record is related to this site, but the gazetteer places the marker for this site 2.7km to the south at Fawkham Green. It will take some more investigation to work out why!

Gore’s End has a intriguing name….. but was there ever a settlement located in this area? The Gazetteer has it at Upper Gore End Farm – but there is no taxation record for a settlement…..

What will next week bring? Will there be any clear evidence of DMVs in Kent?

Kent part 3

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Last week we explored again a number of suggested DMV sites but with very little evidence of actual nucleated settlement that was present in the Middle Ages but has since been deserted. Most of them are manorial centres. But there is hope at one of the sites for evidence of medieval settlement!

  • Dowdes
  • Eastbridge
  • Eastenhanger
  • Ebony
  • Eddintone
  • Elmley
  • Essella

Dowdes or Dode is now a wedding venue and marketed as the Lost Village of Dode. Unfortunately there is no concrete evidence of a settlement at the church. There are no taxation records for a settlement, and archaeological work in the area has not identified any settlement.

Eastbridge lies on Romney Marsh with the ruins of the church surrounded by a ditch being the only remnants. A nice aerial photograph can be seen here: https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/aerial-photos/record/26133_042

Eastenhanger was a manor next to Westenhanger and both were probably built over with the construction of the fortified house Westenhanger Castle. There has been little evidence found of settlement close to these manorial centres (Westenhanger also appears on the list of DMVs).

Ebony – excavations at the isolated church in the 1970s and 1980s provided some tantalising evidence of possible settlement, but it has also been interpreted as evidence of a market. For more info see Searching for Ebony from the Kent Archaeological Society.

Eddintone – an unlocated Domesday Manor which included a mill.

Elmley is on the Isle of Sheppey. The church was damaged in 1944 and demolished in 1953. There is no evidence the church was at the centre of a nucleated settlement.

Essella is another unlocated Domesday settlement – more of these to come next week!

Kent part 2 – possible first evidence of a DMV?

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This week we continued the look at the deserted villages in Kent. While most of these again are suggested to have never been medieval nucleated settlement, at least one site does have some excavated evidence. This week we looked at:

  • Boughton Malherbe
  • Bredhurst
  • Buckland
  • Cildresham
  • Cottington
  • Darenth
  • Denton

Boughton Malherbe was the centre of a large parish in much of the taxation record but the church and Boughton Place were probably a manorial centre of an area of scattered settlement

Bredhurst church is located to the southeast of the present day settlement of Bredhurst. Excavations close to the church in 1921 and 1964 uncovered remains of buildings and pottery suggesting tantalising evidence of medieval settlement, but was this just evidence of a manorial centre? Unfortunately the records of the earlier excavations are all lost but a summary is available here.

Buckland is another example of an isolated church that decayed in the sixteenth century with very little remaining above ground level. May never have been the centre of a village.

Cildresham another unidentified Domesday record, however in 1798 Hasted suggested it was Luddenham, although this has not been adopted by the Philimore edition of the Domesday Book.

Cottington was also known as Cotmanton and a chapel is recorded in 1291 at the manor house, but no other taxation records mention Cottington, and so it seems that there was never a settlement there.

Darenth is suggestive of dispersed settlement with one of the manors at Domesday including 5 burgesses of Rochester. It may never have been a large settlement, however the church is very early in date, with 10th century elements.

Denton is now part of the urban sprawl of Gravesend. The church was in ruins in the sixteenth century which may indicate depopulation in the area, but this might have been the parish rather than a settlement.

So end to the second week of settlements in Kent……

We are back…….Kent – the start of a new county

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OK – so the blog and activity on the website has been quiet for the last few months….. the summer then start of trimester got in the way…. so the grand challenge of researching one village a day has fallen by the wayside – it was going so well! But we are here now and starting a new county – Kent……

In 1968 there were 69 deserted villages listed by Beresford and Hurst (1971). As with a number of other counties away from the Midlands, the nature of the identification of these villages has been called into question. The presence of isolated churches was often taken to be the sign of a deserted settlement, when the nature of settlement in the area, with much dispersed settlement, may point to a more complex picture. Also the Lay Subsidy of 1334 was only recorded at Hundred level so one of our important sources identifying settlements is missing for the county. So far we have looked at:

  • Acrise
  • Afetune
  • Aia
  • Betteshanger
  • Billerica
  • Bircholt
  • Blackmanstone

Acrise – as we will see with Kent, a number of DMVs were identified on the basis of an isolated church such as Acrise. Betteshanger is also another example with a manor house and a church but no other evidence of settlement.

Afetune and Aia are Domesday Manors but no other evidence – and they remain unlocated.

Billerica – suggested to be located at Court-le-Street and the centre of supposed miracles in the sixteenth century. Elizabeth Barton was renowened for her visions, but in the end was executed by Henry VII. Read her tale in the Transaction of the Royal Historical Society for 1904.

Bircholt – this is the name of the taxation hundred and appears from Domesday onwards. There is little evidence of a medieval settlement. Bircholt Court is sixteenth-century in date, and a church is recorded in this area, but there are no visible remains for a village.

Blackmanstone – another site of a former church long since vanished but no clear evidence of a settlement at the church.

Onto the next 7 settlements next week!

Isle of Wight – part 5 – to completion

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This week has taken us to the end of the Isle of Wight. Overall this has been a complex set of ‘villages’ as may of them seem to be no more than manorial settlements. Many are recorded in Domesday, but do not develop into nucleated settlements. Some have a later taxation record, but not all of them. Where it is present sometimes what would seem like a large number of people are recorded. This could be suggestive of dispersed settlement across the area. The settlements looked at this week where:

  • Stenbury
  • Thorley
  • Watchingwell
  • Week
  • Wolverton

Stenbury does have some evidence of settlement and is scheduled as a deserted medieval village, however there is only one clear building platform.

Thorley is a suggested to be located at the site of the manor and church, and then possibly migrated to the present day location at Thorley Street. The alternative suggestion is that the settlement may have always been an Thorley Street, and the manor and church were isolated away from the village.

Watchingwell has a very early mentioned in AD 949 but was there ever a settlement there. There are presently two farms with this name – Upper and Lower – but there is no evidence of settlement at either.

Week was a manorial settlement but there is a good tax record for a population but where did they live?

Wolverton is a complex site as there are two Wolverton’s recorded at Domesday on the Isle of Wight. The one recorded in the Gazetteer is only recorded in a field name, however a manor site and chapel have been excavates in Centurion’s Copse in the nineteenth century and again in the 1930s.

So we are taking a short break in the initial research of settlements to catch up with editing – and then we will be back in a week’s time to start Kent!

Isle of Wight part 4

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Again this week not much evidence of nucleated settlement. Plenty of evidence of Domesday manors – but unclear if there was ever a village there. This week we reviewed:

  • Moor Farm
  • Nunwell
  • Orham
  • Penna and Fairlee
  • Preston
  • Scotchells
  • Standen

Moor Farm was recorded in Domesday as Lamore and some of the land was in hands of Quarr Abbey.

Nunwell was possibly attacked in 1377 during French raids, but it is also reported that the manor house and 50 houses were burnt to the ground in c. 1521. Little evidence for the location of these 50 houses is present, but it is suggested to have been to the west of the present house.

Orham was an unlocated Domesday name but Kokeritz suggests it may be Bembridge – which is still there!

Penna and Fairlee were often recorded together on the taxation record – most likely the explanation for them appearing together on the Gazetteer but suggested locations are 1.65 km apart.

Preston a hall is recorded at Domesday but there are no signs of extensive medieval settlement and the area has now been subsumed into Ryde.

Scotchells – Domesday Scaldeford but no further evidence of medieval settlement.

And Standen on the Gazetteer is West Standen on the ground – the northern part of the Manor of Standen – but has a patchy taxation record…… a bit of a puzzle!

Next week will bring us to the end of the Isle of Wight!

Kokeritz, H. 1940. The Place-names of the Isle of Wight. Uppsala: Nomina Germanica.

Isle of Wight Part 3

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This week the listed sites again posed some issues. Many are mentioned in Domesday as a landholding, but then do not appear in later taxation records, suggesting that either it was such a small settlement it was included with the tax record of another, or perhaps there was never a nucleated settlement there. The sites looked at this week were…..

  • Heasley
  • Heceford
  • Kerne
  • Kingston
  • Knighton
  • Levegarestun
  • Luccombe

At the time of Domesday Heasley was one of the largest manors on the Isle of Wight, but it does not appear to develop into a nucleated settlement but is instead as a grange of Quarr Abbey, the only independent monastic site on the Isle of Wight.

Heceford was an unlocated Domesday place name when the Gazetteer was published but has been shown to be Yafford, a present settlement. A number of these early Domesday names had actually been identified by Kokeritz in 1940, but this must have not been known at the time of the Gazetteer.

Kern – often recorded with other settlements in the taxation records, and probably always a manorial settlement.

Kingston Manor house and church have thirteenth century evidence, but no signs of a nucleated settlement. Tax record suggests low payments apart from in 1379 when 51 people are listed on the Poll Tax record.

Knighton – large taxation record but no clear evidence. Suggested large medieval hall at Knighton Goyes, but this was destroyed in 1821, and a large area has been affected by water works.

Levegarestun was an unlocated Domesday settlement but has since been identified as Loverston, although there is limited evidence of nucleated settlement.

Luccombe was again a Domesday manor, and then was in the hands of Quarr Abbey until the Dissolution. It is most likely that the grange of Quarr Abbey was located at the site of the present day Luccombe Farm, however the Gazetteer placed the location of the settlement at the modern day Luccombe village which in fact was not built until the 1930s.

Now to see what next week brings!

Hockey, S.F. 1970. Quarr Abbey and its Lands 1132-1631. London: Leicester University Press.

Kokeritz, H. 1940. The Place-names of the Isle of WIght. Uppsala: Nomina Germanica.

Isle of Wight – part 2

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This week the seven supposed deserted villages all posed problems, with no clear examples of deserted nucleated villages……

  • Briddlesford
  • Compton
  • Durton
  • Haldley
  • Hale
  • Hardley

Briddlesford is not recorded in any taxations, and the only mention in the 1327 Lay Subsidy is that the parson of Briddlesford pay the Lay Subsidy in Wootton. No evidence of a taxed settlement at Briddlesford, and no physical remains.

Durton – a Domesday Manor but with a minimum population of two – never seems to have been a centre for a nucleated settlement.

Haldley – the gazetteer has it in Gatcome park in an area of earthworks that have been recorded but this is probably not Haldley which is located in Carisbrooke parish in all the records – these earthworks must be a different settlement.

Hale has a Jacobean manor house but no sign of settlement evidence. The area surrounding Manor Farm has been covered by extensive evaluation work but this just identified field boundaries and no settlement evidence.

Hardley has completely disappeared from the map with the only record being in a field name near Bembridge Farm.

All in all many settlements that have now been classes as doubtful deserted medieval villages, hopefully next week will bring some better examples!

Isle of Wight

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So the journey begins with our next county. Although in the 1968 Gazetteer of sites, the Isle of Wight list was included with Hampshire, it was a separate administrative county pre-1974, when it also became its own ceremonial county. We are therefore tackling it separate to Hampshire, although many of the records overlap. In 1968 there were 32 known deserted villages. This week we have tackled the first 7:

  • Alba
  • Afton
  • Alvington
  • Ashey
  • Atherfield
  • Bernardsley
  • Billingham

There are a number of unlocated Domesday settlements on the Isle of Wight. The first up is Alba that was recorded with Niton – which is present in the modern day landscape, but there are no signs of Alba, and it may never have been a settlement.

Afton is also a Domesday manor, with a large population into the 14th century, but the location of this settlement is not clear with a number of different suggestions including Afton Manor, near the tidal mill, at West Afton or under the present day village.

Alvington although mentioned in Domesday had already lost part of its land for the building of Carisbrooke Castle and may have lost the population there or been subsumed into the settlement at Carisbrooke.

Ashey was not mentioned in Domesday but was in the hands of the Abbey of Whetwell by 1228. There were 47 people who paid the poll tax in 1379. But then the settlement declines.

Atherfield – there is no sign of the settlement and a number of possible locations – perhaps suggesting this was always dispersed.

Bernardsley – or Barnsley was two land holdings at Domesday and probably always dispersed settlement.

At Billingham there is very little evidence for a settlement physically or in the documentary record. It was partly suggested as it was named a township in a 1342 wool tax, but not in other records.

So in this first week we have looked at a number of complex settlements, with little evidence of activity so far! Onto the next 7….