Huntingdonshire Part 3 – the finale

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So this week we completed the sites listed in 1968 that were classed as Deserted Medieval Villages. The final four were:

  • Washingley
  • Weald
  • Wintringham
  • Woolley

Washingley – an area of earthworks is clearly visible with deep hollow ways running through the site.

Weald is probably a late desertion – when the main road that once ran through the village was diverted in the 18th-19th century. However this also came on the back of the chapel having last been recorded in 1570 suggesting the settlement may have already been struggling.

Wintringham, located just to the west of Weald – the moated site was excavated in the 1970s as much of the area of earthworks was being ploughed. The southern area of settlement appears to have been abandoned in the late 14th century, and the focus moved north. Three house plots excavated near the southern moated site show short-lived occupation.

Overall Huntingdonshire has a number of really interesting sites. 18 were listed in 1968, and of these, 8 are scheduled ancient monuments. We now move onto the Isle of Wight………

Huntingdonshire Week 2 – and a golf course

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Sites looked at this week include one now surrounded by a gold course. I have often wondered how many DMVs are now residing in gold courses – I should keep a list! There are at least two I knew of before this one today – and probably more I have forgotten about! Highlights below and the villages looked at this week are:

  • Hardwick
  • Midloe
  • Overston
  • Sibson
  • Steeple Gidding
  • Upthorpe
  • Wood Walton

Hardwick was also known as Eynesbury Hardwick or Puttocks Hardwick. A moated site exits and some settlement evidence has been suggested to the north of the moat but this area as been obscured by a golf course. A chapel is recorded by 1222 and work at the house on the moat found stonework which may be connected with this structure.

Midloe was a grange of Walden Abbey, and a moated manor probably marks this spot, but there is little evidence of a settlement. There are no taxation records before the 17th century and the earthworks to the north of the manor probably represent small fields.

Overston on the list may relate to Ogerston a manor of the Templars – but there is little evidence for settlement here. And the location is complex – the current manor farm is located away from the moated site, probably the site of the Templar manor.

Sibson is now cut through by the A1. Earthworks that were were presented can be seen on early aerial photos and were excavated ahead of the road construction.

Wood Walton had 3 areas of settlement. In the south is the moated manor site along with present settlement. 1.2km north is the isolated church. The a further 500m north is Wood Walton castle. It is unclear if the settlement has always been at the present village site or if there was any nucleated settlement at the church or castle.

Next week will see the last few sites in Huntingdonshire completed and the work of chasing down references begun!

The start of Huntingdonshire

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So this week we are moving onto the start of the initial look at the deserted villages that appear on the Gazetteer in 1969. A small county, and now part of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough. There are only 18 sites altogether….. this week has looked at:

  • Boughton
  • Caldecote
  • Catworth, Little
  • Colne
  • Conington
  • Coppingford
  • Little Gidding

Boughton is a scheduled site, like a number of the sites this week and has visible earthwork remains. Vist the collection of aerial photographs in the Cambridge Aerial Photograph collection for detailed views of the earthworks.

Caldecote another scheduled site this time Historic England have a number of excellent photographs.

Little Catworth is recorded in Domesday but not again in tax records until the 16th century. Seems either to have always been hidden in the early tax record of other settlements or perhaps did not exists as a settlement until later.

Colne has been suggested to be a deserted settlement by the presence of an isolated church, but the present settlement includes 17th and 16th century structures – even after a devastating fire, suggesting it may have been an earlier centre of settlement. There are two moated sites known, one to the west of the church now destroyed, one to the east near the present village. These match the two manors known from the historical record.

Coppingford is one of a number of deserted settlements in the Cambridgeshire area that was surveyed and published in the Proceedings of the Cambridgeshire Antiquarian Society in the 1970s.

Little Gidding has a complex history. The medieval village appears to have been deserted by the end of the 16th century, however a second lease of life was given in the 17th century based at the Ferrar’s manor house when a short-lived religious community is established. This came to an end though by the end of the century, and the settlement remained deserted after this point.

Onwards with the next seven sites next week.

Hertfordshire Part 6

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So the last sites and the end of Hertfordshire! Well for the first run through the data – there is all the checking and cross-referencing to do yet! Some of the highlights of these last few sites are given below….

  • Thorley
  • Thocking
  • Thundridge
  • Tiscott
  • Wakeley
  • Welei
  • Wickham
  • Windridge
  • Wlwenewiche

Thorley is an example of an isolated church and manor, with some suggestion of possible settlement migration but more likely story as with many settlements in Hertfordshire is that the tax record is noting dispersed settlement.

Thocking has ploughed out evidence of settlement to the south of the church and two moated sites. The population would always seem to have been small when looking at the tax records with 6 people paying in 1307.

Thundridge is located on Ermine street, although the medieval church and manor are located 900m to the east. The isolated position of the church has led to this being included as a DMV, however there is no evidence of nucleated settlement around this area. It would appear that settlement on Ermine Street would have also been the centre of medieval settlement. The HER suggest that the ditched enclosure surrounding the church and manor may suggest an earlier late Saxon original as a defensive structure which may explain why it is located away from the settlement.

Tiscott was discovered in the 1950s from aerial photographs that show earthworks. Much of the surrounding ridge and furrow has since been ploughed out but a holloway and enclosures survive.

Wakeley has evidence of holloway and 3 enclosures. Welei was an unlocated Domesday settlement when the Gazetteer was first created. Since then there have been at least 4 suggested sites.

Windridge – complex landscape outside St Albans with a possible Roman villa and fort – but a small area of potential medieval settlement.

Wlwenewiche – again a Domesday name – probably not the centre of a settlement. Has been located to two fields to the west of Stevenage which are recorded as Woolwicks on a Tithe map – but these are now built over. Probably never a nucleated settlement.

OK- so next up will be Huntingdonshire – I am taking a break from the challenge of a site day to edit the sites from Hampshire and Hertfordshire so they can be added to the main website. Don’t fear – I have managed to do a couple more sites as I have gone along – so we have some slack – and will catch up again when we start Huntingdonshire!

Hertfordshire Part 5 – a town destroyed!

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This week – 7 more sites completed! Here are some of the highlights with reported town that was destroyed and others with a suggested different medieval location…….

  • Great Munden
  • Oxewiche
  • Pendley
  • Stagenhoe
  • Stanstead Abbots
  • Stevenage
  • Stiwicesworde

Great Munden – clear evidence of dispersed settlement across a wide area – with no evidence of nucleated settlement at the church, as is the case with many of the suggested DMVs in Hertfordshire.

Oxewiche – a landholding mentioned in Domesday but even at that point had probably disappeared as it is recorded that Codicote and Oxwick had been two manors before 1066 but were now one – Codicote survives, Oxwick all but disappears from the record.

At Pendley it is recorded in 1506 that about 80 years ago ‘a great town, whereof part lay in the parish of Tring and part in the parish of Aldbury. The part in the parish of Tring was held of the archbishop of Canterbury as of his manor of Tring and the part in the parish of Aldbury of the manor of Aldbury. At that time there was no great mansionhouse there, but there were in the town above thirteen plows besides divers handicraft men, as tailors, shoemakers and cardmakers with divers others. The town was afterwards cast down and laid to pasture by Sir Robert Whittingham, who built the said place at the west end there as the town sometimes stood, for the town was in the east and south part of the same place.’ See the Victoria County History for the account. No remains of the town have so far been spotted.

Stanstead Abbots – 7 burgesses at Domesday – but the medieval settlement is likely to be at the current location and it was just the manorial centre and church that were isolated. Likewise, Stevenage has an isolated church and manor – even though now they have been encroached upon. But it is likely the medieval settlement was always where the old town is centred. Two examples where the medieval manor stayed away from the hustle and bustle of the economic centre.

Stiwicesworde an unloacted Domesday landholding which the Phillimore editions record as Stetchworth, but with the possibility this is the one and the same manor of this name recorded in Cambridgeshire….

More next week – nearly at the end of the list of settlements in Hertfordshire from 1968 – for more info on the list – see our main website: Beresford’s Lost VIllages. Most of the list have been shown to be unlikely DMVs!

Hertfordshire Part 4 – Domesday puzzles

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This week the quest continues with these 7 sites…… we have now passed the half-way mark looking at the 44 sites in Hertfordshire…..

  • Hainstone
  • Hodenhoe
  • Ichetone
  • Lewarewiche
  • Libury
  • North Mimms
  • Minsden

This week there was a lot of unpicking Domesday entries – for more information on the Domesday Book as a resource and the information it contains see the sources section of our main website.

Hainstone is an unlocated Domesday Manor but the Phillimore Editions of the Domesday Book (these ones really dig much deeper into the entries and should be anyone’s key source for Domesday) not that this may well be Hinxworth that still survives….. for their full explanation you need to read their notes section!

Ichetone does not suffer from being an unlocated Domesday Manor – but has too many other names! There are 5 records at Domesday but they are all noted as Buntingford by the Phillimore editions. It was also mentioned as belonging to Layston but this is just the church and has been identified as the one and the same as Ichetone. In both cases they have been said to be subsumed in the area of Buntingford.

Lewarewiche was unidenitifed Domesday manor but was identified as Leverage/Levenage by the Phillimore edition. Leverage is only represented by Leverage Springs on modern maps, but common land was noted on the Tithe maps. So now identifed, but in an area that appears to have no evidence of settlement and not later records than the Domesday entry.

Libury was known as Stuteshele in the Domesday Book and was mentioned in no less than 12 entiries, recording over 10 hides. There were only 11 people recorded across all entries. Libury Hall is now just a modern care home (although interesting history as a farm colony opened in 1900 to support unemployed German-speaking men). This was probably a manorial centre in the medieval period and never a nucleated settlement.

North Mimms is a clear Domesday Manor with a large population – and a population that continues through the surviving taxation records – but seems to have never been a nucleated settlement – this was recognised by the VCH who say ‘It may be said of North Mimms that it consists of many hamlets rather than of one compact village’.

Minsden – not so much of a puzzle, manor at Domesday and ruined church at the site, but was never a nucleated settlement.

Onwards to the next 7 sites!

Hertfordshire part 3 – and a murder!

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This week we have moved onto the next 7 sites….. Again much evidence of dispersed settlement and many of these were probably never a nucleated medieval village but a scatter of hamlets and farms.

  • Chesfield
  • Cockenach
  • Cockhamsted
  • Corney Bury
  • Digswell
  • Flaunden
  • Gilston

All that survives at Chesfield are the ruins of the church and the manor. It was always connected in the records with nearby Graveley – but it seems that there was some medieval rivalry. The parsons of the churches and Graveley came to blows as in 1384 the parson of Graveley was pardoned for murdering the parson of Chesfield! See the VCH for the story!

Cocknach is mentioned in the Domesday Book, but only in 1220 on the E179 database that records tax records from the 13th to 17th centuries. Cocknach hall survives but looks like there was never a settlement. Cockhamstead is similar with no later taxation records.

A village history of Digswell was written by Dora Ward in 1953. It seems like there are very few copies available (my library could not find one to borrow!) – but what seems to be suggested is that the main settlement at Digswell was away from the manor and church, and lay instead at Digswell Water, 900m to the east.

Flaunden – a ruined medieval chapel but no medieval tax record! Was there ever a settlement here? Where was the location of the manor of Flaunden and where was it administered from have remained unresolved, but the chapel was a rare cross-shape in design and had wall paintings, but is now sadly lost.

And a note on locations – while reviewing the villages of Hertfordshire – it is clear that a number of the longitude and latitude conversions of the original grid references have been inputted incorrectly – and settlements to the east of the Greenwich meridian that goes through the country have been placed to the west of the line. I am correcting these as I go on the master database, and will hand edit those on the website in batches – so just beware if you are looking at the following sites that need correcting!

  • Beauchamps
  • Bozen
  • Cocknach
  • Cockhamsted
  • Gilston

Hertfordshire part 2 – the quest continues

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So this week the focus has continued on Hertfordshire and more interesting stories. It includes two of the excavated sites in Hertfordshire. The sites that were researched this week are:

  • Boxbury
  • Bozen
  • Bricewolde
  • Brickenden
  • Broadfield
  • Burston
  • Caldecote

Boxbury is associated with the remains of the village of Box. Located on Forest Commision land are a range of earthworks which some suggested were a village while others suggest this is a much smaller site, linked to the dispersed settlement in the area. Boxbury Farm lies to the north and possibly was the manorial centre. A chapel is recorded at Box but is location is uncertain but 18th century writers note seeing the ruins. A report by the Forestry Commission from 1961 can be accessed freely but needs to be read with caution due to the time it was produced, and some of our thinking has progressed since then.

Bozen or Bordesden is a small settlement that although known from the medieval period only really disappeared in the last 100 years. A local recounts how the last residence left when five of the last six cottages burnt down in 1920s.

Bricewolde is the first unlocated site in Hertfordshire. Mentioned in the lands of two Domesday landholders – but no further references. It was in Hertford hundred, but that is as much as we know of any suggested location, and it was very small. Perhaps never a settlement?

Broadfield was excavated in 1974 with the church being revealed. A very small structure, the HER does question why it was so small, but the burials inside the church confirm it was a church. This was excavated using small trenches to reveal key features. In contrast the excavations at Caldecote were open areas were used. Excavated between 1973 and 1977 was the area of 6 houses, the moated manor house site and the rectory. The results of these excavations have been published, but 30 years later.

The excavation report tackles the difficultly with clearly identifying the early houses on the site with limited post-hole evidence.

Next week – more settlements in Hertfordshire!

The start of Hertfordshire

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Week 4 of the challenge brings extra complexity. As I continue editing the entries for Hampshire, I have to turn my attention to those from Hertfordshire – 44 sites in total. Those of you who are eagle-eyed will notice I have missed Herefordshire – this is being tackled by a former student of mine and are outside the scope of the challenge! With a new county comes the compling of county specific sources – so for Herefordshire there are a small number of publications on taxations and population statistics from the Herefordshire Record Office – and those are now winging their way to me. Back in 1973, K Rutherford Davies published Deserted Medieval Villages of Hertfordshire, with a second edition in 1983….. no longer available luckily there are copies in the MVRG archive.

Deserted settlements recorded in Hertfordshire with a concentration in the north of the county.

The villages studied this week were:

  • Alswick
  • Ayot St Lawrence
  • Ayot St Peter
  • Barnet, East
  • Beauchamps
  • Berkesden
  • Betlow

So far all 7 sites in Hertfordshire have thrown up questions whether they should be classed as DMVs. As the Hertfordshire HER notes, many have been listed without the full understanding of the settlement pattern of the region which saw much dispersed settlement. As examples see Alswick, Ayot St Peter and Betlow.

Alswick was most likely evidence of dispersed settlement with a manorial core. There was a chapel but no right of burial at the site. Alswick Hall was a timber-framed building but burnt down in 1965 and was rebuilt. See this photograph from the Historic England Collections.

Ayot St Peter has a number of possible locations for a core to the medieval settlement – if there was one! The gazetteer has it at the current church but this was built in 1875. The previous churches were located 600m to the northwest. Here the earliest identified church was built after 1732 when the medieval church was knocked down – but the location of the medieval church is not known. The 1732 church was then replaced in 1862, only for this church to be stuck by lightening in 1874. May explain why they chose a new site to build church in 1875. For more information on the churches see Hertfordshire Historic Environment Record. So where was the medieval core? We know there was a church and this was most likely close to the manorial centre – but we have two options for this as well. Ayot Bury in its small park or Ayot Place with evidence of early 17th century elements to the current building. Again we do not know!

Betlow Farm is a 15th Century Hall House – but only 400m south of the deserted village earthworks of Aldwick. Aldwick did not make it on to the 1968 Gazetteer, but there is a possibility that the Betlow farm was associated with this settlement. Betlow does not appear in any taxations records, but Betlow was a manor and Aldwick was attached to Betlow – so it seems they are both closely connected.

Next week brings more Hertfordshire sites – and hopefully some definite settlement remains!

Week 3 of the challenge

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This week I have covered:

  • Weston Corbett
  • Widley
  • Winchfield
  • Winslade
  • Wolverton
  • Little Worldham
  • Wymering

Weston Corbett is an interesting site. A small parish in its own right originally, now just a farm and Weston Corbett house. A church is first mentioned in 1305, but is noted as ruinous in 1586. There are some faint indications around the area of a deserted settlement more likely a hamlet than an village – as it was right across the road from its neighbour Weston Patrick – sitting cheek by jowl. Weston Patrick continues, and the parishes are now merged. So a small hamlet that seems outpaced by its neighbour.

The Ws have thrown up a little cluster of DMVs just to the north of Portsmouth: Wanstead, Wellsworth, Widley and Wymering. Widley had a church which was rebuilt in 1849 but now no longer stands – there are two suggested sites for the DMV – one at Mill Farm next to the location of the church and one to the east at Widley Farm.

Winslade was a parish in its own right but was united with that of Kempshott in 1393 as the parishes were too poor to support two churches. A survey of the time records no people residing at Kempshott and only 3 in Winslade. The Victoria County History explores this in more detail.

The final site on the Gazetteer in Hampshire is Wymering, now engulfed by housing in a suburb of Portsmouth…. but was there an actual village there in the medieval period? Plenty of evidence of population but could that be dispersed settlement.

With that site, it brings us to the end of the first review of the sites from Hampshire. Now comes editing and reference chasing. It will take time to edit the material before it ends up on the website, but now the challenge moves to Hertfordshire….