A Deserted Medieval Village in England

People and Things: Power in Early English Development

“…In the 1970s archaeologists relied on historicist arguments and tenatively dated settlement reorganization to events after the Norman Conquest or episodes of tenurial change and subinfeudation in the thirteenth century (Beresford and Hurst 1971;Roberts 1972;Sheppard 1976). As medieval archaeologists pieced together evidence for state formation, the emergence of an urban hierarchy, and competitive markets in Northern Europe during the ninth and tenth centuries (Hodges 1982;Randsborg 1980), they were joined by historical geographers in moving back the date for nucleation of rural settlement (M. Harvey 1980Hurst 1984).…”

“…3 Sources of survey include the annual survey of current excavation published in the journal Medieval Archaeology (volume I [1957]-volume 31 [1987]) annual reports of the Medieval Village Research Group 1952Group -1986; annual reports of the Medieval Settlement Research Group, which started volume 1 in 1986; the gazeteer of Anglo-Saxon domestic settlement, published in Appendix A of David M. Wilson's The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England (1976); and the gazeteer of deserted medieval villages in Beresford and Hurst (1971). 4 Archaeologists now debate that all Saxon town planning followed the rigid grid typical of Alfredian burns as discussed by Hodges (1982).…”

“…Widespread introduction of decoration on pottery, a greater variety of forms, and the distinction between coarse ware and fine ware enriched the pottery industry of the late twelfth century (Foard and Pearson 1985;Hayfield 1985;Kilmurry 1980;Pearce etal, 1985). In many areas of England, stone replaced timber and other materials as walls in peasant houses (Astill 1988;Beresford and Hurst 1971). The landscape grew more differentiated when manorial lords moved their manor houses away from sites in peasant villages (Beresford and Hurst 1971;Beresford 1976Beresford , 1987Boddington 1987) and marked the status of these manorial sites by the extensive use of moats.…”

“…In many areas of England, stone replaced timber and other materials as walls in peasant houses (Astill 1988;Beresford and Hurst 1971). The landscape grew more differentiated when manorial lords moved their manor houses away from sites in peasant villages (Beresford and Hurst 1971;Beresford 1976Beresford , 1987Boddington 1987) and marked the status of these manorial sites by the extensive use of moats. More than 800 moated sites appeared in the English countryside between 1150 and 1220 (LePatourel and Roberts 1978).…”