Deserted village of Poden

Summary

Deserted medieval farmstead known as Poden 121m north of Poden Manor.

Reasons for Designation

Farmsteads, normally occupied by only one or two families and comprising small groups of buildings with attached yards, gardens and enclosures, were a characteristic feature of the medieval rural landscape. They occur throughout the country, the intensity of their distribution determined by local topography and the nature of the agricultural system prevalent within the region. In some areas of dispersed settlement they were the predominant settlement form; elsewhere they existed alongside, or were components of, more nucleated settlement patterns. The sites of many farmsteads have been occupied down to the present day but others were abandoned as a result of, for example, declining economic viability, enclosure or emparkment, or epidemics like the Black Death. Farmsteads are a common and long-lived monument type; the archaeological deposits on those which were abandoned are often well-preserved and provide important information on regional and national settlement patterns and farming economies, and on changes in these through time.

Despite the construction of a farm building on the southern side, the deserted medieval farmstead known as Poden survives comparatively well. The house platforms, holloways and buried features will include well-preserved important archaeological layers and deposits containing information relating to the construction, use and abandonment of the settlement as well as environmental material concerning the surrounding landscape.

History

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 20 May 2015. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records. As such they do not yet have the full descriptions of their modernised counterparts available. Please contact us if you would like further information.

The monument, which falls into two areas, includes a deserted medieval farmstead and two holloways together with an area of ridge and furrow situated west of Thistley Hill, south east of Honeybourne. The farmstead survives as two earthwork building platforms, buried features, and two holloways. The visible platforms are sub rectangular in plan. The largest measures 27m by 18m and has a depression on its western side, whilst the smaller platform is situated to the north east of the first. Two holloways run through the site from east to west. Ridge and furrow earthworks are situated to the north of the holloways. The farmstead was described as being deserted before 1491 by the Warwickshire historian John Rous in Historia Regum Angliae.

Further archaeological remains survive within the vicinity of the monument, but are not currently protected because they have not been formally assessed.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

WT 292

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
Pastscape Monument No:- 330803, 330804, 1390772, 330838 & 1390699
Hereford and Worcester SMR:-292

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