Deserted medieval hamlet E of Draycott

Summary

Medieval farmstead and part of its associated field system 705m north west of Rooks Rise.

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. In the northern border areas, recurring cross-border raids and military activities also disrupted agricultural life and led to abandonment. 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. The medieval farmstead and part of its associated field system 705m north west of Rooks Rise survive well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, longevity, abandonment, possible re-use of earlier fields, agricultural practices, domestic arrangements and overall landscape context.

History

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 1 September 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.

This monument includes a medieval farmstead and part of its associated field system situated on the relatively steeply sloping south facing edge of a wide plateau to the east of the settlement of Draycott. The farmstead survives as a rectangular main dwelling house with several associated rectangular outbuildings, a small square enclosure and part of a more extensive field system of small rectangular fields all defined by low stony banks and walls. The main dwelling measures approximately 25m long by 9m wide and is divided into two cells. The other buildings are less clearly defined but survive as parallel walls defining internal areas up to 16m long and 7m wide. The boundary banks of the field system are between 2m and 4m wide and several of the fields containing traces of the characteristic medieval ridge and furrow. All the remains are clearly visible on aerial photographs. The field system may have prehistoric origins and been re-used during the medieval period. The farmstead was surveyed in 1964

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

SO 492

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:-194703

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