Reasons for Designation
The village, comprising a small group of houses, gardens, yards, streets,
paddocks, often with a green, a manor and a church, and with a community
devoted primarily to agriculture, was a significant component of the rural
landscape in most areas of medieval England, much as it is today. Villages
provided some services to the local community and acted as the main focal
point of ecclesiastical, and often of manorial, administration within each
parish. Although the sites of many of these villages have been occupied
continuously down to the present day, many others declined in size or were
abandoned throughout the medieval and post-medieval periods, particularly
during the 14th and 15th centuries. As a result over 2000 deserted medieval
villages are recorded nationally. The reasons for desertion were varied but
often reflected declining economic viability, changes in land use such as
enclosure or emparkment, or population fluctuations as a result of widespread
epidemics such as the Black Death. As a consequence of their abandonment
these villages are frequently undisturbed by later occupation and contain
well-preserved archaeological deposits. Because they are a common and
long-lived monument type in most parts of England, they provide important
information on the diversity of medieval settlement patterns and farming
economy between the regions and through time.
Details
The monument includes a group of earthworks, the remains of the deserted
medieval village of Newsham, situated on the south eastern side of the modern
village of Bempton, between Bolam Lane and Newsham Hill Lane.
The earthworks include a series of north facing platforms, each with a long
house at its northern end, original north-south aligned streets and lanes with
one prominent hollow way, the remains of a pond and several quarry pits,
probably dating to a later period. Present day turf levels suggest the
existence of building foundations just below the surface.
Newsham is not included in the Domesday Survey. The Manor of Newsholme and
five blocks of arable land were held by Erwin during Edward the Confessor's
reign; in 1086 it is referred to as `Nivvehusum', held by one Drogo. The first
reference to it as Newsham occurs in 1284-5, when it appears to be included as
part of Buckton and Bempton, both of which survive as shrunken villages to the
present. The village or hamlet must have always been adjacent to the parent
township of Bempton, as its area is indicated in the Tithe Award to have
formed the southern part of Bempton parish.
In 1299 the village belonged to the Canterbury fee. In the 13th century,
Bridlington priory received the lordship of Newsham as a gift from Stephen de
Meynell and held it until its last mention in 1441. By the next reference in
1535, Newsham is no longer mentioned and it is believed that the village was
deserted at an early stage, probably sometime before the 16th century.
In the field to the west side of the site there is a gravestone of one Henry
Jarratt, who was said to have committed suicide in 1721.
All modern post and wire fencing and modern animal water and feed dispensers
are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath these features
is included.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
26520
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals Other
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official list entry
