Medieval settlement remains immediately south east of Fresden Farm

Reasons for Designation

Medieval rural settlements in England were marked by great regional diversity in form, size and type, and the protection of their archaeological remains needs to take these differences into account. To do this, England has been divided into three broad Provinces on the basis of each area's distinctive mixture of nucleated and dispersed settlements. These can be further divided into sub-Provinces and local regions, possessing characteristics which have gradually evolved during the past 1500 years or more. The South Midlands local region is large, and capable of further subdivision. Strongly banded from south west to north east, it comprises a broad succession of clay vales and limestone or marlstone ridges, complicated by local drifts which create many subtle variations in terrain. The region is in general dominated by nucleated villages of medieval origin, with isolated farmsteads, mostly of post-medieval date, set in the spaces between them. Depopulated village sites are common, and moated sites are present on the claylands.

The medieval settlement remains at Fresden are well preserved and are a fine example of this class of monument.

Details

The monument includes medieval settlement remains located between Watchfield Common Wood and Fresden Farm. It is situated on a slight east facing slope overlooking the valley of the River Cole. The main street of the settlement is clearly defined by a hollow way which follows an east-west alignment for approximately 70m before turning sharply to run south for a further 90m. This is flanked on the northern and eastern sides by a number of raised platforms up to 1m high. These vary in size from approximately 48m long and 30m wide to 20m long and 12m wide and represent the sites of houses and outbuildings. Aerial photographs reveal evidence of further settlement features which extend to the north of the earthworks included in this scheduling and also traces of ridge and furrow cultivation to the west. These have been levelled by modern cultivation and are not included in the scheduling. The modern drain cover on the north side of the monument together with all fence posts are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath these features is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

28963

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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