Monument record 7342 - Walcot

Possible deserted medieval settlement. Two possible locations are mapped. Summary from record 2636/1/1: Documentary evidence of a former chapel and possibly associated deserted medieval settlement

{1} The township of Fotheringhay is an unusual shape, comprising two distinct components, which might relate to two separate Saxon settlements. One lay on the south side of the Willow Brook and is possibly to be equated with the original land of Fotheringhay, while the other lies to the north of the Willow Brook and is associated with the name Walcot. Perhaps significantly in this context, the name in origin is said to be 'cote' of the Britons, perhaps giving a connection directly to late Roman settlement. This may be the remnant of a far more extensive pattern of hamlets surrounding the late Saxon royal manor of Nassington in a fashion repeated elsewhere in the county.
Walcot, if not a deserted early-middle Saxon settlement, may have been a hamlet or isolated farm in the medieval period, for there is reference to Walecote in 1261 and the bridge of Walcotforth in 1330. Walcot Lodge is not however likely to be the site of Walcot, if it was a medieval settlement, for it lay outside the deer park and of the area known as Walcot Field, all to the north of the Willow Brook. Neither did Walcot Lodge exist in 1716 or on Eayre's map of 1791 but it was in existence by the early C19th and as late as the 1880s was known as Fotheringhay Lodge. The lodge in Fotheringhay Great Park was called Walcot or Fotheringhay Park House in c.1720. In 1662 Walcot Field, lying to the west of the stream and comprising 66 acres, was granted for the support of the poor of the village. This, together with the land of the park all lay on the opposite side of the stream to Fotheringhay village and may represent in origin a separate land unit of Walcot.
{2} 'Cote of the Britons'
{3} Suggests the remains are related to the extensive RB occupation in the parish;
{5} Walcot Field delineated as the area north of the brook at c TL050940. The actual boundary followed the brook prior to its straightening and runs south of its present course;
{6} 'In Fotheringhay Park is Walcot or Fotheringhay Park House a forest boundary'; Walcot Field contained 56 acres;
{7} Documentary evidence of a possible medieval chapel in a possible deserted village. Walcot Field settled in 1662 by Sir George Saville on Henry Fearne and five other men of Fotheringhay for the poor;
Evidence for a separate 'Walcot Field' area suggests medieval settlement with its own field system; chapel recorded by Bridges;

<1> FOARD G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Fotheringhay (Medieval and Post Medieval), (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN100481.

<2> Gover J.E.B.; Mawer A.; Stenton F.M. (Eds.), 1933, The Place-names of Northamptonshire, p.202 (unchecked) (Series). SNN5881.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1975, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.38 (unchecked) (Series). SNN77379.

<4> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1979, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1978, 14/105 (Article). SNN45225.

<5> 1716, Fotheringhay Map (NRO Map 467), (unchecked) (Map). SNN5866.

<6> Anon, 1787, History and Antiquities of Fotheringhay, (unchecked) (Book). SNN47494.

<7> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.181+458 (unchecked) (Book). SNN100366.

Record last edited

Oct 8 2018 9:39AM