Monument record 160 - Cotton (Now Known as Cotton End, Part of Long Buckby)

Cotton End medieval settlement site

{1} The hamlet of Cotton lay to the east of Buckby on glacial gravel and seems to have remained a separate settlement throughout the medieval period. Cotton is unlike the other hamlets in the area, such as Murcott, Silsworth and Thrupp, which were dependencies of other villages, as it lacked its own separate township and field system.
Cotton End, as identified on the late 19th century maps, is assumed to have been a separate hamlet within Buckby township in the medieval period. Coten does not appear in any document until 1324 but this need not mean it was a medieval daughter settlement, as such hamlets are often not recorded until quite late even if they have Saxon origins. Cotton may represent the location of one of the lesser medieval manors recorded in Buckby or alternatively may have been the sokeland of the main manor recorded at Domesday, as is the case in some other Northamptonshire townships. The location and extent of the settlement is suggested by Hall on the basis of ploughed out closes and pottery scatters found behind the existing houses, but the area identified to the north of the road lies outside the recorded extent of old inclosures.
The expansion of the settlement along the eastern road, to coalesce with the hamlet of Cotton, is probably the latest phase in the development of the settlement plan and was not even completed by the late 19th century. By 1544 it is Cotton End and by 1565 the village is being described as ‘Long’ Buckby. This would suggest that the infilling between Buckby and the hamlet of Cotton occurred between 1324 and 1544. It is unlikely that there was major population increase in Buckby at this time and so it should probably be considered as a shift of occupation from another part of the settlement, perhaps from Salem, which was largely deserted by the 19th century. The alternative would be an expansion in the decades before the Black Death in 1348, only reflected much later in the place-name evidence. The drift of the settlement cannot be seen as a reflection of a change in the road pattern, for the realignment of the Coventry to Northampton road from within the village to that later followed to the east of the village did not occur until the latter was turnpiked in the 18th century. The irregular layout of closes and tenements seen on the south of the road between Cotton End and the market place correlates closely with the layout of adjacent furlongs and must represent expansion of settlement over earlier open field strips. To the north of the road the same may be true.
It is worth noting that no religious, educational or recreational buildings were located in Cotton End.

{2} Settlement remains (SP 641679) formerly part of the hamlet of Cotton End, lie at the E end of Long Buckby village, on glacial deposits and clay at 152 m. above OD. Little is known of the history of the
settlement: it was known as Cottonend. Traces of ploughed-out closes are visible and medieval pottery has been found behind the existing houses. The land alongside the road from Cotton End to Long Buckby has now been built over, but before this ridge-and-furrow formed an unbroken area between the two settlements showing that the latter were discrete units.

<1> FOARD G., 2000, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Long Buckby (Medieval + Post Medieval), (unchecked) (Report). SNN100746.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.133 Site 7 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<3> Gover J.E.B.; Mawer A.; Stenton F.M. (Eds.), 1933, The Place-names of Northamptonshire, p.65 (unchecked) (Series). SNN5881.

<4> ORAL REPORT, Inf D N Bull (Oral Report). SNN53287.

<5> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, A/P (RAF VAP 543/RAF/2337, 0373-4) (Photographs). SNN104890.

<6> RCHME, Undated, RCHME Inventory: Northamptonshire II (Central), 889386 (Archive). SNN112900.

Record last edited

May 19 2022 2:43PM