Monument record 2790 - Woodnewton

Woodnewton settlement remains indicate village shrinkage

{2} The area lies at the end of the village and formed the back plot of a building fronting the Main street. The trial excavation identified a possible post medieval metalled surface which could represent a track, simple path or made up tree bole. There were no other archaeological features, which together with the lack of many artefacts, suggests the area was an open, unbuilt rear tenement plot during the medieval and post medieval periods. There was no evidence for Saxon settlement of pottery production.

{3} Settlement remains (TL 037941) formerly part of Woodnewton village, at its SE end, E of the road to Southwick. The site consists of three long narrow closes, orientated N-S and bounded by low banks, with the much damaged remains of building-platforms at their N ends. The buildings had already been abandoned by 1778.

{4} The village lies on the north side of The Willow Brook and consists of a single street with a back lane on the north. Closes shown on the 1778 Enclosure Map suggest an early extension of the village to the east, which had apparently contracted by the mid C16th. The sheltered position and fertile soil on the south side of the street gave rise to a market gardening business in the C19th. By the C16th there were mills at both east and west ends of the village, but the watermill to the east was demolished in the mid C18th.

<1> 1778, Nassington, Yarwell, Apethorpe, Woodnewton, Northamptonshire. Inclosure Map, (unchecked) (Map). SNN7415.

<2> MAULL A., 1998, St Mary's Hill, Woodnewton, Northamptonshire: Stage 1- Desk-Based Study and Trial Excavation, May 1998, (unchecked) (Report). SNN39559.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1975, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p. 113/Site 1 (Series). SNN77379.

<4> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1984, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.165 (checked) (Series). SNN77384.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 7:27PM