Monument record 1156/0/6 - Medieval Field System (Morphed Aerial Archaeology Interpretation)

Earthwork: Good quality photography

{2} Earthworks of medieval and post medieval hollow ways and the banks and scarps of closes and possible house sites. The hollow ways extend northwards into the garden and The Wilderness.

{3} The easternmost hollow way is lined on its west side by rectangular closes separated by low banks and scarps, and with a slight bank defining their western edge. Within the closes, near the hollow way, are depressions and eneven ground which may be the sites of former houses.

{4} Earthworks recorded on air photos. A medieval/post medieval bank and building platforms.

{7} A charter written in the mid C14th (NRO E(S)154) records the grant of ‘one messuage in Myddul street situated between the messuage of John Farindyhs on the south and the king’s highway on the north, and between the messuage of Walter of Grendon on the east and the other king’s highway on the west. The house must have stood at the corner of Middle Street and Church Street in the area now occupied by the garden of the Hall, but all trace has been removed by C18th landscaping. Though the 1703 map shows no houses along it, Middle Street itself does appear, running beside an enclosed field or close called Great Ground and later known as Middle Street Close. There is no clear archaeological evidence of occupation along the southern part of Middle Street, only traces of ditches which define former closes. However on the ground several slight terraces are visible adjacent to the hollow way and these might represent the sites of former houses. The absence of ridge and furrow over much of the area west of the road suggests that there may have been post medieval cultivation which could have removed the surface indications of settlement.
The other hollow way is similarly mentioned in a medieval charter of 1342, which records a messuage in Estrete (NRO E(S)155). East Street can be seen to the east of Great Ground in 1703. The absence of houses in this are on the map is not because they did not exist, it is because the village itself was not of interest to the cartographer, or his client, so the area was left balnk. East Street, then known as Little Ecton, was mapped in 1759. At this time the buildings remained only on the eastern side of the road, but very distinct earthworks are visible from the ground in the parkland to the west of the hollow way. They represent stone houses and embanked or walled gardens which may in part overlie ridge and furrow. East Street was once therefore built up on both sides over most of its length.

<1> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Photographs). SNN104822.

<2> FOARD G.R., 1978, ORAL REPORT TO SMR, (unchecked) (Oral Report). SNN51368.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.198 Site 27 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<4> FOARD G.R., 1979, ORAL REPORT TO SMR, (unchecked) (Oral Report). SNN51230.

<5> 1342, Charter (NRO E(S)155), (unchecked) (Document). SNN108764.

<6> 1350 (circa), Charter (NRO E(S)154), (unchecked) (Document). SNN108763.

<7> Foard G., 1993, Ecton: Its Lost Village and Landscape Park, p.335-6 (checked) (Article). SNN54811.

Record last edited

May 8 2013 2:26PM