Monument record 3244/5 - Earthworks of the shrunken village of Strixton (Morphed Aerial Archaeology Interpretation)

Earthwork: Non-destructive fieldwork

{2} Along the western edge of the earthworks is the course of the medieval road to Wollaston. It is very disturbed and only clear on the north. The banks and ditches of medieval plots are visible extending northwards. In their last stages they were walls (still detectable by probing). Their boundaries were still there in 1583, mostly marked as hedges, but had nearly all gone by 1765.

The plots to the west are mostly disturbed, with some depressions likely to be former quarries probably dating to the 19th century. At the eastern end of the complex are earthworks of undisturbed house sites, one gone by the 1583 map, the other two shown on this map. These are really heaps of rubble covered with accumulated grass.

A number of ponds, some still extant, which were present on the 1583 map. A large pond, in the north-eastern corner of the main area of earthworks, is called the moat. A small pond was here in 1583, enlarged by 1765. There is no truth in the legend that the ponds of Strixton were linked up anciently.

{3} The present main east to west street is lined earthworks of various dates. Between and behind the existing farms, are the remains of at least ten embanked closes, seven of which had houses in them in 1583. At the south ends of five of them are the embanked or sunken areas marking the sites of former houses, three of which were already empty by 1583.

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

<2> 1969, Journal of The Northampton Museum and Art Gallery (6), p. 25/Fig 4 (sites 1-9) (Journal). SNN9670.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p. 140/site 7 (Series). SNN77380.

Record last edited

Feb 15 2017 3:05PM