Monument record 3026 - Blatherwycke

Earthwork remains suggestive of a shrunken village and possible site of the former church of St Mary Magdalene.

{1} It is possible that the two former parishes of Holy Trinity and St. Mary Magdalene, united in 1448, were centred on separate medieval settlements on wither side of the brook. The discoverey of burials within the well-preserved remains of former houses west of the brook supports this contention.

{2} Much of the development in the existing village of Blatherwycke is of recent charatcer, certainly Victorian and later in date, the layout of which slices through a much earlier village morphology surviving as extensive earthworks visible in the adjacent fields. These earthworks represent a complex and multi-period arrangement resulting from periodic abandonment and shift. The heart of the village, close to Glebe Farm, consists of a tightly compact rectangular block of settlement and tracks, possibly hosting a manorial element, and with the putative site of the church of St Mary Magdalene close by. A linear, double row settlement, an extension to this earlier core, extends to the north-east and along its course there are a number of well-preserved building platforms, many of which, particularly those close to the junction with Maudlin Lane, show evidence of low rubble walls.

The earthwork remains are highly suggestive of a double row settlement set out along, and either side of, the modern road that leads from the north to the junction close to Glebe Farm. The sharp scarps that flank the northern side of this road are the result of wear and tear from traffic and indicate that this is potentially a route of some antiquity. The properties either side respect its alignment and there are a number of substantial rectilinear house platforms and former buildings, traces of earlier settlement now abandoned, which lie along its course. The double-row settlement extends for a distance of at least 300m but its continuation at the southern end has been removed by the construction of modern housing: to the north, the creation of Blatherwycke Park Farm in the 19th century, may have destroyed a number of earlier building platforms in this area. Likewise, with the estate cottages on the oppoisite side of the road.

Only the tofts on the western side of the double-row settlement can now be identified; their rear being defined by shallow scarps a maximum 0.3m in height which extend intermittently on a course roughly parallel to the main street giving a toft depth rarely in excess of 40m. The arrangement is too ill defined to be confident about property width. Broad ridge-and-furrow cultivation can be seen on the slopes to the west of the tofts and this appears to be earlier since it is apparent that the closes have extended out onto the the fields.

The modern communications pattern, particularly in the area of Glebe Farm, interrupts this layout and it seems likely that the present crossroads is a later alignment of roads. The line of the double-row street turns abruptly to the nort-west immediately to the north of Glebe Farm and here it forms the northern side of a dense block of settlement earthworks occupying a sub-square area 50m2 in extent. Within this there are a number of well-defined platforms as well as the remains of rectilinear buildings some with stone footings. The morphology and density of this block of earthworks argues that there may be some sort of differentiation between it and the rest of the linear village, and it may be that this is an earlier core to the village, possibly one that contained a manorial element.

On a natural terrace to the north of this block, on a large rectilinear platform, the heavily robbed remains of a stone-built building, 20m in length and 7m wide, can be seen. Both are aligned roughly north-east to south-west and lie close to the site of the previously discovered burials (see source 2 above), so it is worth speculating that these are the remains of the church of Saint Mary Magdalene which was abandoned in 1448.

To the north-west of here a level, square platform has been terraced into the slope and on it there are the slight remains of a low rubble wall forming a structure 20m2 in area. No entrance gap can be seen and this, together with its shape, argues against it being domestic. Immediately above and undoubtedly contemporary with it, there is an elongated rectangular enclosure 15m wide and in excess of 30m in length (its north-western end has been damaged by the current hedge boundary), the outline discernable now as a low stone rubble bank. Its size and shape, similarly, argue for an, as yet, undefined non-domestic function, possibly a sheep fold or barn.

To the east of the double-row settlement and roughly parallel to it there is now a very shallow and wide hollow way. This extends from Blatherwycke Park Farm southwards for a distance of nearly 350m; its gently arcing course 10-20m wide marked by scarps up to 0.4m in height. Some 100m to the south of the farm, the track leads into an open area but extends to the south beyond this before rejoining the course of the current road close to the bridge at The Gatehouse. Later ploughing has erased much of the archaeological detail along this route but a number of slight building platforms flank it to the east and west. Indeed, the sharply defined earthworks on its west side circa 100m to the south of Blatherwycke Park Farm are strongly suggestive of a farmstead consisiting of house and outbuildings set around a rectangular yard. A similarly well defined complex of building platforms set around a rectangular yard can be seen to the west of Blatherwycke Park Farm.

Settlement has clearly spread out onto the remains of an earlier open field system. The shallow remains of ridge-and-furrow cultivation and associated headlands survive on the eastern, western and south-western fringes of the village. Later quarrying has disrupted the earthwork remains of closes flanking the northern side of the road leading south-east from the village to The Gatehouse. Modern quarrying is also visible as deep scooped hollows to the south-east of Blatherwycke Park Farm and immediately to the west of Glebe Farm.

{6} Local enquiries ascertained Maudlin Lane is now known as Jackdaw Lane and the church stood in a field at the NW end of the village. When an electricity pole was put in here a few years ago bones were found, and an adjacent disturbed area at SP 96959586 may well be the site of the church.

{7} There were formerly two churches at Blatherwycke. One, dedicated to St. Mary Magdalen, was united in 1448 to the rectory of the Holy Trinity which was made the church for the two parishes. Nothing remains but the name Maudlin Lane.

{8-9} Two areas of Medieval earthworks within the present village represent village shrinkage. A hollow way extends north west of the road into an area of rectangular platforms. Less well defined earthworks survive north east of the village, but there is a hollow way leading between tofts and crofts.

{10} Drawing and description of stone coffin and urn;

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1975, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.20 site 3 (unchecked) (Series). SNN77379.

<2a> English Heritage, 1999, RCHME: SAMs Pilot Project, AF1204698 (Archive). SNN114598.

<2> Tuck C., 2000, Blatherwycke Survey, David McOmish, Cathy Tuck/25-March-1999/English Heritage: SAMs Pilot Project (Correspondence). SNN100681.

<3> MAP, (unchecked) (Map). SNN48711.

<4> SUPPLEMENTARY FILE, (unchecked) (Uncertain). SNN51793.

<5> Hall D.N., 1960-1999, Rockingham Forest Project: Archaeological Sites Recorded by David Hall, (unchecked) (Database). SNN102279.

<6> Seaman, B H, 1970, Field Investigator's Comments, F1 BHS 18-MAY-70 (Notes). SNN111541.

<7> 1933, Northamptonshire County Magazine, Northants County Mag 6 1933 272 (WS Gledstones) (Article). SNN54630.

<8> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, APs (RAF CPE/UK/1891 2223-4 10.12.46) (Photographs). SNN104890.

<9> Miscellaneous Notes, DOE (IAM) Rec Form 15.2.77 (Notes). SNN41694.

<10> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, DR/25/29/2 (Archive). SNN115.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 7:35PM