Monument record 677/0/1 - Medieval Hollow Ways, & Closes With Houses & Fishpond (Morphed Aerial Archaeology Interpretation)

Earthwork: Non-destructive fieldwork

{1} Earthworks of a broad hollow way running south-west to north-east. To the south of the farm it is uneven with a 2.5m high scarp on the east side. It emerges on the other side in a poor condition. Further north it runs down the hillside where it is 1m-1.5m deep, and forks to the north and north-east. A second hollow wat runs along the south side of the DMV, but its junction with the first is obscured by farm buildings. Plan.

{2} Fieldname: Kirby Grounds.

{4} The main feature of the site is a broad hollow way, presumably once the main street, which crosses the area from south-west to north-east (marked 'a' to 'b' on the earthwork plan). It is visible to the south of the farm buildings as an uneven hollow way with a massive scarp 2.5m high on its east side. The next part of it has been destroyed, but it reappears to the north of the farm buildings in a poor condition, in the garden of Hootens Farm. Beyond the farm the hollow way runs down the hillside where it is 1m to 1.5m deep. At its north-east end it divides. One branch continues north towards the meadowland, and the other, now partly blocked, ran north-east to the stream. A second hollow way probably ran along the south side of the site (marked 'c' on the earthwork plan), separating the village from the adjacent ridge and furrow, but its junction with the main one is obscured by farm buildings.
The main hollow way is lined on both sides by subrectangular closes bounded by low scarps, although the later ploughing seems to have destroyed parts of these. House sites are visible wihtin some of these (eg. Marked 'e' on the earthwork plan).
A triangular depression in the north-west of the site (marked 'f' on the earthwork plan), with a broad ditch leading into its south-west corner, is a fishpond.

{5} NCCAP: SP6349/001-5+007-14+024-27.

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP64NW1 (unchecked) (Index). SNN443.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1958, OS 6 Iinch Map Series (SP64NW), (checked) (Map). SNN14078.

<3> Allison K.J.; Beresford M.W.; Hurst J.G. et al, 1966, The Deserted Villages of Northamptonshire, p.41 (unchecked) (Report). SNN39628.

<4> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.173-4 Site 1 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<5> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Photographs). SNN104822.

Record last edited

Jun 26 2014 11:00AM