Monument record 2929/0/1 - Possible Post Medieval Paddocks (Morphed Aerial Archaeology Interpretation)

Earthwork: Non-destructive fieldwork

{2} The main area of earthworks lies to the west of the church (marked 'a' on the earthwork plan). It appears at first sight to be the remains of closes belonging to houses which once lined the road to the north where part of a possible hollow way survives. The area could be interpreted as part of an original single-street village, the north and south-east parts of which still remain. However at least one other explanation must be considered. On the earliest map of the village dated to 1628 (and on later maps) neither the existing road nor the assumed hollow way is shown. Both plans depict a road which left the present one at the north-east corner of the churchyard and ran northwards towards the lake or stream as it was in 1628, and then turned west to run along the valley. After some 200m it swung south-west to meet the modern road again, close to the last houses at the north end of the village. The whole area of surviving earthworks and the land now occupied by the lodges to Cottesbrooke Hall was one field in 1628, known as Horse Close on later mapping. It is thus possible that the surviving earthworks are no more than the remains of old paddocks and subsequent quarrying, all of which took place after 1628 and which had mostly been abandoned by 1839.

{3} Aerial photos NCCAP:SP7073/002-4.

{4} Cottesbrooke Parish Survey. There are some shrunken vill earthworks to the west of the church.

<1> Letter, (unchecked) (Correspondence). SNN48062.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.54-57 Site 5 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<3> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Photographs). SNN104822.

<4> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1974, Archaeology In Northamptonshire 1973, p.104 (checked) (Article). SNN9109.

Record last edited

Feb 25 2011 4:09PM