Monument record 8738 - Open Field System, Newbottle

{1} The complex pattern of settlements and land units in Newbottle makes it difficult to understand the arrangement of the medieval fields there. There were presumably at least three systems, those of Newbottle, Charlton and Purston.
The date of enclosure of the common fields of the deserted village of Newbottle is not known, except that three hundred acres were enclosed for pasture in 1488 and a thousand sheep were being kept there in 1547. Only a few fragments of the ridge and furrow of these fields survive but air photos show more on the broken land to the north of the former village and in the extreme south of the land of Newbottle. Here the apparently irregular pattern of furlongs is the result of careful construction of the ridges at right angles to the contours.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.108 site 7 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<2> Allison K.J.; Beresford M.W.; Hurst J.G. et al, 1966, The Deserted Villages of Northamptonshire, p.43 (unchecked) (Report). SNN39628.

Record last edited

Jul 14 2014 3:41PM