Monument record 445/9 - Remains of late Saxon/medieval settlement/field systems, east of Oak Lane

Earthworks of a series of long closes, formerly part of Crick village, have been recorded to the east and north-east of the church. A number of ditches and enclosures, dating from the late Saxon to the medieval period, have been excavated, but there has been so far little evidence of occupation, suggesting this area was in agricultural or pastoral usage. Much of the area has been lost to recent development.

{1} Plan.

{2} This site was subject to a public enquiry on an appeal against refusal of planning permission.

{3} Medieval village earthworks within an area the subject of an appeal against refusal of planning permission for housing.

{4} There are good village earthworks and sunken roads east of the church.

{5} The earthworks in an 'inner' disturbed area abutting the north east of the churchyard have no pattern. There is a line of rectangular house platforms, some with large depressions, running north-south from the methodist chapel to the A428. To the east of these are ridge and furrow remains and ditches of a superimposed enclosure.

{6} Settlement remains, formerly part of Crick village, lie immediately east and north-east of the church. They are not impressive, consisting only of a series of long closes bounded either by low scarps or modern hedge banks. Most contain ridge and furrow, which in some cases is secondary. Two hollow ways pass between them. Disturbed areas at their south-west ends show no recognisable features. The remains could be interpreted as former house sites and closes originally running along two roughly parallel streets.

{7} Aerial photo numbers NCCAP: SP5872/015-17.

{8} Detailed geophysics produced anomalies which were interpreted as of archaeological significance. Features in Area 1 coinciding with a section of the earthworks considered to be part of the medieval village. The anomalies mainly comprise linear and slightly curvilinear patterns, these suggesting a complexity not apparent from the earthworks. The features could represent property boundaries or even individual structural remains.
Walkover survey showed that the earthwork plan published by RCHME in 1981 was still almost entirely intact in 1996. A sewer pipeline was observed to have caused some destruction along a narrow corridor running north-east to south-west across the site, mostly ridge and furrow of the medieval open field system.
The site lies in an area of high archaeological potential. The western quarter of the site earmarked for public open space and part of that earmarked for residential use are occupied by earthworks that almost certainly form part of the original medieval village. Further features appear to lie beneath the earthworks. The adjacent ridge and furrow is not significant apart from the headland bank which forms the boundary between the medieval fields and the village remains.
The earthworks are the only remaining elements of the medieval village, appearing to represent several elements such as houses, yards, possible roads and a pond or well. They are well-preserved and survive up to 1m high in places. There has been only minor disturbance of the site since c.1800. They do not however fulfil all the criteria for designation as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. Irrespective of this, the in-situ preservation of the village earthworks is desirable, possibly by increasing the area of public space.

{9} Archaeological field evaluation was carried out in January 1997 on an area of proposed development for residential use (c.6ha). The western quarter of the site, including both the area earmarked for public open space and part of that for residential use, are occupied by earthworks which probably form part of the original medieval village of Crick. Seven trial trenches were opened, the purpose of which was to determine the presence, extent, condition, character and date of the archaeological deposits. The evaluation established that there is a concentration of well preserved archaeological features within the western part of the development area, possibly associated with a north-west to south-east running medieval street. The activity appears to date mainly to the 13th and 14th centuries.

{10} There are good village earthworks and sunken roads east of the church.

{11} Village earthworks are preserved east of the present settlement. They appear to have spread onto earlier ridge and furrow (furlong 205).

{14} The site has been shown to be part of the medieval settlement of Crick. The evidence provided by geophysical survey and trial trenching demonstrated that settlement earthworks comprising two hollow ways and a series of east-west aligned closes survived in a reasonable state of preservation. An interpretative assessment by the RCHME in 1981, a desk-based archaeological assessment in 2010 and a further assessment made by Northamptonshire Archaeology in March 2011, all confirm the survival of earthworks and archaeological deposits in an area, near to the medieval parish church, that Ordnance Survey maps suggest has remained largely undisturbed since the date of likely abandonment in the C14, until the housing development shown on the 1991 O.S. map edition.
In 2011 Daventry Borough Council refused consent for housing development on the site. English Heritage supported the refusal of consent.
The assessment of the significance of the shrunken medieval settlement site of Crick will need to take into account the level of survival of archaeological features on the site, the degree of intactness and potential that such survival represents, and the importance in a national context of the settlement remains. Much of the emphasis placed on the significance of the site's survival has been in relation to its location close to the medieval church and its physical and historic contextual relationship with the oldest surviving building in Crick.
It is clear that the earthworks represent a partial survival of the medieval settlement site, substantial parts of which have already been lost to recent development. The desk-based assessment carried out by CgMs Consulting in June 2010, concluded that the site was of local and county significance, with the potential to provide information on the origins and development of Crick and to contribute to wider studies into the nature of medieval settlements in the county and the East Midlands. The report on the archaeological remediation works carried out on land off Bury Dyke by Northamptonshire Archaeology in 2011 identified earthwork remains of two hollow ways, a series of low mounds interpreted as house platforms and ancillary buildings, and pits which yielded C12 and C13 century pottery. None of the reports suggest that the remains of the shrunken medieval settlement of Crick are exceptional in terms of survival and potential.
The site is one of a significant number of survivals of similar period and type, and is not considered to be particularly rare in a national context.
The surviving part of the shrunken medieval settlement site of Crick in Northamptonshire has clear local and regional importance, but, to date, the archaeological evidence for its survival and potential is limited.

{15} Archaeological trial trench excavation was undertaken on land east of Oak Lane in 2013. Two areas of late Saxon features were located along the western edge of the proposed development area. The remains identified were ditches that were likely to have been dug for agricultural or drainage purposes. The small quantity of artefacts recovered suggests that the remains were not associated with occupation. This view is supported by the dearth of visible ecofacts. Evidence for a braided medieval hollow way, which is likely to have been a continuation of Oak Lane, was also recorded.

{16} Earthwork survey of the remaining area of remains on land to the east of Elms Farm. The survey confirmed the presence of the earthworks recorded by the RCHME but added further, more ephemeral earthworks. The features represent the final use of the site after clearance of any structures. This part of the village appears to have an informal grid system perpendicular to Church Street, with occupation areas or gardens defined by hollow ways and banks. There were two principal occupation zones on the site.

{17} The surviving area of earthworks immediately to the west of Elms Farm was subject to trial trenching. The majority of the site was sealed by two deep subsoil deposits (of up to 0.75m in thickness), implying that there could be a number of phases of activity to the site. Whilst no datable finds were retrieved from either subsoil layer, a single feature (in Trench 5) was seen to be cutting through the lower subsoil deposit.

It was evident during the evaluation that only a proportion of the sub-surface features related to the earthworks. A reason for the lack of relation between the archaeology and the earthworks is likely to be explained by the presence of the two subsoils across the majority of the site. A number of ditches were found, the majority of which were parallel with or perpendicular to old boundaries still in existence today, with a clear bias toward a north-northwest to south-southeast alignment. This orientation is parallel with the development boundary, along with the orientation of Church Street to the west. Dating evidence was sparse but was concetrated in the 11th and 12th centuries.

None of the features can definitively be associated with domestic structures, however the recovery of fragments of baked clay from the burnt fills of a number of features within Trenches 5 and 7 may imply that a building of some sort could have been situated in this area. Environmental samples taken from features across the site have produced extremely high quantities of charred plant and cereal grains, which would have formed a main component of the medieval diet. Further to this, four postholes which potentially could form part of a structure were revealed in Trench 7.

{18} Excavation on land to the east of Oak Lane found evidence of late Saxon enclosures and a possible post-built structure. The enclosures were observed across the excavated area and extended beyond it. The small amounts of charred plant macrofossils indicate the presence of wheat, oat and barley predominantly in the area during the Late Saxon period.

A small number of ditches dated to the 11th or 12th centuries were found on the western and southern ends of the development area. The low number of features from this period made it difficult to ascertain what the land was used for during this period. The large earthwork ditch appears to have been implemented during the 13th century, and was open until around the 17th century. This is the north-western corner of a large enclosed area on the northern end of the village. The lack of structural evidence from this period indicates this land had an agricultural or pastoral in nature.

The range of pottery types present indicates that there was activity at the site from the Late Saxon period until the later 13th or earlier 14th century.

{20} Archaeological excavation was undertaken of the area of land immediately to the east of Elms Farm prior to residential development in 2017. The two hollow ways, identified during earlier phases of investigation, were excavated. They appeared to have originated in the Saxo-Norman period and were in use until the 12th century. The larger to the two was defined by fairly substantial twin ditches and associated gravel metalled surfaces and seems to have been a north-eastern route out of the village. In the mid-late 12th century a pair of parallel ditches, which were associated with an earthwork bank immediately to the east, may have demarcated the rear boundaries of properties on Church Street to the west. In the late 12th-13th century, the western ditch was backfilled (or naturally silted up) and a series of small buildings, possibly functioning as privvies at the rear of the Church Street plots, were built over it. To the east a corndryer was built over one of the silted up hollow ways.

Roger Kipling, 2022, An Archaeological Strip, Map & Record Excavation at Elms Farm, 6 Church Street, Crick, Northamptonshire (Report). SNN116619.

<1> Everson, P., 1973, Plan of Crick earthworks, (checked) (Plan). SNN51913.

<2> EVERSON P., 1973, ORAL REPORT TO SMR, (unchecked) (Oral Report). SNN50379.

<3> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1974, Archaeology In Northamptonshire 1973, p.104 (checked) (Article). SNN9109.

<4> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1976, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1975, p.196 (checked) (Journal). SNN169.

<5> Northamptonshire County Council, 1973, Medieval earthworks in Crick village, (checked) (Letter). SNN57475.

<6> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.60-1 Site 7 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<7> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, Used with NMR & CUCAP collections (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<8> FORD S., 1996, Land Adjacent to Main Road, Crick, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Desk-Based Assessment and Non-Intrusive Evaluation, (checked) (Report). SNN72880.

<9> HULL G., 1997, Land off Main Road, Crick, Northamptonshire: An Archaeological Evaluation, (checked) (Report). SNN75765.

<10> Hall D.N.; Harding R., 1976, The Northamptonshire Parish Surveys: Crick, 6/28 (checked) (Article). SNN14919.

<11> Hall D.N.; Harding R., 1977, Crick Parish Survey, 7/28-31 (checked) (Article). SNN57905.

<12> Chapman P. (Editor), 2012, Archaeology in Northamptonshire, 2011, 37/211 (checked) (Chapter). SNN108375.

<13> Horne B. (Editor), 2012, South Midlands Archaeology (42), 42/30 (checked) (Journal). SNN108346.

<14> English Heritage, Designation Advice Report, UDS Non-Designation case/Designation Adviser, 8th May 2012 (Report). SNN113190.

<15> Barker B. & Oetgen, J., 2013, Land off Oak Lane, Crick, Northamptonshire: Archaeological Field Evaluation Report (Trial Trenching) (Report). SNN111658.

<16> Simmonds C., 2015, Archaeological earthwork survey on land at Bury Dyke, Crick, Northamptonshire, July 2015 (Report). SNN110421.

<17> Bush, L., 2015, Land off Bury Dyke, Crick: Archaeological Evaluation Report (Report). SNN110370.

<18> Markus S., 2014, Archaeological excavation, recording and analysis of land at Oak lane, Crick, Northamptonshire, November -December 2013 (Report). SNN110023.

<19> Horne, B (editor), 2016, South Midlands Archaeology (46), p. 39 & 46 (Journal). SNN111326.

<20> Kipling, R, 2019, An Archaeological Excavation on Land at Bury Dyke, Elms Farm, Crick, Northamptonshire, NN6 7TP (Report). SNN112677.

<21> RCHME, Undated, RCHME Inventory: Northamptonshire II (Central), AF0615738 (Archive). SNN112900.

Record last edited

Feb 17 2025 6:56PM