Monument record 3162/0/1 - Earthworks of Newton Bromswold Village

The remains of Newton Bromswold post medieval settlement suggest village shrinkage. An area of approximately twelve house platforms, paddocks and roads are visible as earthworks.

{1} Settlement remains (SP 995656-999600) formerly part of Newton Bromswold village, lie between the existing farmsteads on the SW side of the main street. The site consists of at least 12 abandoned long closes extending SE from the road, most containing traces of former buildings. At the NE end there is a hollow-way along which are several small rectangular paddocks. There were no buildings on these earthworks in the mid C19th.

{2} The earthworks are well preserved but the house sites are not clear.

{4} The second grid reference given by Authority (1), SP 999600, is clearly a misprint and has not been included in the NAR grid reference fields.

{5} (SP 998688). The earthworks and adjacent medieval fields were surveyed in 1972. The earthworks were found to be in fairly good condition with crofts and shrunken roads in evidence, however the houses were not clear. There is evidence to suggest that the village was expanded onto previously agricultural land.

{6} Plan of the village.

{7, 8} The remains of the shrunken medieval village are as described above (Sources 1-5). They were visible on aerial photographs and lidar imagery and mapped as part of the Bedford Borough NMP project. The mapped earthwork features mapped from the lidar imagery show that the earthworks are largely unchanged since they were surveyed in 1972. Earthwork remains were also recorded north of Rectory Farm.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1975, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.70 site 10 (checked) (Series). SNN77379.

<2> 1973, Medieval Archaeology (17), 17/183 (checked) (Journal). SNN35139.

<3> Hall, D., 1972, Newton Bromswold earthwork plan, (checked) (Plan). SNN57559.

<4> RCHME Recording, Lee E S. 23-Aug-1991 RCHME Recording (Report). SNN113778.

<5> Williams J.H., 1973, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter (3), p. 20-1 (Journal). SNN896.

<6> Dyer C. (editor), 1974, Medieval Village Research Group (Vol.22), p. 9-9a (Annual Report). SNN62318.

<7> Environment Agency, LIDAR Composite DTM - 1m, LIDAR SP9965 Environment Agency 1M DTM 01 Oct 2014 - 31 May 2017 (Digital Plots). SNN111710.

<8> Oblique Aerial Photograph, NMR 27883/7-17; 20-24 12-NOV-2013 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

<9> Bedford Borough Council HER, Undated, Bedford Borough NMP, MD003015 (Archive). SNN113023.

Record last edited

Oct 4 2024 12:48PM