Monument record 3647/0/3 - Medieval toft at Wythemail

A single toft was excavated at Wythmail deserted village in 1954. Remains dated from the early 13th century to the 14th century

{1}EXCAVATION of a single enclosure revealed a sequence from early I3th-century timber buildings to structures with stone foundations, or completely stone-built, in the later I3th and I4th centuries.

PERIOD I (early 13th century). Series of post-holes forming timber building bounded on the north by small ditch.

PERIOD II (late 13th century). Stone long-house, 37 ft. by 16 ft. internally, built of limestone slabs, set at right angles to period-I building and to the slope, and lying over earlier boundary-ditch. Upper room with central hearth separated by paved cross-passage from byre with drain at lower end.

PERIOD III (14th century). Stone long-house, 57 ft. by 13 ft. internally, built of limestone blocks, set at right angles to period-II long-house, and parallel with the slope. Main living-room with hearth; inner room also heated. Sunken crosspassage with two lower rooms for animals and farm use. South of this main living-area was a sequence of six buildings, two of which may have been ovens and one a byre with a drain. In period II three of these were associated with the long-house, but in period III a road driven across the site separated them from the long-house, after which they fell into decay and were abandoned.

{2} Deserted village of Wyhtmail (SP 842721). Three phases of occupation were revealed by the 1954 excavation. Phase 1 (early C13th): post holes of a timber structure. Phase 2 (late C13th): a stone longhouse with cross-passage. Phase 3 (C14th) a second, four roomed longhouse set at right angles to the phase 2 structure. Ovenes and byres found to the S were probably associated with the phase 2 building.

{3} Animal bone from the excavation includes several bones from a large dog (as big as a large Alsatian) or possibly a wolf.

{5} The second phase (Authority 2) was a totally stone walled building constructed of limestone blocks. During the 13th and 14th centuries the village plan went through sweeping changes, this is represented by the sequence of house alignment for excavated property.

<1> Hurst, D.G. And Hurst, J.G., 1969, Excavations at the medieval village of Wythemail, Northamptonshire, 13/167-203 (Article). SNN76292.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p. 119 (Series). SNN77380.

<3> Harcourt, R A, Undated, The animal remains from Wythemail, Northants (Report). SNN115256.

<4> Historic England, Wythemail excavation photographs (Archive). SNN116371.

<5> Clarke, H, 1984, The Archaeology of Medieval England, p. 37, 41, 46 (Book). SNN75213.

Record last edited

May 23 2024 11:22AM