Monument record 249 - Culworth

{1} The documentary record for Culworth is relatively poor and there is no good early historic map to assist in analysis of the plan. The village is also extensively built up, though to a large extent with historic buildings at least in the village core. The archaeological potential of the settlement is therefore relatively poor.
Early-Middle Saxon pottery has come from two locations within the presumed medieval area. The existence of enclosures possibly of this date adjacent to the castle is significant.
Given that there are a number of areas within the village, particularly in the church/castle area of the village that are not currently built up on the frontage means that it would be practicable to investigate the origins of the tenement rows in relation to the early to late Saxon activity to see if there is a similar chronology of village planning to that see in Raunds and elsewhere in the east of the county.

{2}Culworth is mentioned in Domesday Book as a small manor with a recorded population of 15. However, Domesday Book notes another place apparently also in Culworth parish, listed as Brime, with a recorded population of 12 including a priest [HER 249/10]. Brime does not occur by name in later documents and it has thus been identified as a village deserted at an early date. It has been tentatively sited in the N.W. of the parish (at SP 527484) but fieldwork by RCHM and OS has revealed no possible trace of a deserted village there, or indeed elsewhere in the parish. It is possible that Brime was a settlement which now forms part of the existing village and was never deserted but only lost its name. The record of a priest at Brime in 1086 may be of significance in this respect for there is no evidence of any church in the parish apart from the existing one in Culworth village. Documents record another place in Culworth, also now lost. This is Coten, Cotes, Cotes Culworth or Cotton beside Culworth, first mentioned in about 1200. The documentary history of the area therefore suggests that Culworth village is made up of more than one settlement, i.e. Culworth and Coten and perhaps Brime, and is thus a settlement of polyfocal type.
The present plan of the village fits this theory as it consists of three distinct parts. In the N.W. is a long straight street, now with buildings only on one side but once built up on both sides. This part of the village may be the Culworth of Domesday Book or the Coten of later documents, or both of them. In the S.E. is another single street, also apparently once built up on both sides, with the church and the ringwork on the N. side. This, if the Domesday Book record of a priest is correctly interpreted, could have been the original Brime. Between the two streets lies a green. The origin of this green between the two other settlements may be interpreted in two ways. It could be the original village of Culworth, laid out immediately N.E. of the ringwork and from which the other settlement expanded, or it could be a deliberately planned infill to provide a market place between two existing settlements.

{10} Sketch plan of modern land use in Culworth; shows areas of pasture & arable land outside village; also built-up areas & derelict areas & areas for new development or poss future development within village; sketch survey of 1988;

{12} Possibly not taken forward to Stage 2 survey and assessment.

{13} Copious notes regarding the Parish Accounts, also a transcription of the accounts in a bound book;

<1> Taylor J.; Foard G.; Ballinger J., 2002, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Overview, Appendix 2 (unchecked) (Report). SNN103118.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.40/Site 2 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<3> Allison K.J.; Beresford M.W.; Hurst J.G. et al, 1966, The Deserted Villages of Northamptonshire, p.36 (unchecked) (Report). SNN39628.

<4> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.164 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<5> Ryland, W, Adkins, D, and Serjeantson, R M, 1902, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.344-6 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100368.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP57NW7 (unchecked) (Index). SNN443.

<7> Gover J.E.B.; Mawer A.; Stenton F.M. (Eds.), 1933, The Place-names of Northamptonshire, p.52 (unchecked) (Series). SNN5881.

<8> Thorn F.; Thorn C., 1979, Domesday Book: A Survey of The Counties of England, (unchecked) (Series). SNN1170.

<9> 1977, Medieval Archaeology (21), p.189 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN62222.

<10> Cadman, G., 1988, Land use in Culworth, (checked) (Plan). SNN48755.

<11> Gould J., 2000, The Culworth Gang, p.38-48 (unchecked) (Article). SNN102514.

<13> Dryden H.E.L., 1842-1895, Dryden Collection, DR/25/82/1-5, 28-69 (Archive). SNN115.

Record last edited

Dec 20 2023 12:44PM