Monument record 272 - Weston

Weston Medieval settlement remains suggest village shrinkage or movement

{3} Settlement remains (SP 587469) formerly part of Weston, lie at the W end of the village, on Boulder Clay at 145 m. above OD. Weston today consists of a main street running NW-SE with a side road extending SW from near the centre and there are indications that the main street once forked at each end.A small green still exists at the SE. The earliest map of Weston of 1593 only shows part of the village but indicates that some of the houses at the NW end of the main street then stood on an 'island' surrounded by lanes. This suggests that there may once have been a second green at this end of the village. The village may therefore have had a layout much neater than now, and other features confirm this idea. On the N side of the main street the existing closes form a regular pattern which, though now disrupted by the gardens of Weston Hall to the E are shown as continuous on the 1593 map. On the S side of the street, in an area not covered by the 1593 map, the pattern of closes is much less regular. To the SE there are small hedged paddocks. To the SW there is now a single large field but low banks and scarps within it indicate that a pattern similar to that in the SE once existed here. Ridge-and-furrow occupies some of the paddocks. The most obvious feature in this part of the village is a large rectangular pond up to 1.5 m. deep. The level area bounded by scarps to the SE of the pond is the site of a recent tennis court (local inf). On the N edge of the site are the remains of at least two house-sites, indicating that the village street was once built up along this section

{5} At SP 58724692, the SW end of Weston village are various banks and ditches. The main feature appears to be a rectangular platform surrounded by a bank and an external wide ditch, in plces still containing water. It looks like a homestead moat.

{6} These are two catchment ponds, at right angles to one another, and associated drainage ditches.

{7} In 1974 the village was surveyed and the low motte and bailey rampart of one of the Pinkney Manors was recorded as being in good condition in 1974.

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP54NE10 (checked) (Index). SNN443.

<2> Beresford M.W., 1954, The Lost Villages of England, (unchecked) (Extract). SNN7102.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.164 site 8 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<4> Adkins, D., 2003, Drawing of Weedon Pinkney Parish, Based on Thomas Langdon's Map of 1593, (checked) (Drawing). SNN107039.

<5> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, CPE/UK/1994 1094-5; 13.4.47 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<6> Baird, J., 1970, Field investigators comments, 06-MAY-70 (Notes). SNN110341.

<7> Hall, D N, 1975, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter (5), P. 28 (Journal). SNN9947.

<8> Beresford M.W., 1954, The Lost Villages of England (Extract). SNN7102.

<9> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, RAF CPE/UK/1994 1093-5, 3093-4 (Photographs). SNN104890.

<10> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, CUCAP PN73 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

Record last edited

Jan 31 2025 2:29PM