Monument record 277 - Halse

A deserted or shrunken medieval village, dwindled to a few farms and cottages but become re-established as a village with both council and private development in modern times. The early village appears to have been centred around Manor Farm. A number of banks and hollows have survived and the main earthwork remains are a series of hollow ways south of Manor Farm. There is evidence of a chapel dedicated to St Andrew, the site of which is now occupied by a farmhouse or farmyard. Skeletons were discovered there during alterations to the buildings in 1912-13 and fragments of 14th or early 15th century window tracery were also found. A late medieval stone font is also thought to survive at the farm. Other medieval sherds have been found in the area.

{1} In the late 18th century Halse was a village of nine houses.

{3} SP 566 404: Halse in Brackley: This Domesday village, said to be the mother settlement of Brackley, is now three scattered farms. 107 people paid the poll tax in 1377.

[5} Several medieval sherds found on the site in 1974.

{8} Halse was once an independent parish the boundaries of which can still be identified. Halse is first mentioned in Domesday Book where it is listed as a single manor gelding for two hides and held by Earl Aubrey together with parts of Brackley and Syresham. Because of the wording of Domesday Book it is impossible to ascertain the population of Halse at this time. The link between Old Brackley and Halse remained throughout medieval and later times and probably originated from the fact that Old Brackley was once a chapelry of Halse. The 1301 Lay Subsidy records 30 taxpayers at Halse but it is likely that Old Brackley is included in this figure, as it certainly is in the ‘334 Lay Subsidy when the two places together paid 67s. 3d. This sum is large, however, perhaps suggesting that Halse was still of considerable size at this time. In 1377 107 people at Halse over the age of 14 paid the Poll Tax again a large number but again probably including Old Brackley. Thereafter no firm indication of the size of Halse is recorded until the early 18th century when Bridges said it was a hamlet of nine houses. It remained the same size until the early 19th century for Baker also recorded nine houses there, and by the late 19th century only two farms and three houses stood on the site of the village though one other farm and three other houses lay nearby. This was the situation until recent years but a large number of new houses have now been erected in the area between Manor Farm and Halse Grange. The village of Halse had a church or chapel dedicated to St. Andrew. To judge from the pattern of the surrounding ridge- and-furrow the village was probably situated around Manor Farm, though nothing remains on the ground apart from some slight scarps around a pond cut deeply into the rising ground N. of the farm.

{10} Halse is included in the civil parish of Greatworth. It was enclosed by 1504 when rent due to Magdalen College, Oxford, was not paid because the enclosure had taken in an open-field holding (Magd. Estate Records 37/11).
The earliest map of Halse is dated c.1725 (NRO map 4320) but it is an incomplete copy in very poor condition. The tithe map (NRO T214) has therefore been used. There had been considerable re-planning within Halse between the tithe map of 1839 and the OS first edition of the 1880s. The layout of the settlement has been altered with a new road added and removal of several buildings shown on the tithe. Most of the roads are shown as unenclosed on the tithe map (these have been mapped to a table ‘unenclosed roads’). By the 1880s map the road network has significantly altered; some of the earlier roads have gone completely, others realigned and all are now enclosed. The enclosure and realignment of roads has necessarily meant that the hedges bounding them have also altered.

{11} There were probably originally two manorial centres, one in Brackley and the other in Halse (see above). Although in 1295 and 1314 the capital messuage of the Zouche family lay in Halse, as early as the 13th century the manor is described as ‘Brakle cum Halse’, reflecting the far greater importance of the new town in contrast to the old estate centre, although Brackley is specifically said to belong to the manor of Halse.
After 1086 the manors of Halse and Brackley together with the other properties formerly held by Earl Aubrey were granted to Robert Belmont, created Earl of Leicester in 1107. Brackley was presumably a very important part of his estate for at his death in 1118, though his body was buried in France his heart was buried in Brackley. This may imply that Brackley, and hence presumably his castle there, was a major residence of the Earl.

{17} A book(a) held by the occupier of Manor Farm has an illustration of the church remains, noted as a chapel dedicated to St Andrew, and says the site is now occupied by a farm house. (This has been altered to farmyard). A reference to Baker notes remains in the farm house wall, and in a garden in the village, fragments of 14th or early 15th century window tracery. Nothing is to be seen now in the farm walls and according to the farmer the site of the church is approx SP 5662 4026.

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP54SE6 (unchecked) (Index). SNN443.

<2> Baker G., 1830, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.30, 586 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77327.

<3> Beresford M.W., 1954, The Lost Villages of England, p. 367 (Extract). SNN7102.

<4> Allison K.J.; Beresford M.W.; Hurst J.G. et al, 1966, The Deserted Villages of Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Report). SNN39628.

<5> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1976, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1975, p. 167 (Journal). SNN169.

<6> Ryland, W, Adkins, D, and Serjeantson, R M, 1902, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.330 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100368.

<7> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.153 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<8> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.68/Site 13 (unchecked) (Series). SNN77382.

<9> Green A., 1869, The History of Brackley, p. 27 (unchecked) (Uncertain). SNN9026.

<10> Hall D.N.; Britnell T., 2000?, South Northamptonshire Historic Landscape: Part III, p.12 (unchecked) (Report). SNN103302.

<11> Ballinger J.; Foard G., 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brackley, Section 1.0 (checked) (Digital archive). SNN100499.

<12> PRO series E179, E179/155/3 (Document). SNN115882.

<13> PRO series E179, PRO E179/155/31 (Document). SNN115882.

<14> PRO series E179, PRO E179/155/27 (Document). SNN115882.

<15> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, APs (RAF CPE/UK/1926 5215 6 16.1.47) (Photographs). SNN104890.

<16> Aerial Photograph, A/P (CUAP LD72 NU97 SA26 ANZ3) (Photographs). SNN112974.

<17> Seaman, B H, 1971, Field Investigator's Comments, F1 BHS 25-FEB-71 (Notes). SNN114116.

Record last edited

Jan 31 2025 2:30PM