Monument record 422 - Whitfield

Traces of former settlement lie in and around the present village. Medieval village shrinkage is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as earthworks and was mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project.

{1} Settlement remains (SP 610395) formerly part of the village of Whitfield, lie behind the existing houses on the S side of the E-W main street. The remains consist of long rectangular closes bounded by low banks and ditches and are presumably abandoned gardens and paddocks. At each end of the village there are indications that the street once ran on beyond its present extent. At the E end - (SP 614395) a long curving terrace 1.5 m. high extends E from the bend in the street and presumably once gave access to the E part of the parish. At the W end rutted tracks continue the line of the street and meet a raised headland curving NW which joins the present road to Radstone at its junction with the A43 (SP 602395).

{2} Continuation of street at either end of the village shown as tracks in 1958.

{9, 10, 11} Medieval village shrinkage is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as earthworks and was mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located on the west side of Whitfield village and centred at SP 60639 39418, a complex of linear, curvilinear and irregularly shaped earthwork banks and ditches extend across an area about 170 metres W-E and 130 metres N-S. The features include four parallel linear banks aligned NNW-SSE, one of which extends SSE to bound two small blocks of ridge and furrow cultivation earthworks. The features include a pond that was extant on aerial photographs taken in 1944. A possible hollow way about 4 metres wide and 71 metres long extends NW-SE through the middle of the features. A circular earthwork ring ditch centred at SP 60617 39406 may be a windmill mound (HER No MNN124072).

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.167 site 1 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<2> 1958, OS 6 INCH MAP, SP63NW (checked) (Map). SNN14740.

<3> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, (unchecked) (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<4> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.221-22 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<5> Baker G., 1830, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.756 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77327.

<6> Hall D., 2001, The Woodland Landscapes of Southern Northamptonshire, p.33-46 (unchecked) (Article). SNN102520.

<7> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, NCCAP: SP6039/1-4 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<8> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, A/P (RAF VAP CPE/UK/1926, 222-4) (Photographs). SNN104890.

<9> Vertical Aerial Photograph, US-7PH-GP-LOC201 PORT 13048 06-MAR-1944 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<10> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, RAF-3G-TUD-UK-86 RV 6001 26-MAR-1946 (Photographs). SNN104890.

<11> Environment Agency, LIDAR Composite DTM - 1m, SBC25062 LIDAR SP63NW Environment Agency National LIDAR Programme DTM 1 Metre dated 2019 SP6039 (Digital Plots). SNN111710.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:40PM