Monument record 425 - Stanford On Avon

Deserted medieval village remains

{1} Listed at Domesday as one manor held by Guy de Reinbuedcurt with a recorded population of 22 including a priest. Included Downtown. In 1377 131 people from Stanford and Downtown paid the Poll Tax. In 1674 34 households paid Hearth Tax, this latter figure probably being for Stanford alone as Downtown was deserted by this time. In the early C18th Bridges records that there were 15 houses and a shepherd's cottage at Stanford. Stanford Hall (in Leicestershire) was built between 1697 and 1700, but did not affect the size of the village, nor did emparkment in the mid-C18th. In 1801 the population for the whole parish was only 45, and in 1834 only 24. By the early C19th the village looked much as it does now. Since then one or two cottages have disappeared, but been replaced by new estate buildings.
It is probable that the village was largely depopulated in late medieval times, perhaps by Selby Abbey which held the manor until Dissolution. Alternatively it could have been by the Cave family who bought the manor in 1540. Enclosure for sheep may have been the reason behind the abandonment of the village.

{9} The site was scheduled in 1969. Improvements to a drainage ditch and the laying of a new water main for cattle in the same year did not identify any significant finds.

{10} [Area centred: SP 58897886]. Deserted village at Stanford. Beresford {16} says that the Poll tax of 1377 lists Stanford (with Down, see SP 68 SW 15 for Downtown DMV) at 131. He quotes A Franey as saying that there are quite extensive earthworks north of the church. Beresford asks: 18th century emparking? The village, he says, is now very small. Bridges {17} has it that (about 1719-24) there were 15 houses and a shepherd's house.

{11} The depopulated of Stanford is known to have been completed by Lord Braye's great-great-grandmother, in the early C19th when a number of road side cottages were demolished and their occupants moved to Swinford.

{12} Area centred SP 59057885 - The extensive earthworks of a depopulation village are visible in the fields - now rough pastures - surrounding the church and surviving houses of Stanford. A number of individual building-sites and associated enclosures can be identified with the remains of streets. The eastern boundaries of the former village are defined by rig-and-furrow but on the sides nearest Stanford Park no certain boundary is visible other than the apparently modern road. The depopulation of the village probably commenced in the late C17th at the creation of Stanford Park - see SP 57 NE Surveyed August 1960.

{13} The only portion of this village surveyed is that falling within Leicester Cent. 5 D. A further portion falls within Northants "A" F.S.D. - a diagram not yet scheduled.

{14} Report and survey of 20.8.60 still correct. Additional survey completed 24.3.69.

{15} Area of village earthworks includes the probable site of the Medieval manor (SP 57 NE 8).

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.175-7 site 4 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<2> Chapman A, 1996-7, Stanford-on-Avon; St Nicholas Church, (unchecked) (Note). SNN104094.

<3> Thorn F.; Thorn C., 1979, Domesday Book: A Survey of The Counties of England, (unchecked) (Series). SNN1170.

<4> Soden, I., 1996, Archaeological Buildings Recording at St Nicholas' Church Stanford-on-Avon Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Report). SNN104724.

<5> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.578 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<6> Serjeantson R.M.; Ryland W. (Editors), 1906, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.343-4 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100369.

<7> PRO series E179, PRO E179/155/28 (Document). SNN115882.

<8> Ordnance Survey, 1834, OS First Edition 1 Inch Mapping Series, (unchecked) (Map). SNN17499.

<9> Rahtz P. (Editor), 1969, Deserted Medieval Village Research Group (Vol.17), p. 20 (Annual Report). SNN62319.

<10> Historic England, Unknown, Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments, D August O.R 22-APR-1960 (Oral Report). SNN111577.

<11> Woodhouse, W C, 1960, Field Investigators Comments, F1 WCW 12-AUG-1960 (Note). SNN113151.

<12> Woodhouse, W C, 1960, Field Investigators Comments, F1 WCW 20-AUG-1960 (Note). SNN113151.

<13> Colquhoun, FD, 1960, Field Investigators Comments, F2 FDC 30-AUG-1960 (Notes). SNN112761.

<14> Seaman, B H, 1970, Field Investigator's Comments, F3 BHS 13-MAR-1970 (Notes). SNN111541.

<15> RCHME Recording, Lee E S. 31-JUL-1991 RCHME Recording (Report). SNN113778.

<16> Beresford M.W., 1954, The Lost Villages of England, p. 368 (Extract). SNN7102.

<17> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p. 578 (Book). SNN77325.

<18> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, A/P (RAF VAP 106G/UK/636 3165-6) (Photographs). SNN104890.

<19> Aerial Photograph, A/P (CUAP WR58-61 AGU83-5 AKP53 AXV37-42 BEJ31) (Photographs). SNN112974.

<20> RCHME, Undated, RCHME Inventory: Northamptonshire II (Central), 889317 (Archive). SNN112900.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:40PM