Monument record 434 - Yelvertoft

Medieval settlement shrinkage is visible as earthworks in two areas. Identifiable features include a possible moated site and mill. The earthworks were levelled in 1979.

{1} Before modern development Yelvertoft consisted of little more than a single High Street with the church detached from it to the south east and with small extensions along lanes to the north east at either end of the main street. Curving property boundaries in the modern village may be the result of village development over former ridge and furrow fields. W. of the village are a number of embanked closes, some with ridge and furrow within them. It is possible that the earthworks recorded to the north west might in part be the remains of an earlier village close to the stream which gradually moved or was deliberately resited some distance away on top of the earlier common fields.
There are two distinct areas of earthworks at SP 597758 and 602755 suggest movement or shrinkage of Yelvertoft. The larger and more complex area lies at the end of Wards Lane, north of the church, and consists of a number of embanked and ditched closes, some with traces of ridge-and-furrow within them; a hollow-way up to 2 m deep passes between the closes towards the stream. A large rectangular area adjacent to the stream, known locally as Hall Close may be a former manor site. A narrow channel runs south-east from the south-east ditch of the moat. This is probably a leat for a water mill which perhaps stood in the area of disturbed earthworks adjacent to the moat.
Further north-west are some less well-preserved earthworks, now largely destroyed by modern housing. They consist of a number of small embanked or ditched closes, on either side of School Lane and its extension to the north-east. They may represent former house-sites but this is uncertain

{2} The moated site was bulldozed in 1979 with only limited observation after the majority of the site had been levelled. A chamfered architectural fragment was recovered.

{3} Yelvertoft was recorded as having 30 households in 1086, indicating a substantial settlement in the preceding Anglo-Saxon period. In 1086 the manor contained 8 acres of meadow as well as arable land. Neighbouring manors of Crick, Winwick, Stanford and Lilbourne were of a comparable size.

{4} (SP 602755). The site was bulldozed without archaeological observation in 1979. A small area was seen before complete destruction. There was evidence of stone walls which may have been an oven, also some large limestone blocks which may have been foundations for a timber structure. There was also a slight bank within the moat but no evidence for a surrounding wall or palisade. Small amounts of medieval pottery were recovered and one fragment of dressed ironstone possibly from a door fitting.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.206+Fig.153 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<2> FOARD G.R., Site Records, (unchecked) (Archive). SNN14513.

<3> Richards J., 2014, Crick Road, Yelvertoft, Northamptonshire: Cultural Heritage Assessment, p.15 (checked) (Report). SNN109622.

<4> 1980, Northampton Antiquarian Society reports and papers, p. 173 (Series). SNN114859.

<5> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, A/P (RAF VAP CPE/UK/1994 4474-6) (Photographs). SNN104890.

<6> Aerial Photograph, AP (CUAP AMW68 AWQ9) (Photographs). SNN112974.

<7> RCHME, Undated, RCHME Inventory: Northamptonshire II (Central), 889725 (Archive). SNN112900.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:40PM