Monument record 500 - Downtown (Downton)

The site of a deserted medieval village which has now been completely ploughed leaving no identifiable remains above ground, although soilmarks remain visible. Pottery of the 12th to 14th century has been found on the site. It lies in the parish of Stanford on Avon and was owned by Selby Abbey in the Middle Ages. Certainly there by 1229

{1} The site survived until 1963 in a very good state of preservation but was then completely destroyed by ploughing. Earthwork plan is based on one made by OS prior to destruction. Before destruction the only incursion was the cutting of The Grand Union Canal across the north-east part of it. The village plan comrised a broad central hollow-way bounded on each side by a series of rectangular closes with probable house-platforms at the ends near the hollow-way.
History of the village is largely unknown, included with Stanford in national taxation records. It was certainly abandoned by the early C18th according to Bridges who recorded that 'large foundation stones and causeys' had been turned up by the plough. There was apparently a chapel in the village, dependent on the church at Stanford. Pottery of the 12th to 14th centuries has been found on the site.

{11} Owned by Selby Manor in the Middle Ages and was certainly there in 1229, when it was referred to in the abbey's Coucher Book {12}. People living there are said to have held virgates and bovates of land, but there is no evidence of a separate field system from Stanford on Avon. The village shows every sign of having been placed on earlier ridge and furrow.

Systematic fieldwalking produced 12th century pottery (nothing earlier) and some quantity of medieval shelly and sandy ware. Pieces of 15th century pottery were concentrated on the western part of the site, indicating that the eastern part fell into disuse at an earlier date.

{13} The area is under pasture, Mr. Green holding official letters (M.O.W) forbidding ploughing. The site is typical, roads, internal fields, steadings and enclosures being identifiable, although there has been former mutilation due to canal construction and subsequent clearings. Neither the Chapel nor water-mill sites of authority 1 could be identified.
The reason for abandonment was not ascertained, but in this region the advance of sheep farming is mainly held responsible for desertion.
1/2500 Survey Dec. 1960

{15} There was an ancient village on the side of the hill called, according to Bridges {3} about 1719-24, Down-Hill or Down-Town, Stanford, where he says, large foundations and causeways have been turned up in ploughing. There was a chapel of ease to Stanford church, and a water-mill which stood at the foot of the hill and of which there is mention in many old leases.
The two manors of Down and Stanford form that part of Stanford lordship which falls on the Northampton side of the Avon Beresford {8} includes Downtown, which, he says, was listed, together with Stanford, at 131 in the Poll Tax of 1377, in a secondary list of less certain sites of lost villages.

{16} The area occupied by this D.M.V. has been completely ploughed and there are no identifiable remains.

{18} Soilmarks defining the main elements of the former settlement remain visible.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.177+Fig.133 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP68SW15 (part checked) (Index). SNN443.

<3> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.578 (unchecked) (Book). SNN100366.

<4> Allison K.J.; Beresford M.W.; Hurst J.G. et al, 1966, The Deserted Villages of Northamptonshire, p.38 (unchecked) (Report). SNN39628.

<5> Wilson D.M.; Gillian Hurst D. (Editors), 1968, Medieval Britain in 1967 (12), 12/201 (unchecked) (Notes). SNN55155.

<6> St Joseph J.K., 1971, Air Reconnaissance: Recent Results (26), p.298-9 (unchecked) (Report). SNN14359.

<7> 1967, Deserted Medieval Village Research Group (Vol.15), p.4 (unchecked) (Annual Report). SNN29346.

<8> Beresford M.W., 1954, The Lost Villages of England, p.366+369 (unchecked) (Extract). SNN7102.

<9> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, NCCAP:6180/016-19 (unchecked) (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<10> MEDIEVAL SETTLEMENT RESEARCH GROUP, 1996, Annual Report, Down/p. 45 (Annual Report). SNN105122.

<11> BROWN A.E., 1997, Fieldwalking Ploughed deserted Villages in Northamptonshire (Report). SNN62296.

<12> Fowler, J T (ed), 1892, The Coucher Book of Selby (Article). SNN111016.

<13> Colquhoun, FD, 1960, Field Investigators Comments, F1 FDC 22-DEC-1960 (Notes). SNN112761.

<14> Oblique Aerial Photograph, AMW 70 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

<15> Historic England, Unknown, Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments, D AUGUST O.R 19-APR-1960 (Oral Report). SNN111577.

<16> Baird, J., 1970, Field investigators comments, F2 JB 16-MAR-1970 (Notes). SNN110341.

<17> RCHME, Undated, RCHME Inventory: Northamptonshire II (Central), 889323 (Archive). SNN112900.

<18> Vertical Aerial Photograph, Google Earth, imagery date 21/04/2020 [Accessed 03/05/2024] (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:42PM