Monument record 607 - Ashby St Ledgers

Shrunken village. Allegedly an early Medieval town. There are earthworks and holloways indicating roads and house platforms. Some stone foundations are exposed.

{3} Brass rubbing of Thomas Stokey dated 1416.

{4} "At Legers Ashby... has been another old town, as they say, destroyed by the Danes: there are great ditches, causeways and marks of streets."

{6} Stukeley's suggestion of this being a manor site [at the west end of the village] is unproven.

{8} First mentiond at Domesday with a recorded population of 24. In 1377 81 paid the Poll Tax, and in 1673 52 people are listed in the Hearth Tax returns.In the early C18th Bridges says that there were 50 houses in the village. By 1801 there were 232 inhabitants of the parish. These admittedly inadequate figures do not indicate any marked fall in the population of the village at any time so the earthworks may be a result of shifting rather than shrinkage. In the past the layout was rather different to its present plan form, but it is not known when the change took place. Stukely recorded that the village had "great ditches, causeways and marks of streets". However part of the abandoned area was occupied or at least in use in the early C19th. Some of the earthworks have been interpreted as the site of a manor house, but this is unconfirmed.

{9} In the field centred SP 56656830 are earthworks typical of shrinkage, probably those mentioned by authority {4}.

<1> 1764, Ashby St Ledgers Survey Showing Ancient Inclosures, (unchecked) (Map). SNN59851.

<2> 1979, MAP, (unchecked) (Map). SNN54877.

<3> Brass Rubbings at Ashmolean Museum, (unchecked) (Catalogue). SNN41806.

<4> Stukeley W., 1776, Itinerarium Curiosum, p.113 (unchecked) (Series). SNN55468.

<5> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.14 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77326.

<6> Whellan W., 1849, History, Gazetteer and Directory of Northamptonshire, p.381 (unchecked) (Directory). SNN100427.

<7> Ryland, W, Adkins, D, and Serjeantson, R M, 1902, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.330 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100368.

<8> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.5 Site 3 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<9> Baird, J, 1969, Field Investigators Comments, F1 JB 17-MAR-69 (Note). SNN111452.

<10> RCHME, Undated, RCHME Inventory: Northamptonshire II (Central), 890763 (Archive). SNN112900.

<11> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP56NE10 (unchecked) (Index). SNN443.

<12> Whellan, 1874, History, Topography & Directory of Northamptonshire, p.381; (unchecked) (Book). SNN1002.

<13> 2003, Architectural plans for a barn conversion at Cherry Tree Farm, Ashby St Ledgers, (unchecked) (Plan). SNN108752.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:42PM