Monument record 610 - Possible Medieval Settlement (Possibly Catesby or Cumberford)

Two settlements described by Bridges as deserted in the 18th century are now unlocated. Earthworks noted to the south of Watford Gap may relate to one or other of them

{3} There are records of at least two settlements described by Bridges as deserted in the 18th century. One was called Catesby, 'an enclosed manor with no house', the other, Cumberford, ' a depopulated village in an enclosed manor, now reduced to one house…the Crown ale house' {4}.
There are three possible sites; two lie close together in the far west of Watford parish and the third lies further to the east south of Watford Gap at SP585697. The field here is called Moat Close on a map of 1764 {1} and Mott Close Meadow on the Tithe Map of 1847 {2}. Near to its north-east end there is a large quarry pit, associated with a number of indeterminate banks or scarps and surrounded by ridge and furrow.

<1> 1847, Norton Tithe Map (NRO T297), (unchecked) (Map). SNN14134.

<2> 1764, Map of Watford, (unchecked) (Map). SNN15055.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.189 Site 2 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<4> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.585 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:43PM