Monument record 861 - Field Burcote

Site of deserted medieval village with no visible evidence of desertion existing within the indicated area.

{1} Not recorded until 1200 though it is presumed older and was perhaps included with Greens Norton in Domesday. In 1301, 9 paid the Lay Subsidy and it is mentioned in 1316 Nomina Villarum. Thereafter nothing is known of its size until 1499 when 4 houses were destroyed to allow enclosure of the area and conversion to pasture. The place was termed a hamlet in the early 18th century though on a map of 1726 only two farms are shown there. In the late 19th century these two farm houses still existed, although only a single farm survives today.

{3} Field Burcote (SP 667 510) passed to the Green family, lawyers with extensive estates, in the 14th century. In 1499 four houses were destroyed and 200 acres were enclosed and converted to pasture. In 1551 the lands here and in the adjacent hamlets supported a flock of 2,000 sheep. Called a hamlet in approximately 1720, it is now a single farm.

{5} The process of conversion of arable to pasture which is attested in the area around Towcester from the end of the 15th century may have been linked with the development of leather working. At Field Burcote, some two to three miles to the north west of Towcester, four houses were destroyed by Sir Thomas Green in 1499 and 200 acres were converted to pasture. In 1551 the ‘lands, meadows and pastures’ were grazed by John Hickling’s flock of 2000 sheep.
(Ref 3.4.3)The three major fields recorded in 1700 were to the south and west of the town and would seem to have been the fields of Towcester and Burcote. Caldecote would therefore have had a separate system, as is suggested by the names recorded in 1606.

{11} No earthworks of the Deserted Medieval Village are visible, though the rig and furrow surrounding the farm does give an indication of the hamlet's extent.

{12} There is no visible evidence of desertion within the indicated area.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.72/Site 6 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<2> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP65SE5 (checked) (Index). SNN443.

<3> Allison K.J.; Beresford M.W.; Hurst J.G. et al, 1966, The Deserted Villages of Northamptonshire, p.40 (unchecked) (Report). SNN39628.

<4> Gover J.E.B.; Mawer A.; Stenton F.M. (Eds.), 1933, The Place-names of Northamptonshire, p.42 (unchecked) (Series). SNN5881.

<5> Taylor J.; Foard G.; Laughton J.; Steadman S.; Ballinger J., 2002, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Towcester, 3.5.4, 3.4.3 (unchecked) (Report). SNN103132.

<6> Ryland, W, Adkins, D, and Serjeantson, R M, 1902, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.304 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100368.

<7> 1316, Nomina Villarum, (unchecked) (Document). SNN8783.

<8> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.238 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<9> Whellan, 1874, History, Topography & Directory of Northamptonshire, p.519; (unchecked) (Book). SNN1002.

<10> 1726, Map of Greens Norton, (unchecked) (Map). SNN12756.

<11> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, A P's (R A F CPE/UK/1994, 480 4, 5 13.4.47) (Photographs). SNN104890.

<12> Baird, J., 1970, Field investigators comments, F1 JB 23-JAN-70 (Notes). SNN110341.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:48PM