Monument record 980 - Holdenby

Earthwork remains of deserted medieval village site, including ponds and hollow ways.

{1} c.1580 a group of c.10 buildings stood around south end of a triangular green.

{2} This was completely re-planned by 1587.

{3}{6} Plan.

{4} Village earthworks were obliterated by gardens and ponds; some earthworks survive west and south of the church; similar layout shown in 1762. NCCAP: SP6967/010+11.

{5} The manor and village were cleared around 1575 AD for landscaping of gardens for Holdenby House (Mon 980/2/1).

{6} The main interest in the parish lies in the earthworks which reflect the great changes wrought in the landscape of Holdenby in the late C16th. Up to that time the village appears to have been made up of two separate nuclei and was surrounded by its common fields. Between 1575 and 1587 Sir Christopher Hatton, who later became Lord Chancellor, built the famous Holdenby House and constructed the remarkable gardens around it, adding a large deer park after he had enclosed the common fields.He appears to have demolished both parts of the medieval settlement and to have built a new village on one of the original sites, to a plan that was an integral part of the design of the house and garden.
The deserted villages of Holdenby lie in two separate places. One is 400m south-west of the present village, around the medieval parish church on the north side of a small south-east flowing stream. The other lies immediately north-east of the present village.
The history of the village is almost unknown, its name suggesting Scandinavian origins. It is recorded in 1086, with one manor and a population of 14, held by the Count of Mortain. However at this time there is another manor (again with a population of 14) held by Mortain, with the name of Aldenstone. This might represent one of the two settlements identified here. In 1523 Holdenby’s inhabitants paid £4 6s in tax, suggesting a flourishing community. A little before 1580 Sir Christopher Hatton started work on the great house and the laying out of the gardens. On the 1580 map the house and gardens are shown, apparently still incomplete. By then the medieval church stood isolated; in a small paddock to the south of it (marked ‘a’ on the earthwork plan) are the words “here stode ye manor howse”. To the north–east of Holdenby House, on or near to the site of the present village, lay another part of Holdenby consisting of a small group of about 10 buildings arranged around the south end of a roughly triangular green.
By 1587 Hatton had completed the house and gardens. The church still stood isolated but the other part of the village had been completely rebuilt. The old green had been replaced by a large rectangular open area to the south-east with five houses along its north side. The whole plan was an integral part of his house and garden layout. This suggests that the medieval villages survived until 1580, and that when Hatton started his work he first removed the village around the church, and later cleared and rebuilt the village to the north-east of the house.
In 1673 only 9 householders paid Hearth Tax, but Bridges writing in about 1720 said that there were at least 17 houses in the village. A map of 1762 shows the situation similar to that in 1587, with eight houses along the north side of the new green as well as the present Grange Farm to the south-east and another house to the south. By the 1842 Tithe Map a pair of cottages had been built on the west side. In the late C19th seven other estate cottages were built, four within the green itself and the rest on a new road laid out from the north-east corner of the green.

{7} Most of the early village lies beneath re-planned village.

{8} Holdenby (or "Holmby") is mentioned by Moreton as one of the places producing pottery in the county.

{16} Roman pottery was reported by George to have been found at Holdenby (SP 6967).

<1> Thomas Treswell, 1580, The Survey of The Manor of Holdenby in The County of Northampton, made in 1580 (Finch-Hatton), (unchecked) (Map). SNN18155.

<2> Thomas Treswell, 1587, The Survey of The Manor of Holdenby made in 1587 (Finch-Hatton), (unchecked) (Map). SNN18147.

<3> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1976, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1975, p.202 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN169.

<4> 1762, The Duke of Marlborough's Estate in 1762 (Holdenby), (unchecked) (Map). SNN18168.

<5> Northamptonshire Topography, (unchecked) (Newspaper cuttings). SNN47246.

<6> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.103-107 Site 3 (checked) (Series). SNN77381.

<7> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP66NE4 (unchecked) (Index). SNN443.

<8> Morton J., 1712, The Natural History of Northamptonshire, p.68-73 (unchecked) (Book). SNN10113.

<10> Hartshorne E.S., 1868, Memorials of Holdenby, (unchecked) (Book). SNN60023.

<11> Ryland, W, Adkins, D, and Serjeantson, R M, 1902, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.328-9 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100368.

<12> 1842, Holdenby Tithe Map (Map). SNN116389.

<13> PRO series E179, PRO E179/254/14 (Document). SNN115882.

<14> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p. 525 (Book). SNN100366.

<15> RCHME, Undated, RCHME Inventory: Northamptonshire II (Central), 889547 (Archive). SNN112900.

<16> Moore W.R.G., 1968, Roman Settlement in the Upper and Middle Nene Valley, P. 60 (Uncertain). SNN15188.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:51PM