Monument record 1218 - Puxley

Location of the deserted settlement of Pokesley, or Puxley. The earliest documentary reference to the settlement is in Domesday Book. Depopulation occurred in 1489. No earthworks survive of what always seems to have been an unnucleated, rather dispersed settlement, though a number of artefacts of Medieval date have been found in the area.

{2} Settlement Remains (SP 757415), formerly part of the hamlet of Puxley, lie in the N. of the parish, on Boulder Clay and limestone between 90m. And 98m. Above OD. The settlement is first mentioned in Domesday Book where it is described as two very small estates with a total recorded population of three. There is then no indication of its size as it was always included under Deanshanger and Passenham in the medieval national taxation records except in 1525 when three people in Puxley paid the Lay Subsidy. Bridges, writing in about 1720, decribed Puxley as 'an hamlet of four mean houses on the borders of the forest… but formerly a much greater number with one considerable mansion-house called Pokel to which the wardenship of Whittlewood Forest was annexed'. By 1874 the hamlet contained three farm-houses and it now consists of ten farms and cottages, mostly of recent date, scattered along the road for about 1km. The evidence suggests that Puxley was always a small dispersed forest-edge settlement with no obvious centre.

No earthworks survive but finds from the area include medieval pottery, part of a medieval gilt-bronze book fastenening and a 13th-century gilt-bronze pendant.

{4} SP 756418: Pokesley DMV (= Puxley). The village now consists of four farms scattered down a straggling road as if it is a former street. Depopulation occurred in 1489, and Sir Nicholas Vaux was pardoned by Henry VIII.

{7} Examination of historical maps, as part of a desk-based assessment, identified houses and lanes associated with the dispersed hamlet of Puxley in the Forest of Whittlewood.

{8} Member of manor of Passenham now 4 mean houses in hamlet formerly a much greater number with 1 considerable mansion house. Pokel - to which the wardenship of Whittlewood Forest was annexed. Wardenship now in the hands of Duke of Grafton.

{10} Puxley: an unnucleated village; no earthworks indicative of desertion are to be seen.

<1> Ryland, W, Adkins, D, and Serjeantson, R M, 1902, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.307+374 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100368.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.41/Site 4 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<3> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.309 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<4> Beresford M.W., 1954, The Lost Villages of England, p.368 (unchecked) (Extract). SNN7102.

<5> Whellan, 1874, History, Topography & Directory of Northamptonshire, p.574; (unchecked) (Book). SNN1002.

<6> Ordnance Survey, 1950s/1960s, Ordnance Survey Record Cards, SP74SE5 (checked) (Index). SNN443.

<7> HYLTON T., 1996, SMR REPORT FORM, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN49187.

<8> Parry S.; Webster M., 1996, Archaeological Investigation: Deanshanger to Old Stratford Duplication, Northants, (unchecked) (Report). SNN72806.

<9> Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group, 1996-2013, Northamptonshire Industrial Archaeology Group Newsletter, Issue 117 p.8 (unchecked) (Newsletter). SNN55360.

<10> Seaman, BH, 1969, Field investigators comments, F1 BHS 21-OCT-69 (Notes). SNN111907.

<11> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1975, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1974, p. 166 (Report). SNN41605.

<12> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1976, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1975, p. 191 (Journal). SNN169.

<13> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, A/P (RAF VAP CPE/UK/1926, 4243-4) (Photographs). SNN104890.

<14> PRO series E179, PRO (E179/155/130) (Document). SNN115882.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:54PM