Monument record 1464 - Caldecote

Caldecote Medieval settlement earthwork remains suggest pre 19th-century village shrinkage

{1} First documented in 1203.

{2} Probably included silently under the large royal manor of Towcester in 1086.

{3} Settlement remains formerly part of Caldecote, lie in and around the existing hamelt. Caldecote was formerly an independent settlement which occupied most of the northern part of the modern parish of Towcester. It is first mentioned in documents in 1203 but is probably included silently in Domesday Book within the large royal manor of Towcester. In 1301 14 men paid the Lay Subsidy, and 11 paid the 1525 Lay Subsidy. In 1673, 14 paid the Hearth Tax. By the early 18th century there were about 20 houses there {4} and by the mid 19th century only some 15 buildings are depicted {5}, much as now.
The hamlet consists of a single street with houses and farms on each side but earthworks suggest that the hamlet once extended further north. Earthworks on the east side of the street, and north of the last farm. Ridge and furrow terminates in a low bank running parallel to the street. Uneven ground lies between the bank and the street. Earthworks on the west side of the street, north of the last cottage. Old quarries are cut into possible embanked closes. There are possible former buildings in the long narrow field to the north of the quarried area. Elsewhere there are remains of close boundaries which survive as low banks in paddocks behind the houses. Aerial photographs.

{6} Towcester's medieval taxation records included Caldecote. In 1301 Towcester was assessed cum membris (with hamlets).
Archdeacon Sponne appears to have appreciated the difficulties incumbent upon paying the tax, for in 1447 he vested in trustees a messuage called the Tabard, plus lands in Towcester, Wood Burcote and Caldecote, from which the payment of the fifteenth was to be paid, whenever the tax was levied. A payment of £6 6s 8d for the fifteenth was made by the collectors of Sponne’s charity in 1491-2, and payments of the tax in other years were recorded in the Account Book. A number of receipts for the payment of the fifteenth in the 16th century survive.
(Ref 3.4.3)In the Middle Ages the open fields may have extended almost up to the edge of the town on the west and the south; on the east there was meadow land, and more meadow land to the north, beyond which lay the open fields of Caldecote. 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.

<1> Gover J.E.B.; Mawer A.; Stenton F.M. (Eds.), 1933, The Place-names of Northamptonshire, p.95 (unchecked) (Series). SNN5881.

<2> Ryland, W, Adkins, D, and Serjeantson, R M, 1902, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.305 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100368.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.160/Site 10 (unchecked) (Series). SNN77382.

<4> Bridges J., 1791, The History and Antiquities of Northamptonshire, p.278 (unchecked) (Book). SNN77325.

<5> 1843, Towcester Tithe Map, (unchecked) (Map). SNN12156.

<6> Taylor J.; Foard G.; Laughton J.; Steadman S.; Ballinger J., 2002, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Towcester, 3.5.1, 3.4.3 (checked) (Report). SNN103132.

<7> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, NCCAP:SP6851/001-2 (unchecked) (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<8> PRO series E179, PRO (E179/155/31, E179/155/132, E179/254/14) (Document). SNN115882.

<9> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, A/P (RAF VAP CPE/UK/1926, 1037-8) (Photographs). SNN104890.

Record last edited

Feb 3 2025 8:56PM