Monument record 1681 - Brigstock

Brigstock is located in the former Rockingham Forest, a royal hunting forest. In origin it appears to have been the centre of a major Saxon royal estate with an associated old minster church. It developed into a substantial agricultural village during the medieval period but did not gain a market until the 15th century. It was still described as 'large and important' in the mid 19th century.

{1} Complex village, possibly two separate settlements, one on either side of the stream.

{7} In 1086, Brigstock was a royal manor with dependencies in Islip, Geddington and Stanion indicating that it had been at the centre of a Saxon royal estate. The original royal residence may have been located at Sudborough, the 'south burh'. Brigstock has a well-preserved pre-Conquest church and as late as c1200 Slipton, Stanion and Little Oakley were chapelries withinBrigstock parish, probably the remnant of a much larger Saxon parochia that served the royal estate.
In the 12th-14th centuries there was a royal hunting lodge, although by the 13th century it had been supplanted by a hunting lodge in Geddington.
The remnant of a possible oval enclosure encomapssing the church and vicarage straddles the stream and may be primary element in the settlement. The village to the north-east of the stream has a rectilinear form with tenements laid out along a series of roads running paralle or at right angles, which might reflect the influence of a putative Roman road. The right to a market was granted in 1466 and the market place was located to the north of the church. It may have been created by clearing a rectangular block of tenements. The market was in decay by the early 17th century and failed soon afterwards. The village had shrunk considerably by the 1440s through the effects of plague and movement of tenants to more profitable tenancies.

<1> Foard G, 1999, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brigstock (Medieval + Post Medieval), (unchecked) (Digital archive). SNN100441.

<2> Wilson D.M. (Editor), 1976, The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England, (unchecked) (Book). SNN107011.

<3> Loxston, Rev. G.R., 1977, Church of Saint Andrew, Brigstock, (unchecked) (Guide). SNN108952.

<4> Thornton M.J., 2005, Two Village Entrepreneurs in Late-Medieval Rockingham Forest, p.17-36 (unchecked) (Article). SNN109349.

<6> Foard G., 2000, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Brigstock, (unchecked) (Report). SNN101571.

<7> Foard, G.; Hall, D. & Partida, T., 2009, Rockingham Forest: An atlas of the medieval and early-modern landscape, p. 184-186 (Book). SNN106598.

Record last edited

Oct 1 2026 12:26PM