Monument record 2659 - Great Weldon

The two villages of Great and little Weldon are now virtually joined together.

{1} Although the market clearly functioned from the late C17th to the early C19th the documentary record did not yield significant evidence for the detailed study of the market and it did not appear likely that the buried archaeology would contribute substantially to the understanding of the commercial activity of the settlement in that period. However the village does have a large number of buildings surviving from the C17th and C18th and they may contribute significantly to the understanding of the settlement during the life of the market. They should be subject to evaluation and recording when threats arise to determine whether they can yield important information on the settlement, which is the latest of Northamptonshire’s market foundations and one of the few late foundations that clearly did function successfully, if perhaps on a very modest scale, for nearly two centuries. It is also possible that archaeological investigations of buried deposits for its medieval iron industry and its medieval and post medieval stone industry will also result in the collection of evidence relevant to the post medieval marketing and this might require a later re-evaluation of the potential of the settlement.

{3} Possibly not taken forward to Stage 2 survey and assessment.

{4} The first document which shows the proposed development area is the 1587 Estate map which has the site within a medieval tenement block on the extreme eastern part of the village. It is possible that this site was also within the former Saxon settlement. There seems to have been little disturbance to the area in the post-medieval period except two possible small areas of recent quarrying and one small Victorian building now gone.

{5} Archaeological evaluations at various locations have revealed medieval occupation both south of the stream and at Deene End, with ephemeral evidence of Saxon occupation somewhere nearby. The core of the settlement is south of the stream with the manor house and church. The manor site produced evidence of 13th to 15th century occupation. A double row of tenements ran west from the manor, while to the east a single-row fronted the south side of the street. At its eastern end stood a large tenement called Comberford Place. The area north of the street may originally have been an extension south of the village green, but it was occupied by a medieval ironworks and a pond was later recorded on its north side in 1585.

North of the stream settlement is in two parts: development around and probably some encroachment upon Weldon Green and a double row of tenements along the Stamford Road. Occupation north of the stream may be late Saxon or medieval expansion; along the Stamford Road possibly as late as the 12th century. Tenurial evidence shows that many of the tenements on the south side of the green and Stamford Road have paired properties in identical ownership on the north side, possibly indicating encroachment onto the green.

The Northampton-Stamford Road passed through Great Weldon, with bridges over the brook recorded in 1585 which were built by 1358.

{6} The two villages of Great and little Weldon are now virtually joined together. Great Weldon is ranged round two large loops and there are five groups of old houses, many dating back to the C17th and beyond. Little Weldon, an offshoot is a 'disciplined street village'

<1> Taylor J.; Foard G.; Ballinger J., 2002, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Overview, Appendix 2 (checked) (Report). SNN103118.

<2> WHITE J.E., 1973?, Excavations in Hardwick's Field, Great Weldon, (unchecked) (Report). SNN62012.

<4> Atkins R., 2000, An Archaeological Desk Based Assessment Of Land Off Deene End, Weldon, Corby, Northamptonshire, (part checked) (Report). SNN100568.

<5> Foard, G.; Hall, D. & Partida, T., 2009, Rockingham Forest: An atlas of the medieval and early-modern landscape, p. 293-296 (Book). SNN106598.

<6> Steane J., 1974, The Northamptonshire Landscape, p. 67-8 (Book). SNN5137.

Record last edited

Feb 7 2025 2:30PM