Monument record 3250 - Wollaston

Wollaston was a polyfocal village in the medieval period. It developed into an industrialised village during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During the mid-nineteenth century agriculture and lace were important industries within the village and the boot and shoe industry emerged as a cottage industry during this period. This proved highly significant as the rapid growth of this industry; in particular during the last two decades of the century, quickly replaced agriculture as the main employer. The boot and shoe industry was responsible for the expansion of Wollaston and resulted in the erection of a number of factories, for example the NPS and Messrs. Philip Bros. Lime kilns, brickworks and Ironstone quarrying were also present in the parish.

{1} Early village plan, Fig.67. Perhaps the best example of the use of archaeological evidence, largely because it forms part of a convincing documented history, is that of Wollaston, Northamptonshire. Because of the development associated with the C19th leather industry the village now presents an amorphous plan of little coherence, but on the enclosure map of 1789 a much clearer picture emerges of its old plan, which can then be recognised today. It had a ‘dumbell’ plan, consisting of two separate focuses linked by a straight street.
The northern focus contains the church, still standing on one side of a green which has been partly encroached upon., On the other side of the green is a small motte which, to judge by the existing building line, had a bailey on its downslope side facing the green. There is no doubt that this northern focus was the centre of a five hide manor, recorded in Domesday Book and held then by Gunfrey de Chocques. The descent of this manor has been traced without a break down to the C19th, when its enclosed demesne land lay exclusively around this part of the village. The later manor house site of this focus remained represented by earthworks until 1957, when they were destroyed by housing development. However, rescue work on the site revealed occupation back to the C12th. In addition, later excavations at the parish church have produced occupation material of early Saxon date.
The southern focus is more complex and consists of a closely-knit group of narrow streets. This was certainly the centre of the second manor listed under Wollaston in Domesday Book, gelding for two hides and held by the Countess Judith. This manor too has been traced down to the C19th, and again its enclosed demesne land was entirely around this southern focus. Here the medieval manor house site survives and excavation has produced not only material of early Saxon date, but also evidence of Roman occupation. Further Roman and early Saxon occupation debris has been discovered nearby.
Thus topographical, historical and archaeological evidence all seem to imply the continuing existence of a polyfocal settlement over a long period. It is possible that the two focuses may have gradually grown together in later times to produce the linking street; however this street is so straight that it is possible that it is a deliberate addition to the original plan of the village.

{3} Many details of the archaeology and history of the parish are given.

{4} The majority of the houses built in the 19th century are typical redbrick terraces. There was then a break in development until the 1920s when council houses began to be built in the village between 1921 and 1928. It is clear that the urban development in Wollaston was closely linked to the growth in the boot and shoe trade, with factories being built from 1883 onwards. The new streets which were laid out incorporated workshops in each garden and the practice of outworking continued alongside factory production.
A range of early maps are available for Wollaston including two maps of 1774 , one of the northern part and one of the southern part of Wollaston and the Inclosure map of 1789 which help to plot the urban development.
The 1789 map shows Wollaston as comprising of Long Street (High Street), the area around the Church now known as Hickmire, Church Lane and Duck End, Partridge Hill (London Road) Strixton End (London Road) and Poddington End (Hinwick Road). There was no significant change to this pattern until the mid to late 19th century when the boot and shoe trade began to flourish in Wollaston.
Wollaston does not have a specific area of commerce within the village, although the majority of shops identified were within buildings which were constructed during the 1880s to 1920s. At the peak in 1924 there were 29 separate shops, a number of which belonged to the Co-operative society.
The second phase of development in Wollaston took place between 1883 and 1900 and comprised of the laying out of six new roads and the building of houses along three other existing roads. Nearly all these houses were built with workshops in the gardens. In the main they are of typical redbrick construction with York stone lintels. The decoration to the lintels and doorways falls into only a small number of variations around the village. There are a small number of terraced properties built out of yellow brick as an alternative. It appears quite common around the village, that when a block of terraces was built one of the end properties was either larger and /or differently decorated to the others within the terrace. There was some in-filling along streets such as High Street during this period, and a number of small dwellings shown on the 1901 map appear to have been replaced with contemporary buildings at this time. Also during this period a number of the stone houses were re-faced with red brick,
There is no clear zoning in Wollaston, the old streets remained relatively untouched by expansion, (although early 20th century in-fill has occurred in places). The factories which were built, the shops, and three new clubs/pubs all fall within the new areas of expansion between 1881 and 1920. However, there is no one specific area for boot and shoe workers as compared to agricultural workers or lace workers.
The housing in Wollaston is split into three separate phases of development; the High Street and the area around the Parish Church are mostly comprised of stone houses and cottages, a large number of these buildings are listed , and this area falls within the designated Conservation Area in the village. Isolated examples of stone houses are to be found along London Road and Hinwick Road, in particular the area close to The Nags Head. Many buildings of this period identified on the 1901 map have subsequently been demolished, in particular the many small dwellings which made up a number of Yards running off London Road.
New streets were not built until after 1880 with the first new street Thrift Street, known as New Street, being laid out in 1883. The development can be charted as follows: In 1884 houses in Hinwick Road (Gas Works End) were built, with South Street, Eastfield Road, Howard Road and Newton Road all being laid out in .the early 1890s, Holyoake was laid out in 1900. South Street was widened in 1894 and High Street and Poddington End were improved in 1895 and 1898.
Wollaston has relatively poor medieval documentation. A detailed topographical reconstruction based on the various 17th and 18th century rentals, surveys and charters and the good later 18th century mapping may prove possible but this may add little to our understanding of the location, extent and character of the market place and tenements fronting onto it. There has been no archaeological evidence recovered which would appear to contribute to the understanding of the settlement’s medieval commercial functions and it is also intensively built up with substantial areas of 19th century and 20th century development. The site was therefore not studied in detail in the EUS. However in the settlement core in the area of the presumed market place there is one potential frontage on the south west side which remains as garden and may preserve significant archaeological evidence.

{10} Summary of documentary information on Wollaston.

{12-14} Ditches, trackways, toft and croft boundaries of the former medieval village are visible as earthworks on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data and was mapped as part of the Bedford Borough NMP project. Located in the grounds of Wollaston House and centred at SP 90450 62878, the earthworks are bounded by Cobb’s Lane, London Road and Rotten Row. Five ridge and furrow cultivation blocks in the northwest of the grounds are adjacent to a network of interconnected ditches or trackways, some of which appear to form the division boundaries for land plots. In the northeast of the area, a number of fragmentary earthworks banks appear to define former buildings, along with a 12.7 metres wide circular mound, upon which is a 7 metre wide central pit. It is possible that this may have been a windmill site. The earthworks remain visible on aerial photographs taken in 2018.

<1> TAYLOR C.C., 1977, Notes and News: Polyfocal Settlement and The English Village, p.189-93 (checked) (Journal). SNN39571.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.202 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<3> Hall D.N., 1977, Wollaston: Portrait of A Village, (unchecked) (Book). SNN48190.

<4> Richards K., 2001, Northamptonshire Extensive Urban Survey: Wollaston, 1.0 (checked) (Report). SNN101566.

<5> Chapman A., 1998-9, Wollaston, (unchecked) (Note). SNN104065.

<6> Dawson M., 2006, Archaeology Desk Based Assessment: Land at 152 London Road, Wollaston, Northants., (unchecked) (Report). SNN105587.

<7> Salzman L.F.(ed), 1937, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.58-60 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100371.

<8> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, (unchecked) (Series). SNN77380.

<9> 1977, Medieval Archaeology (21), 21/ 191 (unchecked) (Journal). SNN62222.

<10> Ashworth H.; Turner C., 1999, Land Off Dando Close, Wollaston, Northamptonshire: Evaluation Report (HN224), p.2-3 (unchecked) (Report). SNN74276.

<11> Various, Various, Photographs of buildings in Wollaston (Photographs). SNN111316.

<12> Environment Agency, LIDAR Composite DTM - 1m, LIDAR SP 9062 Environment Agency 1m DTM 04-JUL-2006–03-AUG-2017 (Digital Plots). SNN111710.

<13> Oblique Aerial Photograph, NHC 5606/20 05-DEC-1988 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

<14> Vertical Aerial Photograph, Next Perspectives APGB Imagery SP9062 12-JUN-2018 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN112695.

<15> Bedford Borough Council HER, Undated, Bedford Borough NMP, MD003015 (Archive). SNN113023.

Record last edited

Feb 7 2025 2:36PM