Monument record 3272 - Bozeat

Bozeat settlement remains. Earthworks of medieval and/or post-medieval village shrinkage are visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data. It may be that any former structures were destroyed on Tuesday 9th September 1729 in the so-called ‘Great Fire of Bozeat’, a cottage kitchen fire that quickly spread to destroy 41 dwellings and many outbuildings in the village, including four farms and the vicarage.

{1} Settlement remains (centred SP 904590) lie in and around the village in various places. The most notable lie in the angle between Easton Road and London Road on land sloping E to a small brook (SP 904590). Here there are at least three large rectangular closes extending W from the London Road and bounded by banks and scarps up to 1.75 m. high. These closes are subdivided by low scarps, and the centre one has a large ditched and banked enclosure within it at its W end. The boundary banks and scarps appear to be constructed of limestone rubble. Extensive later quarrying has greatly damaged the remains. There are no traces of buildings in these closes, although recent widening of the London Road may have destroyed any which formerly existed.
Elsewhere in the village are other earthworks, probably also part of the village. Immediately W of Church Farm on the E side of the London Road (SP 90505912) are very disturbed remains,in a small paddock E of
Manor Farm on the E of the village (SP 90905908) is a rectangular enclosure; it is bounded on the E by a large bank 1 m. high and 9 m. wide and 0.25 m. high, and is surrounded on the E, N and S by ridge-
and-furrow. It also has ridge-and-furrow within it. Immediately N and W of the church and vicarage (SP 90535920) and 90625927) are two pasture closes with very slight indeterminate earthworks. All these
sites were already devoid of building in 1799.

{4} Collection of photographs of buildings in the village;

{7} In 1978 an earthwork survey was carried out on the Manor including the closes, ancillary buildings and possible fishponds.

{8} (SP 904591). During road construction in 1979 boundary banks with walls were discovered to the south of the Manor. Various other settlement remains were also identified including a metalled hollow way running from the east of the house site.

{9-12} As described at {1} above, Earthworks of a medieval and/or post-medieval shrunken village is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data and was mapped as part of the Bedford Borough NMP project. Located in a paddock in Bozeat at the junction of London Road with Easton Lane and centred at SP 90381 59119, a series of linear ditches, dips, hollows and pits are interspersed with linear banks forming the remains of trackways, platforms and enclosures of crofts or tofts. Aerial photographs taken in 1946 show the 2 metre wide stonework remains of a ruined three-sided structure or building centred at SP 90378 59119 of uncertain date and function enclosing an internal area about 6 x 5 metres, with the S facing side open. By 1982 this seems to have been reduced to earthworks, still being clearly visible under grass. It may be that any structures formerly sited here were destroyed on Tuesday 9th September 1729 in the so-called ‘Great Fire of Bozeat’, a kitchen fire in a cottage that quickly spread to destroy 41 dwellings and also many outbuildings in the village, including four farms and the vicarage. By 1982, aerial photographs show that the southeast third of the site had been truncated by the diversion of the main road.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p. 4 site 16 (unchecked) (Series). SNN77380.

<2> 1799, Bozeat Inclosure Map (NRO Map 2839), (unchecked) (Map). SNN293.

<3> Enclosure Map, (unchecked) (Map). SNN292.

<3> Marlow Rev. J.H., 1936, The History of Bozeat, (unchecked) (Book). SNN48180.

<4> Various, Various, Photographs of buildings in Bozeat (Photographs). SNN111142.

<5> Hall, D, Bozeat Parish Survey Map, (unchecked) (Map). SNN59857.

<6> Bligh P., 2003, Bozeat 2000, (unchecked) (Book). SNN109834.

<7> COWLEY D.E.; FOARD G.R., 1979, Aerial Archaeology in Northamptonshire, p. 97 (Article). SNN60721.

<8> Cowley, D E and Foard, G R, eds, 1980, Aerial photography in Northamptonshire 1979, p. 170 (Article). SNN112709.

<9> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, RAF/3G/TUD/UK/118 RVp1 6074 03-APR-1946 (Photographs). SNN104890.

<10> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, RAF/541/341 RP 3138 15-AUG-1949 (Photographs). SNN104890.

<11> Oblique Aerial Photograph, NHC 2221/20 11-DEC-1982 (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN111738.

<12> Environment Agency, LIDAR Composite DTM - 1m, LIDAR SP 9059 Environment Agency 1m DTM NOV-2003–NOV-2012 (Digital Plots). SNN111710.

<13> Rushden & District History Society, 2007, Rushden Research, Bozeat Village: The Great Fire of 1729 (Website). SNN112031.

<14> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, AP (RAF VAP CPE/UK/1994, 3190-1 (Photographs). SNN104890.

Record last edited

Feb 7 2025 2:37PM