Monument record 3398 - Brafield-On-The-Green

Shifted village

{2} Settlement remains (centred SP 821589) lie in the centre of the present village, immediately SW of the church, on Boulder Clay at 107 m. above OD. Before the early C19th the village of Brafield lay on theN side of a large, irregular green which was roughly bisected by the Northampton-Bedford Road (A 428). The green was enclosed at the same time as the common fields, by Act of Parliament in 1827. Some encroachment had taken place before enclosure and shortly afterwards other houses were erected on the N side of the former green. In recentyears modern housing estates have been built over much of the S part.
The remaining earthworks between the green and the church are very slight and form no overall pattern. However a series of rectangular paddocks, bounded by scarps and banks all under 0.5 m. high, are visible, as well a number of platforms, probably the sites of former buildings. To the NW of these, on the W side of the Billing Road (SP 818590), between Home Farm and the separate part of the village known as Lower End, is a series of long closes, bounded by scarps up to 0.5 m. high. These are also perhaps the remains of former houses and gardens. All the remains had been abandoned by 1829.

{3} The manor of Brafield was held by the La Zouche family from 1299 to the reign of James I (1603-25). A Vicarage was established in the village in 1325.

<1> 1829, Brafield Enclosure Map, (unchecked) (Map). SNN105649.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.8-9 site 32 (checked) (Series). SNN77380.

<3> Woodfield P., 1981, The Larger Medieval Houses of Northamptonshire, p.165-66 (checked) (Article). SNN23550.

<4> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, AP (RAF VAP CPE/UK/1926, 4013-4; FSL 6565, 1856-7) (Photographs). SNN104890.

Record last edited

Feb 7 2025 2:38PM