Monument record 1085 - Winwick

Remains of terraces, ditches, linear mounds, house platforms and a hollow way at Winwick. Overploughing of ridge and furrow indicates village shift. A Domesday settlement, it is next mentioned in 1673. It was abandoned before 1839.

{1} The historic landscape of Winwick village and its surrounds is of importance as the village has been little changed by recent development. The present day village is similar in size to the 18th century village, but the survival of earthworks and closes demonstrate that it is smaller than the medieval village.

{2) The village is listed in Domesday with a recorded population of 31. No further details of population are known until the C17th when 25 people paid the Hearth Tax of 1673. It is impossible to say whether the extensive village remains represent the maximum expansion of the village at any one time or are the result of changes in location or layout over a long period. The latter seems more likely for some of the earthworks in the north-west have been overploughed with ridge and furrow, but others, in the south-east, survive as sharply defined features. The village therefore appears to have moved gradually upstream. All these changes had taken place by 1839, as the Tithe Map of this date shows the village almost as it is today.

At the N.W. end of the site are the remains of a small moated enclosure consisting of an island about 40 m. across surrounded by a shallow ditch now less than 1 m. deep. The whole has been overploughed with ridge-and-furrow. S.E. of the moat, still on the S.W. of the stream, is a group of at least three long closes ('b' on plan) with house-sites at their N.E. ends. The closes are sub-divided by low scarps and are bounded by scarps and ditches. The whole area, excluding the house-sites, is covered by later ridge-and-furrow. A wide hollow-way, said locally once to have formed the main approach to the manor house on the other side of the valley, separates these closes from a group of smaller and more sharply defined enclosures, some of which are embanked as well as ditched. The modern road cuts across the S. corner of this area and probably replaced an earlier route which survives as a hollow-way continuing W. on the general line of the lane as the latter leaves the village. To the S.W. of the lane are further closes. These have not been ploughed in ridge-and-furrow but the S. part has now been almost completely destroyed by modern ploughing. On the E. side of the stream, and of the axial road which follows it, is a row of at least seven closes containing house-sites. These are very well preserved and fragments of post-medieval pottery have been found on them. On the higher ground behind the existing cottages is a further group of ditched and scarped enclosures. These are bounded on the S.E. by a lane, which continued as a hollow-way across the field to the E., and on the N.W. by a wide hollow-way which runs along the S. side of the large mound on which the church of St. Michael is situated. Two parallel ditches N.W. of the church may define the original driveway to the hall.

{7, 8} Archaeological trial trench excavation and earthwork survey was undertaken ahead of proposals for a sewage works replacement scheme east of the present day village. The earthwork survey identified several features not previously recorded by the RCHME including a broad mound and various slight hollows and scarps. Three spurs of land were identified as a series of long closes by the Royal Commission, but no evidence of settlement was found during the trial trenching. A possible revetment runs along the base of one of the northern scarps, but elsewhere were possibly a result of terracing. The trial trenching also found evidence of truncated medieval ditches, one possibly a late Saxon boundary ditch, and a possible pond or quarry, possibly 13th-century in date. None of the earthworks within the proposed development area appear to be directly related to occupation. The surviving mound was shown to be post-medieval. Further post-medieval activity was represented by further ditches, the infilling of a hollow way and an associated trackway along the eastern edge of the field- local information suggests it was still in use at the beginning of the 20th century.

{11} Terraces, ditches, linear mounds and an old hollow-way were identified as well preserved earthworks and may be associated with the mill dam at (SP 628734).

<1> HYLTON T., 1997, SMR Report Form, (checked) (SMR Report Form). SNN49188.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1981, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.199-201 Site 1 (unchecked) (Series). SNN77381.

<3> Northamptonshire SMR Collection of Aerial Photographs, (unchecked) (Aerial Photograph(s)). SNN104822.

<4> 1839, Winwick Tithe Map (NRO Map T225), (unchecked) (Map). SNN14184.

<5> Ryland, W, Adkins, D, and Serjeantson, R M, 1902, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, p.316,320,339,350+380 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100368.

<6> 1905, Map of The Langham Estate, (unchecked) (Map). SNN109471.

<7> Holmes M., 1998, Replacement Sewage Works, Winwick, Northamptonshire. Archaeological Evaluation Stages 2 & 3, May 1998, (checked) (Report). SNN43663.

<8> Chapman A. (Editor), 1998-9, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1998, p.181 (checked) (Chapter). SNN104054.

<9> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, A/P (RAF VAP 541/15 4383-5) (Photographs). SNN104890.

<10> Aerial Photograph, A/P (CUAP AGV14-16 AKP65 AWQ12 13 Xl62 63) (Photographs). SNN112974.

<11> Brown A.E. (Editor), 1971, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1970, p. 45 (Journal). SNN100525.

<12> RCHME, Undated, RCHME Inventory: Northamptonshire II (Central), 889842/889844 (Archive). SNN112900.

Record last edited

Jan 31 2025 3:06PM