Monument record 4268 - Braybrooke

The remains of a medieval settlement believed to have either been abandoned as a result of shrinkage or deliderately cleared prior to the construction of a neighbouring moated site (4268/1). The earthworks include hollow ways, one of which connects with an existing village lane at its west end, a number of linear crofts and several building platforms. Ridge and furrow is visible within some of the crofts and also to the north and east of the settlement earthworks. Scheduled.

{3} The major monument of the parish is Braybrooke Castle. Adjacent earthworks of a former settlement suggest that the castle may have been constructed over part of this settlement.
The earthworks may represent an early part of the village later abandoned as a result of shrinkage, or possibly removed deliberately to make way for the castle and its associated earthworks. It is perhaps the place called West Hall, and as such could originally have been a settlement separate from the present village. In the available population statistics of the medieval and later periods there is no evidence of massive shrinkage at any time. Domesday Book gives a recorded population of 21. In 1323 the vill paid 72s. in tax, and 77s. in 1348-9. In 1377 163 people over the age of 14 paid Poll Tax and 49 people paid the Subsidy in 1524. In 1674 84 people paid the Hearth Tax and there was a total of 378 people in the parish in 1801. Earthwork remains exist in three areas. Immediately NE of the castle
is a series of rectangular paddocks. To the NW are two E-W hollow-ways and adjoining crofts. S of the castle are slight traces of further long rectangular closes. RCHM plan, air photographs in NMR.

{13} (SP 7684) Braybrooke, contracted village. Good example of typical earthworks centred SP 767847. See OS air cover.

{14} Scheduled; scheduled area extended.

{15} At Domesday Braybrooke had a complex tenurial structure with seven separate holdings. Two were manors, known as the Westhall fee and the Easthall fee. In the 12th century land from the Easthall fee was granted to the abbey of Pipewell on which was built a grange. The village has a complex plan-form, with various component parts either side of the river Jordan, which may reflect the complex tenurial structure of 1086. The core of the early settlement may be the area with irregular, curving, possibly originally oval, plan-form and a small green set along a tributary stream. Given the names of the two manors, the Westhall manor house may have been located in the western part of the village although its location is lost, along with the chapel that belonged to it. The Easthall manor probably lay on the site of the fortified manor constructed by the Latimers in the early 14th century. There were extensive ponds and a park around the manor-house, which was deserted in the 16th century.
The settlement on the north side of the road north of the stream is of rectilinear form, corresponds closely to adjacent furlongs and is likely to have been expansion over the open fields.

<1> Williams A.; Pitcher G., 2007, Land Adjacent to Top Farm, 52 Griffin Road, Braybrooke, (unchecked) (Report). SNN105987.

<3> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1979, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.11-12 sites 1 and 2 (checked) (Series). SNN77380.

<4> PRO series E179, E179/155/3 (Document). SNN115882.

<5> PRO series E179, PRO E179/155/28 (Document). SNN115882.

<6> PRO series E179, PRO E179/155/133 (Document). SNN115882.

<7> PRO series E179, PRO E179/254/14 (Document). SNN115882.

<8> Thorn F.; Thorn C., 1979, Domesday Book: A Survey of The Counties of England, (unchecked) (Series). SNN1170.

<9> Ryland, W, Adkins, D, and Serjeantson, R M, 1902, The Victoria History of the Counties of England: Northamptonshire, pp. 318, 321, 334-5, 350, 352 (unchecked) (Series). SNN100368.

<10> FOARD G.R., 1994, Braybrooke Medieval Village, (unchecked) (Notes). SNN1419.

<11> Bird H., 2005, Seaborne Re-Visited: Cob Cottages in Northamptonshire 2004, p.54-69 (unchecked) (Article). SNN109351.

<12> Taylor, CC, 1978, Aspects of village mobility in medieval and later times, p. 132 (Report). SNN110876.

<13> Seaman, BH, 1969, Field investigators comments, F1 BHS 21-JUL-1969 (Notes). SNN111907.

<14> Scheduled Monument Notification, 24-Oct-97 (Note). SNN113001.

<15> Foard, G.; Hall, D. & Partida, T., 2009, Rockingham Forest: An atlas of the medieval and early-modern landscape, p. 181-184 (Book). SNN106598.

Record last edited

Oct 1 2026 12:15PM