Monument record 1185 - Dagnall

Medieval settlement earthworks covering an area of c. 80 metres x 220 metres. The earliest documentary reference to Dagnall occurs in 1319. It is uncertain as to whether the settlement ever comprised more than a single farmstead with associated buildings and paddocks.

{1} 1st recorded in 1319

{2} Settlement remains (SP 759391) formerly part of Dagnall, lie immediately NE of Dagnall Farm in the E of the parish, on glacial sands and gravels at 80 m. abve OD. The name Dagnall is not recorded until 1319 but the settlement is presumably much older than that. It lay in the former parish of Wyke Dyve. As it is not listed separately in any of the national taxation records there is no indication of its size until 1717 when only the present farm is depicted. It is possible that the settlement never consisted of anything more than a single farmstead and that the surviving earthworks are only abandoned paddocks. The earthworks cover a roughly rectangular area 80 m. by 220 m. bounded on the NE and SE by modern hedges, by the farm on the SW, and on the NW by a low bank and ditch which separate them from the adjacent ridge-and-furrow. Two low banks and ditches running NW-SE divide the area into three small closes. The southwesternmost of these has disturbed earthworks within it, perhaps the remains of old farm buildings (air photographs in NMR).

{3} No indication of size until 1717 when only 1 farm shown

{4} It is claimed that it was at that time (1319) monastic property and is where Archbishop Thomas a Beckett stayed on his flight from Canterbury. This is not verified.

<1> Gover J.E.B.; Mawer A.; Stenton F.M. (Eds.), 1933, The Place-names of Northamptonshire, p.108 (unchecked) (Series). SNN5881.

<2> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.171/Site 4 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<3> Robert Kershaw, 1717, Map of Wicken, (unchecked) (Map). SNN20486.

<4> Hall D., 2001, The Woodland Landscapes of Southern Northamptonshire, p.33-46 (unchecked) (Article). SNN102520.

<5> de Broise A., 2005, The Whittlewood Project: Historic Buildings Survey, Wicken (Report). SNN105037.

Record last edited

Jan 31 2025 3:06PM