Monument record 5477 - Moor End

Earthwork remains of Moor End Medieval shrunken village consisting of rectangular enclosures and building platforms, the site overlies ridge and furrow.

{1} Settlement Remains (SP 762448) formerly part of Moor End, lie between the existing houses of the hamlet, on Boulder Clay between 90 m. and 98 m. above OD. Nothing is known of the history and size of Moor End except its manorial descent and the fact that it first occurs in documents in 1168. The hamlet seems always to have consisted of houses arranged along a single NE-SW street. The remains of former settlement exist in four places. Immediately SE of Castle Barn are two building platforms at the S ends of two fragmentary closes. These lie in the area known as Castle Yard in 1728 (map in NRO) and may be associated with the moat. To the SW on the opposite side of the road, is a strip of disturbed ground which may possibly be the site of other buildings. Further NE and E of the moat is a group of rectangular platforms, cut into the hillside, probably the sites of at least five houses and gardens. In 1728 there were still two buildings standing here but they had disappeared by 1776. The main interest of the remains is that they appear to overlie ridge-and-furrow, fragments of which still survive on the NW. The adjacent furlong of ridge-and-furrow ends on a well-marked headland, but at least five ridges can be traced continuing into the settlement remains. To the S is a single raised platform, also possibly a house-site.

{2} Two buildings are shown as still standing in 1728.

{3} All buildings had disappeared by 1776.

<1> Royal Commission on The Historical Monuments of England, 1982, An Inventory of The Historical Monuments in The County of Northampton, p.176/Site 4 (checked) (Series). SNN77382.

<2> 1728, Northants Record Office map of Yardley Gobion including Moor End 1728, (unchecked) (Map). SNN20562.

<3> 1776, Northants Record Office map including Moor End 1776, (unchecked) (Map). SNN20567.

<4> WARREN D., 1964, The Hamlet and Castle of Moor End in Yardley Gobion, p.7-12 (unchecked) (Article). SNN20537.

<5> Gover J.E.B.; Mawer A.; Stenton F.M. (Eds.), 1933, The Place-names of Northamptonshire, p. 108 (Series). SNN5881.

<6> Royal Air Force, Vertical Aerial Photography, A/P (RAF VAP/CPE/UK/1926, 5243-4) (Photographs). SNN104890.

Record last edited

Feb 5 2025 6:21PM