Monument record 8075 - Late Saxon Estate

A late Saxon charter boundary, the bounds of which followed the external parish boundaries of a unit consisting of the modern parishes of Badby, Newnham, Dodford and Everdon.

{1} One of three late Saxon estate charters (AD 944, AD 1021 and another undated, but probably earlier than AD 944) for this area of Northamptonshire.
In AD 944 King Edmund granted to Bishop Aelfric Brenting 30 hides at Badby, Dodford and Everdon. The bounds of this charter were considered initially by J. Keays-Young in an article published in 1930 and subsequently by F. Stenton in 1933. There it was shown quite conclusively that the bounds followed the external parish boundaries of a unit consisting of the modern parishes of Badby, Newnham, Dodford and Everdon. The NAS article considers the boundary points in detail and as a result reaches some conclusions about them which differ considerably from those of Stenton, as well as relating the information in the charter to the local field archaeology.
The charters give an invaluable insight into the development of the landscape in south-western Northamptonshire in the C10th and C11th. Generally speaking they present a picture of a fully exploited landscape which would have been quite familiar up to the inclosure of the open fields of the parishes in question.

The boundary of the Anglo-Saxon estate ceases to be a formidable boundary mark at SP574580 and is continued as a feeble ditch which peters out at SP573580. The boundary continues to SP567586 and leaves the wood at SP568581, described in the charter boundary as "the way that runs from Fawsley to Badby". The line of the charter boundary is then followed by another bank which stops abruptly at SP573580. At this point the bank cuts across the medieval deer pale. The charter boundary then follows northwards along the hollow way towards Hazeley Knob.
26. 'West along the street to the ash.' Along the Stowe to Preston road to a point not precisely locatable now, but possibly the rise at about SP603560.
27. 'From the ash along the street between the two clearings on to the old salt way until the tail of land'. The boundary travels therefore along the 'great street' between Hen Wood and Mantles Heath.

<1> Brown A.E.; Key T.R.; Orr C., 1977, Some Anglo-Saxon Estates and Their Boundaries in South-West Northamptonshire, p.155-63 (part checked) (Article). SNN43441.

<2> Steadman, S., 1993, Burnt Walls Development, Daventry Archaeological Evaluation Stage 1: Desk Based Assessment & Archaeological Walkover, p.2 (checked) (Report). SNN40390.

<3> Cadman G, 1994, Fawsley Park, 1994 (Plan). SNN111072.

<4> Bennett-Samuels M., 2006, A Desk-based Archaeological Assessment of Badby House, South of Daventry, Northamptonshire, (unchecked) (Report). SNN105681.

Record last edited

May 24 2021 10:57AM