Monument record 2004/1 - Medieval Rabbit Warren, Overstone

The earliest reference to a warren at Overstone is in a grant of Henry VIII in 1509 to Edward Vavasour as keeper of the park and warren of Overstone.

{2} Documentary references to a warren presumably disused and replaced by the New Warren [HER Mon 2005/1]. An area to the north of the latter was called Old Warren or Park in 1932. It was called Old Warren Meadow in the C19th. The first reference to a warren of Overstone is in 1559. Fieldnames: Thrift and Hays Warren, Old Warren.

{3} The earliest reference to a warren at Overstone is in a grant of Henry VIII in 1509 to Edward Vavasour as keeper of the park and warren of Overstone. Thereafter there are numerous references to a warren, as in a grant of 1537 to Sir William Fitzwilliam in which the annual rent of the warren is put at 10s. and in a grant of Overstone to Thomas Smythe in 1550 in which “a warren of coneys” is included; an Old Warren is mentioned in 1770. It is not certain where the warren was, but some proximity to the medieval deer park is suggested by the name “The Warren” given on the 1832 map to an area of wood in Sywell parish just over the parish boundary from Ass park. By 1770 a New Warren begins to appear in the documents.

<1> 1725, Map of Sywell, (unchecked) (Map). SNN23179.

<2> 1932, Fieldnames Overlays (general-needs sorting out into OS quarter sheets), (unchecked) (Map). SNN10076.

<3> Brown A.E.; Taylor C.C., 1975, Four Deserted Settlements in Northamptonshire, p.196 (checked) (Article). SNN75848.

Record last edited

Nov 27 2020 4:01PM