Mapping our ‘lost’ villages
Around 60 villages and medieval towns which succumbed to excavation, natural causes or were allowed to return to nature are recorded in Derbyshire. ZENA HAWLEY maps out those close to Ashbourne
THERE are estimated to be more than 3,000 “lost” settlements in Britain, including deserted medieval towns, abandoned hamlets and disappearing villages.
Around 60 of them are recorded in Derbyshire. But how many are located near Ashbourne?
Some are remembered in current place or road names such as Chatsworth, Kedleston, Mercaston Lane or Ashe Lane, even though the original settlements have long vanished.
Why were so many places abandoned and left to revert back to nature?
Reasons for desertion are varied across the county. They include more recent abandonment with the construction of reservoirs such as at Derwent and Ashopton, which both disappeared under millions of gallons of water in the mid-20th century.
Or some villages moved or vanished such as Chatsworth and Kedleston because the local land owners wanted to make aesthetic changes. Other sites which seemed to have declined in the 14th century, such as a community at Nether Haddon near Bakewell, were moved to make way for a deer park.
Another reason why some settlements which appeared to be thriving at the time of the Domesday Survey and then disappeared, could be something more associated with modern debate - climate change known as the climate event.
What was once a place that grew crops readily may have become less attractive when temperatures fell to something like those we experience today in the 13th and 14th centuries, together with a much higher rainfall.
This can be evidenced by place names such as Cold Eaton and Hungry Bentley, which may also indicate what happened to villagers when the crops were ruined.
On occasion plague could also have played its part.
Derby historian Maxwell Craven said another category of place was the “migrated medieval village” such as South Wingfield.
He said: “At South Wingfield, the original village was gathered around the church beside the Amber, but after the 1340s and the climate event – coincident with the Black Death as well – regular flooding began and by 1400 the village had moved to the present position on the bluff of Wingfield Flags to the west, just leaving the church.
Have people looked for the deserted settlements?
Maurice Warwick Beresford (1920-2005) is renowned as a foremost authority on deserted villages and in his work of 1954 he listed nine settlements as lost in Derbyshire, with a question mark over a further possible seven.
By the publication of the 1968 Gazetteer of Derbyshire, 33 lost settlements were listed but this has increased following more intensive research work, and the inclusion of deserted hamlets, in the intervening years.
Most of the villages featured here were contained in a book published in 1971, edited by Maurice Beresford and John Hurst entitled Deserted Medieval Villages.
The University of Hull has a project mapping out Beresford’s lost villages, which has proved useful for this article.
Also, White’s Directory of 1857 and Magna Britannica of Derbyshire, published 1817, have provided useful information.
How do we know where there were settlements if they have disappeared?
In many cases the lost settlements are only able to be detected through aerial photos or raised earthworks in fields.
But written evidence of early settlements can also be found in documentation such as the 1086 Domesday Survey, which gave a precise account of the
state of the country following the Norman Conquest.
Another source for place names is contained in the lay subsidy rolls, which was a tax for a specific purpose, levied upon the personal property of the ordinary population.
Seven lay subsidies were granted between 1207 and 1290, and 16 between 1290 and 1332. The growing use of the lay subsidy again in 1334 reflects the need for the Crown to obtain supplementary income during a period of persistent warfare.
The 17th century hearth tax and poll registers are also useful sources, as are more modern day censuses in the 19th century. These are some of the places that have disappeared:
Alkmonton
The site of the original Alkmonton was first mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086, with at least 15 individuals recorded.
A hospital for female lepers was founded in 1100. The settlement paid a reasonably high amount for the 1334 lay subsidy. The hospital was refounded in 1406 as it seems it had suffered from the decrease in leprosy. The records for the later taxations do not survive.
It appears the hospital and chapel were lost during the reign of Edward VI
In the 1664 hearth tax a total of 12 buildings are listed.
There are clear earthworks visible at the site, located to the south of modern-day Alkmonton, which was a 19-century creation.
It has been suggested that the earthworks reflect the entirety of the original medieval village, with four main streets running from a central green area.
Barton Blount
The site was excavated in the late 1960s by Guy Beresford due to the threat from deep ploughing. The settlement lay to the north-east of the hall and church, and spread over a wide area of around 500 metres.
A high population is recorded at Domesday with a minimum number of 31 people in the area, confirming the early date for settlement development from the archaeological record.
It appears in the lay subsidy of 1334, but poor survival records mean we do not know the fortunes in later periods.
A record of 1536 records four taxpayers and shows there had been a dramatic decline. A single household is recorded in 1563.
It has been suggested climate change led to the desertion but evidence points to a gradual decline through to the late 15th century. But there is a school of thought that a great deal of damage was done by the Black Death in 1348-49.
Ireton Parva
Ireton was a settlement in Domesday and had a recorded population of 12 households belonging to Henry de Ferrers.
It remained as Ireton in records through to the late 16th century but just a couple of mentions of Ireton Parva in the early 14th century. Parva means small and is often found alongside place names with magna in them, meaning big. For example Sheepy Magna and Sheepy Parva – two adjacent villages in Leicestershire.
It is then recorded as Little Ireton in 17th century taxation documents.
In 1334, it has a below average lay subsidy but still has 24 people paying in 1524.
The setting out of the parkland around Kedleston Hall began in the 1760s and the village of Kedleston was moved. There is the possibility that a similar fate befell Ireton but there is no documentary evidence to support this.
A model farm was constructed in the 18th century with the seat of the Iretons having been demolished in 1721. Faint traces to the north of Ireton Lodge Farm may well be associated with this settlement. No other traces have been seen and it forms part of the extended park of Kedleston Hall.
Meynell Langley, north-west of Derby
Langley English “lang” and “leah” meaning long clearing, implying the area was cleared of woodland at some time after the Saxon settlement of the area and before the Norman conquest.
The early 13th century division of the manor would appear to have been separated along the line of the road to Ashbourne, with the Meynell portion to the north and derives from Old the Fitznicholas portion to the south.
Settlement seems to have been based around Langley, Langley Green and Nether Burrows. Evidence suggests there was a Langley (later Meynell Langley) long before there was a Kirk Langley.
Archaeological investigation in 1980 by Trent and Peak Archaeological Trust discovered traces of a deserted medieval village just north and slightly east of the present Langley Hall in Meynell Langley.
The village appeared in the lay subsidy roll for 1327. In this there were six people assessed for tax on the roll in Meynell Langley, while there were seven eligible for the tax in Kirk Langley.
Another tax was levied in 1336, where- in Meynell Langtribution ley’s contribution was again lower than Kirk Langley. The village had fallen into a state of disuse, probably as a result of a combination of the abrupt climate change in the 1340s – which dramatically ended a particularly warm spell that began in the 850s – the possibly related calamity of the Black Death of 1348-49 and the division of the estate after 1396.
Evidence for the settlement dries up after Gerard Meynell’s grant of 1442 and William Senior’s
map of 1640 is clear that there was nothing remaining of the village except the hall and Hall Farm, surrounded by a park, the creation of which may have been an element in the disappearance of the village.
An estate map of 1682 confirms Meynell Langley had an ancient church but it failed to show up in Domesday Book.
Sapperton
Sapperton was a small place even when it existed. It had a recorded population of five households in 1086, putting it in the smallest fifth of settlements recorded in Domesday.
The land belonged to Henry de Ferrers, who was a Norman magnate and administrator and gained extensive lands in England after the Norman Conquest. He was one of the royal commissioners in charge of the Domesday Survey, which records he had 210 manors.
Sapperton was worth £1 to the lord of the manor in both 1066 and 1086.
Records exist that show the settlement continued through to the 17th century, but it is likely it gradually reduced to become a scattering of farms. There does not appear to have been a mill or church here.
Earthworks of a small settlement used to show in aerial photos but heavy ploughing of the site has now removed these. Sappertonfield Lane retains the link with the past.
Sedsall
At the time of Domesday, Sedsall is recorded as a manor with Eaton with five households and under the control of the powerful Norman, Henry de Ferrers.
It is mentioned in the lay subsidy of 1334 and gets another mention in the 17th century.
The site of Sedsall is now an isolated farm. Although aerial photos have suggested settlement features around the farm, it has been suggested that the area would have been inhospitable for more buildings
It seems it may never have been more than a small settlement that eventually faded away to leave one farm.
Sturston
Sturston Hall and Nether Sturston was a settlement in Domesday Book, with a recorded population of 10 households.
It was one of two manors held by Ulfkell, an East Anglian nobleman and Wodi, each manor being of half a carucate each.
The two manors were given to Henry de Ferrers after the Norman Conquest. By 1348 Sir Ralf Rochfort had inherited Sturston, with Grendon and Shenstone. He died childless, and in 1386 the estates passed to Sir William Chetwynd, 1st Lord Grendon of Ingestre in Staffordshire.
Chetwynd sold the manor of Sturston to John Kniveton of Bradley, son of Sir John Kniveton and the hall stayed in the ownership of the Kniveton family for several hundred years. By 1630, Sir Gilbert Kniveton had inherited the Bradley and Sturston estates, which were sold by 1655 to Francis Meynell a citizen and goldsmith of London.
The estates passed to Hugh Charles Meynell, who sold Sturston to a Stoddart in about 1847. Mrs Elizabeth Stoddart was Lady of the Manor in 1857 with around 700 acres (2.8 km).
During most of its time, the hall was let to tenants, who farmed the land.
Historic England has scheduled part of the area in 2018 which features a medieval moated platform, surrounding ditch and outer bank approximately 70m north of Sturston Hall; ridge and furrow west of the moated site, and buried remains of a 13th century mill north of the moated site.
Traditionally, the mill was the site of one of the two goals (the Up’ards goal) of Royal Shrovetide, thought to have been established in the mid17th century, and following the demolition of the mill in 1981, the goal was moved to the north bank of the mill pond (south bank of Henmore Brook) in 1996.
Sturston Hall (Grade II listed) was built to the south of the moated site in the 17th century, and implies the site of the former manorial centre was abandoned at or before this time.
Historic England has listed the site because it believes “there is good evidence for the survival of nationally important buried archaeological deposits, including structural remains, artefacts, waterlogged organic material and a buried medieval land surface which, together, has the potential to enhance our knowledge and understanding of the wider settlement and the social and economic context in which it functioned”.