Deserted medieval village (DMV) sites are
former settlementsAn abandoned village is a village which has for some reason been deserted. In many countries many thousands of villages were deserted at several periods in history, for a variety of causes...
which have been abandoned for one reason or another over the years, usually leaving little but the remains of earthworks or
cropmarkCropmarks or Crop marks are a means through which sub-surface archaeological, natural and recent features may be visible from the air or a vantage point on higher ground or a temporary platform. Along with soil marks and frost marks they can reveal buried archaeological sites not visible from the...
s. If, at a DMV, there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convention is to regard the site as deserted; if there are more than three houses, it is regarded as a
shrunken medieval village. There are estimated to be more than 3,000 DMVs in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
alone.
Not all sites are medieval;
villageA village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in...
s reduced in size or disappeared over a long period, from as early as Anglo-Saxon times to as late as the 1960s, for numerous different causes.
Over the centuries, settlements have been deserted for natural reasons including
riverA river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water...
s changing course or
siltSilt is soil or rock derived granular material of a grain size between sand and clay. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...
ing up, flooding (especially during the wet 13th and 14th centuries) as well as coastal and estuarine
erosionErosion is a gravity driven process that moves solids in the natural environment or their source and deposits them elsewhere...
or being overwhelmed by windblown sand.
Many were thought to have been abandoned as a result of the deaths of their inhabitants from the
Black DeathThe Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. It is widely thought to have been an outbreak of bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, but this view has recently been challenged...
of the mid-14th century.
Deserted medieval village (DMV) sites are
former settlementsAn abandoned village is a village which has for some reason been deserted. In many countries many thousands of villages were deserted at several periods in history, for a variety of causes...
which have been abandoned for one reason or another over the years, usually leaving little but the remains of earthworks or
cropmarkCropmarks or Crop marks are a means through which sub-surface archaeological, natural and recent features may be visible from the air or a vantage point on higher ground or a temporary platform. Along with soil marks and frost marks they can reveal buried archaeological sites not visible from the...
s. If, at a DMV, there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convention is to regard the site as deserted; if there are more than three houses, it is regarded as a
shrunken medieval village. There are estimated to be more than 3,000 DMVs in
EnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the North Sea to the east, with the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
alone.
Other deserted settlements
Not all sites are medieval;
villageA village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet, but smaller than a town or city. Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New York City and the Saifi Village in...
s reduced in size or disappeared over a long period, from as early as Anglo-Saxon times to as late as the 1960s, for numerous different causes.
Reasons for desertion
Over the centuries, settlements have been deserted for natural reasons including
riverA river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water...
s changing course or
siltSilt is soil or rock derived granular material of a grain size between sand and clay. Silt may occur as a soil or as suspended sediment in a surface water body...
ing up, flooding (especially during the wet 13th and 14th centuries) as well as coastal and estuarine
erosionErosion is a gravity driven process that moves solids in the natural environment or their source and deposits them elsewhere...
or being overwhelmed by windblown sand.
Many were thought to have been abandoned as a result of the deaths of their inhabitants from the
Black DeathThe Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. It is widely thought to have been an outbreak of bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, but this view has recently been challenged...
of the mid-14th century. While the
plaguePlague is a deadly infectious disease caused by the enterobacteria Yersinia pestis . Plague is a zoonotic, primarily carried by rodents and spread to humans via fleas. Plague is notorious throughout history, due to the unrivaled scale of death and devastation it brought...
must have greatly hastened the population decline, which had already set in by the early 14th century in England because of
soil exhaustionSoils retrogression and degradation in the French school of pedology are two regressive evolution processes associated with the loss of equilibrium of a stable soil. Retrogression is primarily due to erosion and corresponds to a phenomenon where succession reverts back to pioneer conditions...
and disease, most DMVs actually seem to date from the 15th century, when fields cultivated for
cerealCereals, grains or cereal grains, {as a collective} are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their fruit seeds - the endocarp, germ and bran...
s and
vegetableA vegetable is an edible plant or part of a plant. However, the word is not scientific, and its meaning is largely based on culinary and cultural tradition. Therefore the application of the word is somewhat arbitrary and subjective. For example, some people consider mushrooms to be vegetables,...
s by villagers were transformed into sheep pastures, often with
ridge and furrowRidge and furrow is an archaeological pattern of ridges and troughs created by a system of ploughing used in Europe during the Middle Ages. The earliest examples date to the immediate post-Roman period and the system was used until the 17th century in some areas. Ridge and furrow topography is...
surviving under grass, even until today. This change of
land useLand use is the human modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as fields, pastures, and settlements. The major effect of land use on land cover since 1750 has been deforestation of temperate regions. More recent significant effects of land use include urban...
by landowners to take advantage of the profitable
woolWool is a fibrous protein derived from the specialized skin cells called follicles. The wool is taken from animals in the Caprinae family, principally sheep, but the hair of certain species of other mammals including: goats, llamas, and rabbits may also be called wool...
trade led to hundreds of villages being deserted.
Later the aristocratic fashion for grand country
mansionA mansion is a very large dwelling house. U.S. realtors define a mansion as a dwelling of over . A traditional European mansion was defined as a house which contained a ballroom and tens of bedrooms...
s, parks and landscaped gardens led to whole villages being moved or destroyed to enable lords of the manor to satisfy the vogue – a process often called
emparkmentEnclosure or inclosure is the process which was used to end some traditional rights, such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on land which is owned by another person, or a group of people. In England and Wales the term is also used for the process that ended the ancient system of...
or
enclosureEnclosure or inclosure is the process which was used to end some traditional rights, such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on land which is owned by another person, or a group of people. In England and Wales the term is also used for the process that ended the ancient system of...
.
Between about 1760 and 1835
parliamentary enclosuresThe Inclosure Acts were a series of United Kingdom Acts of Parliament which enclosed open fields and common land in the country. This meant that the rights that people once held to graze animals on these areas were denied. Note that although the modern spelling of the word is normally "enclosure",...
transformed the English countryside as the ancient
open field systemThe open field system was the prevalent agricultural system in much of Europe from the Middle Ages to as recently as the 20th century in places. Under this system, each manor or village had several very large unfenced fields, farmed in strips by individual families...
of cultivation gave way to compact farms and
enclosed fieldsEnclosure or inclosure is the process which was used to end some traditional rights, such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on land which is owned by another person, or a group of people. In England and Wales the term is also used for the process that ended the ancient system of...
. Bigger, more efficient farms resulted, but thousands of cottagers and small farmers were driven from the land and into the emerging big cities.
The notorious
Highland ClearancesThe Highland Clearances were forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands during the 18th and 19th centuries. They led to mass emigration to the sea coast, the Scottish Lowlands and the North American colonies...
led to a major depopulation of parts of
ScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Examples
Perhaps the best-known deserted medieval village in England is at
Wharram PercyWharram Percy is a deserted medieval village site on the western edge of the chalk Wolds in North Yorkshire, England. The site is about one mile south of Wharram-le-Street and is clearly signposted from the B1248 Beverley to Malton road...
in
North YorkshireNorth Yorkshire is a non-metropolitan or shire county, located in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England, and a ceremonial county in that region and also partly in North East England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972 it covers an area of , making it the largest ceremonial...
, because of the extensive
archaeologicalArchaeology or archeology is the science that studies human cultures through the recovery, documentation, analysis, and interpretation of material culture and environmental data, including architecture, artifacts, biofacts, and landscapes...
excavations conducted there between its discovery in 1948 and 1990. Its ruined church and its former fishpond are still visible.
There is another excellent example at
GainsthorpeGainsthorpe is a deserted medieval village site in a field which is part of the present Gainsthorpe Farm in Lincolnshire, England. The site is in Hibaldstow parish located on a minor road west of the A15 road, south of Hibaldstow and 5 miles south-west of Brigg.It is now in the care of English...
,
LincolnshireLincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk, Cambridgeshire, Rutland, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, South Yorkshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire. It also borders Northamptonshire for just 19 metres, England's shortest county boundary...
.
Old Wolverton in
Milton KeynesMilton Keynes , often abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is also the principal town of the Borough of Milton Keynes. It was formally designated as a new town on 23 January 1967...
is a further example.
In
NorthamptonshireNorthamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census...
, where around 100 villages can be classified, there are articles relating to many in that county, such as
Onley (lost settlement)The lost village of Onley is located within the parish of Barby in the English county of Northamptonshire. The site is bordered on the north by the M45 motorway. On the east are Onley and Rye Hill prisons, and on the south-west is the A45 road...
,
Althorp (lost settlement)The lost village of Althorp is within the grounds of the Althorp estate in the English county of Northamptonshire. The village is recorded in the Domesday Book. In the 15th century, the manor was held by the Catesby family who were probably responsible for clearing the settlement, for by 1505, the...
,
Canons Ashby (lost settlement)The lost village of Canons Ashby is located in ground to the north of Canons Ashby House in the English county of Northamptonshire. Today there is still a small village around the house but this is located away from the original settlement.-History:...
,
Church Charwelton (lost settlement)The lost village of Church Charwelton lies south-east of the village of Charwelton in the English county of Northamptonshire. Its site is on the north-east bank of the River Cherwell...
and
Coton, Northamptonshire (lost settlement)The lost village of Coton is located around the environs of the hamlet of Coton and Coton Manor House in the English county of Northamptonshire.-History:...
along with
FaxtonFaxton is an abandoned village and chapelry in the county of Northamptonshire in England.The last villager left in 1960 after the demolition of the parish church of St Denis. There is now just one house standing on this remote hilltop location, overlooking the rolling farmland...
,
GlendonThis article is about the English village. For the Glendon campus of York University, see Glendon College.The deserted village of Glendon is in the English county of Northamptonshire. Its location was on land to the east of Glendon Hall, now within the parish of Rushton.-History:The village has a...
,
SnorscombeSnorscombe is a ruined hamlet, located to the south of Everdon in the English county of Northamptonshire. Its rural location, now on private land, makes it extremely hard to access.- History :The hamlet was once a thriving community...
,
WolfhampcoteWolfhampcote is an abandoned village and civil parish in the English counties of Warwickshire and Northamptonshire, which it straddles.The old village of Wolfhampcote is located west of the A45 road near Braunston in Northamptonshire, and can be reached by a track from the main A45 road, or by a...
and Wythmail.
External links