Record Details

Summary

The partially Scheduled remains of a medieval settlement adjacent to Stafford Castle, which may be the settlement referred to as 'Monetvile' in the Domesday survey. Survey in this area indicates the possible survival of below-ground features.

Monument Type(s):

• DESERTED SETTLEMENT (MEDIEVAL - 1066 AD to 1485 AD)

Associated Events:

• EST1167 - A geophysical survey at Stafford Castle, March 1992. (NRHE Name - By Stafford Castle)
• EST1174 - An archaeological assessment of one of six areas on the outskirts of Stafford town Centre: Burleyfields
• EST1590 - An archaeological research project on Stafford Castle.
• EST1803 - An archaeological desk-based assessment of land at Stafford Castle Golf Club, June 2007. (NRHE Name - Stafford Castle Golf Club, Newport Road) (Ref: Report No. 269)
• EST182 - An archaeological excavation at 'Monetvile' medieval settlement in 1979. (NRHE Name - 'Monetville')
• EST647 - Survey, excavation and research at Stafford Castle from 1978 -1998. (NRHE Name - Stafford Castle)
• EST3484 - Geophysical surveys at Stafford Castle, 1996-1997. (NRHE Name - Stafford Castle) (Ref: Report No. 96/42 and Report No. 97/23)
• EST3500 - Geophysical survey at Stafford Castle, Stafford, 1990. (NRHE Name - Stafford Castle)
• EST3503 - Archaeological excavations at Stafford Castle, Stafford, 1992. (NRHE Name - Stafford Castle)
• EST3521 - An earthwork and standing building survey of Stafford Castle and its environs, 1996-1997. (NRHE Name - RCHME: Stafford Castle Survey)
• EST3986 - A conservation management plan and survey of Stafford Castle, 2019-2021. (Ref: edp0413_r034a)

Protected Status:

• Scheduled Monument 1007722: Stafford Castle and Associated Medieval Settlement

Full description

Deserted Settlement: A deserted settlement at the foot of Stafford Castle, on its south-east side. Possibly the settlement referred to as 'Monetvile' in Domesday. <1>

A geophysical survey to the north-east of the Scheduled area indicated that a features (possibly associated with the settlement) may extend into this area. <2>

The hill on which the ruins of Stafford Castle now stand, with the land sloping down to the River Sow, can probably be identified as Robert de Stafford's 'Monetvile', assessed in 1086 at one hide, and held of him by Walter and Ansger. Earl Edwin had held this land before the Conquest and with Bradley and its members, and Rickerscote, 'Monetvile' completed a compact 20-hide estate which was known at least until 1293 as the Liberty of Bradley. By 1208 the vill here was named Castle (Castell). From at least 1290 a manor, eventually known as Stafford manor or Forebridge, but also called the Castle near Stafford (1290) and Castle manor (1399) has existed here. It has been held by the barons of Stafford until the present day except for certain periods of alienation. (SB, 26-Nov-2018) <3>

Preliminary fieldwork around the castle discovered the probable site of a large deserted village between the outer bailey and Castle Church on the Newport Road. The village has been surveyed and an encouraging geophysical survey has been undertaken on some of the house platforms. (SB, 26-Nov-2018) <4>

Fieldwork in 1978 discovered earthwork remains of a deserted medieval village attached to the outer bailey of the castle. N 1979 a trial excavation showed conclusively that the site was occupied in the 13th-14th centuries with abandonment occurring by the mid 15th century. The remains of timber structures, together with a wide pebble trackway and drainage system were found. A large quantity of medieval pottery was also recovered. Possibly the 'Monetvile' listed in Domesday. (SB, 26-Nov-2018) <5>

The township or vill of Stafford Castle is first mentioned in the early 13th century and eight taxpayers are listed for Castle and Marsh in the 1327 lay subsidy roll, although how many (if any) lived in the settlement is not stated. Neither is it known if the settlement was nucleated or dispersed throughout the township, a although references to rents due from 'in front of the castle entrances' in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries have been interpreted as indicating that some of the township's inhabitants were to be found immediately adjacent to the castle. By 1400 only six tenants are recorded, a picture of gradual decline which continued through the fifteenth century, with abandoned tenements being used for pasturing Lord Stafford's horses. In 1467 those buildings in front of the castle gates were said to be 'totally destroyed'.
It has been suggested that the nucleated element of the township should be equated with a series of hollow ways and other earthworks situated in the pasture field immediately south-east of the outer bailey of Stafford Castle. However documentary, geophysical and earthwork surveys have cast doubt on such a theory and have provided alternative locations. In addition, although the area provided excavated evidence for at least one building, others have been recorded elsewhere, for example to the south of the outer bailey.
It has also been suggested that the vill, and indeed the earthworks to the south-east of the outer bailey, may be equated with the lost settlement of 'Monetvile' mentioned in 1086. Domesday records the existence of a multiple estate of some 20 hides in a compact block south-west of Stafford, later known as the Liberty of Bradley. The estate comprised 12 townships certainly, but it is likely that a thirteenth township mentioned in a list of Robert de Stafford's holdings formed part of the same estate. In the list it occurs immediately after the record of Rickerscote which is described as lying 'in the lands of Bradley'. This is the township of Monetvile.
Strictly speaking the Domesday Monetvile is unlocated but the name is conventionally associated with the later township of Castle Church, and even with Stafford Castle itself. A number of etymologies have been suggested. The earliest, and that which probably gives most reason to equate the name with the site of the castle, is that it derives from the Norman French Monetvile meaning the 'Mount' town. An alternative is that it derives from 'Monetae Villa', an estate belonging to the mint. A third, more recent suggestion is really a variant of the first and would derive the first element from the Welsh 'mynnydd' meaning high ground (although the ridge on which Castle Hill lies is probably insufficiently high to have warranted the use of the term 'mynnydd').
A group of previously unrecognised fourteenth-century charters belonging to Stone Priory have been recently identified, two of which make reference to the fieldname 'Munthull(e)' and it has been suggested that this could a development of 'Monetvile'. The charters describe 'Munthull(e)' as lying 'next to the road which leads from the castle towards Billington' however, and this would mean that if Munthull(e) is derived from Monetvile then the estate or township of that name in all probability lay to the west of the castle and some way from it. Furthermore Domesday records that Monetvile was sublet to two tenants, Walter and Ansger, and it seems unlikely that such an arrangement would be allowed immediately adjacent to the castle, the honorial caput. Consequently is suggested that Monetvile remains unlocated. (SB, 26-Nov-2018) <6>

An archaeological and architectural survey was carried out at the castle between May 1996 and February 1997 by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. The survey found little earthwork evidence to support the idea of a village in the two modern pasture fields immediately to the east of the outer bailey. Although the pattern of three parallel hollow ways is superficially suggestive of a central street flanked by back lanes, the few scarps that are visible between the streets do not obviously belong to house platforms or crofts running between the streets. Indeed the earthwork form of two of the 'streets' is somewhat strange. The northernmost is extremely broad and shallow and most untypical of medieval or later hollow ways. That in the south, by contrast, is quite narrow and connects with the outer bailey ditch but not very obviously with the central of the three hollow ways. The possibility must be considered that these two are not hollow ways at all, although alternative explanations are difficult to find.
In addition it has generally been assumed that the central street, which is a very definite hollow way, represents the main approach to the castle from Stafford, and therefore the eastern entrance to the outer bailey is the site of the castle gates mentioned in medieval documents.
Excavations to the south-east of the outer bailey revealed at least one building with a definable plot (toft). However, the survey has suggested that the hollow way only originally provided access to the outer bailey and that its course up through the outer bailey to the inner bailey and keep is later. The survey has shown that there were probably two other approaches to the castle in the medieval period, one entering the outer bailey from the north, the other running up its south-west side and on up the site of the motte. An alternative site for the village at the castle gates could therefore be alongside either of these approaches. Certainly excavations carried out in advance of the construction of the modern visitor centre (more directly to the south castle) revealed a succession of agricultural and settlement / industrial activity in the area dating from the 12th to the 14th centuries, followed by the reversion of the area to arable.
A geophysical survey in 1996 identified no more that tow other tentative structures within the postulated settlement fields, lending support to the suggestion that the village may have been located elsewhere. (SB, 26-Nov-2018) <7>

A series of geophysical surveys were undertaken on the suggested settlement fields between August 1990 and August 1992, in April 1996 and in March 1997.
Within the 'Middle Settlement Field' (centred on NGR 390423 322138) the features most easily recognisable were hollow ways. These principally include a main hollow way to the north-east and a secondary example to the west and south. Some low resistance responses may have been linked to drainage ditches. The presence of a possible building was also detected by resistance survey, with several possible wall lines emerging from the data (though with no clear building plan discernible). An area of high resistance may represent the remains of a possible collapsed revetment wall. A more regular pattern of linear trends within the south-west of the survey area have been equated to medieval ridge and furrow cultivation.
The field showed few signs of hearths, ovens or furnaces which might be anticipated within a domestic settlement. This may be because the majority of the settlement's domestic hearths have been destroyed (possibly by later ploughing) or because surrounding ferrous responses have masked their presence. Alternatively the settlement field may not have been as intensively occupied as previously thought and this latter reason is supported by the apparent overall absence of structural anomalies across the area.
Survey in the 'North-East Settlement Field' (centred on NGR 390477 322241) produced similar survey responses to those seen in the Middle Settlement Field. The presence of two possible buildings to the north-east of the hollow way is of interest and thought surely to be linked to the medieval settlement. Although no clear plan was discernible for the north-western most of the two, that to the south-east appeared to measure approximately 10 metres by at least 20 metres with a probable hearth. Further hearth, oven or furnace responses were recorded immediately to the south-west of the hollow way indicate another possible building.
The results for the hollow way itself seem to suggest the presence of a revetment wall on its south-west side. To the north-east the hollow way may have been bounded by a similar arrangement or, more plausibly, by an earthwork. These characteristics of this hollow way, coupled with the broad dimensions and alignment of the feature, throw into question its origins and function as part of the medieval settlement. The hollow way turns sharply at its north-west end towards the south-west where it is almost immediately cut by a marl pit indicating that it was almost certainly used to access it. However, such a substantial hollow way seems excessive for such a purpose and it is considered possible that the hollow way was originally an element of the medieval settlement, perhaps a back lane or an earlier field boundary, but was later modified to provide access to the marl pit.
A series of linear anomalies to the south-west of the hollow way have been interpreted as the remains of ridge and furrow, field divisions and modern cultivation. Similar evidence for ridge and furrow was also recorded in the far north of the field. Also in the northern corner of the field a band of high resistance seen in the geophysical survey picked out a linear earthwork (bank and ditch) which is thought to delimit the former settlement or more feasibly represent a major land division. It has been suggested that the settlement was formally laid out and protected by an encircling rampart, represented along its northern extent by this feature. However, the dimensions and form of this and other earthworks, coupled with the absence of formal settlement activity recorded in this area, serve to disprove this.
Geophysical survey in the 'South-West Settlement Field' (centred on NGR 390310 322048), located behind the visitor centre, provided evidence for at least one dwelling as well as a number of ovens, yard surfaces, property divisions and a road. Resistivity recorded large areas of disturbance over the northern part of the field initially thought to be the result of domestic and industrial pits, but later reinterpreted as a being caused by underlying geological conditions. Apart from a bank created along the boundary with the properties on Newport Road the only other notable features were the remains of ridge and furrow aligned diagonally across the field. Subsequent research has shown that the ridge and furrow ran parallel to the long axis of a field depicted on the Jerningham 1788 estate map and aligned with the field's northern boundary. (SB, 26-Nov-2018) <8>

An area of Stafford Castle's outer bailey was the subject of four seasons of archaeological excavation and survey. The excavations revealed that perhaps as early as the twelfth century a road was constructed leading to the gate of the castle's outer bailey, from which a series of pebble layers extended. Alongside the pebble layers a variety of timber structures may have formed part of a small domestic complex. Only one building layout was postulated with any confidence and dating evidence was scarce. Corn drying and iron smithing were present, serving the needs either of the castle or its associated settlement. Ceramic dating evidence only confirmed the presence of occupation from the 15th century and the surviving road surfaces are either contemporary with this or post-date the building. The area was subsequently returned to arable land in a ridge and furrow cultivation regime. (SB, 26-Nov-2018) <9>

The south-western settlement site (situated behind the visitor centre) was excavated between 1987 and 1991. The excavations suggested that during the twelfth century scattered rural settlement grew up at the furthest margin of the castle. Two adjacent excavated areas uncovered part of a building and nearby pebble spreads. Configurations of post holes also identified may be related, however no clear pattern was discernible. The excavations also exposed three associated ovens, one of which appears to have been related to crop-drying, while two others may be associated with iron-smithing as fragments of hearth-bottoms were found close by. By the fourteenth century, and possibly earlier, the area was in decline with widespread evidence of abandonment, pit digging and rubbish dumping. This area appears to have reverted to horticulture and subsequently arable, ridge and furrow, cultivation. (SB, 26-Nov-2018) <10>

The dependent extra-mural settlement has left little trace above ground amongst the earthworks, other than its boundaries, roads and hollow ways. Whether or not this is 'Monetvile' the plethora of postholes and stake holes which survive beneath the ridge and furrow cultivation is certainly redolent of a long-lived and intense area of domestic occupation. Following survey and excavation only one building could be postulated with any certainty. However, it is clear that numerous other structures were represented and the huge quantities of residual twelfth to thirteenth century pottery from the topsoil make it clear that there was intensive (if not necessarily extensive) domestic occupation here during the medieval period. Excavation evidence suggests that the identified building was constructed in the 13th century and occupied throughout the 14th and 15th centuries, going out of use in the sixteenth century when a road passed over it. (SB, 26-Nov-2018) <11>

A desk-based assessment emphasised the proximity of a proposed golf course extension to the deserted village. The research concluded that there is a high probability of archaeological remains in this area. (LH, 22-Jan-2008) <12>

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