HER 321 DESCRIPTION:-

Scheduled Monument Description:- Not Avaliable

The deserted Medieval village of Hullasey, occurring as a manor under the farm "Hunlafsed" (Hunlaf's Hyde) in the Domesday survey, had become the property of Romsey Abbey by the time of Henry I. A chapel there, mentioned in 1349, was still in existence in Rudder's time though used as a barn.

1896 - Members of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society visited the site on the 24th September 1896, when an excavation had been opened on the site by permission of Mr Biddulph M. P. The work revealed "four primitive dwellings, and also an old kiln". The report in the transactions noted that the "remains of about 30 of such dwellings have been traced in the wood, pointing to the existence of an ancient village of considerable size". The excavation revealed houses that were" large rectangular buildings, some having rooms opening from one to the other" and "in digging out one of the housesthey came upon the remains of two large pots, which Mrs Bowley had cleverly joined together, and those were the only remains yet found. They were thought to belong to the Romano-British period - after the Romans left "

The location of these excavations is not clear so this event is remaining with the monument information {AM 21/10/2014.}

Rev W Bazeley said that the site had been noted on the ordnance map 15 years earlier, marked as "Hullasey or Hulafe's Sed". He considered that the village had been built on this spot due to the protection it would receive from Trewsbury Camp and the nearby water source at Thames Head {Source Work 2727}.

1910 - Excavations in 1910 by St Clair Baddeley revealed the remains of several dwellings, and structures thought to be ovens, with pottery dating from the 12th to the 15th century, and a few stray Romano-British sherds. Three houses built mainly of undressed oolite stone were uncovered, and the remains of about 30 more were noted. Baddeley also found the remains of the chapel, with 14th century pottery in the cattle yard of Hullasey barn (ST97769913). Some pottery from the site is in Cirencester Museum. Tradition of gravestones found at Hullasey points to the right of burial formerly exercised there. In spite of this absence of any firect traces, an old workman clearly stated that as a boy he remembered his father moving a gravestone from the neighbourhood of the barn and taking it down into the wood. He had likewise heard that there had been a chapel there, and old-time burials {Source Work 1551.}

Nothing visible on APs, mainly obscured by trees. {Source Work 862.}

Situated on a gentle north-facing slope. The grove is a relatively undisturbed deciduous wood of considerable age, and it is this that has preserved the village in such exceptionally good condition. It is possible to trace a 3-trunked dendriform road system with some 33 rectangular buildings, and associated enclosure banks. The buildings average 12m by 4m with turfed over walls up to 1m high, and tend to lie either parallel with and on the main north-south hollow way, or in a small cluster at the end of the cul-de-sac branches. Though there are 33 buildings only 12 appear to have been dwellings. 2 particularly large buildings at ST97359917 may have been barns, the more southerly having an unusually large entrance 4m wide. The ovens? could not be positively identified. The area surrounding the wood has been intensively farmed, and the only extant remains are those of the hollow way which runs from the village south west to the modern road. Crop marks of rectangular fields can be seen running from the hollow way up the hill to the east. Around the north, east and west margins of the wood stone scatters and Med pottery are present over a considerable area. The site of the Medieval chapel at ST97169913 produced no surveyable features, though several large stones are embedded in the trackway here. A representative sample of Medieval pottery from the village is distributed between Corinium Museum (Acc no B1418; B1419; B1575-79), the Bathurst collection and the Cripps. {Source Work 862.}

1981 - A 1:5000 survey of the site was undertaken following tree felling and in advance of tree planting. Thirteen house sites are recognisable along the sides of a track. To the north and east are 2 groups of buildings probably representing farms, and to the south are the remains of lynchets. The settlement appears to continue west outside of the scheduled area. {Source Work 1035.}

The 3 stone houses marked on the Ordnance Survey (OS) map are all visible, the northwest house having dry stone wall still standing to 0.9m. There appear to be other banks in the wood but the undergrowth obstructs any plan. To east of the wood a small field enclosure shows by its ploughed out stone walling. {Source Work 484.}

The central area was under half grown conifers, the remainder of the site had been replanted with young conifers.

Earthwork bank, some over a metre high may represent lynchets of a prehistoric field system. Despite ploughing, some of these banks were visible in the fields round the settlement. Some of the medieval buildings were cut into banks. The medieval settlement is laid out along a N-S track, with another to the east. Where the tracks exit from the settlement they do not appear to relate to the surrounding villages of Tarlton, Coates and Kemble - the may belong in origin to the Romano-British settlement pattern in the area. Pottery and building debris from a Romano-British site was noted 200m south of Hullasey.

The modern boundary bank on the W side does not mark the original limit of the settlement, where, despite ploughing in ther field to the west the remains of banks and closes are still visible. The NW corner of the chapel is still visible on the ground in the modern farmyard. Three of the house plans were probably of the long house type with opposed entrances, four of the smaller houses also appear to have opposed entrances.

A detailed record (carried out by CRAAGS) of the building remains exists in the archive of the Western Archaeological Trust. {Source Work 484.}

1997 - Visited in connection with Woodland Grant Scheme (WGS 01500 3080 and 3082), December 1997: most of the site is tree covered, much of it closely spaced young trees. Detailed inspection was not possible but prominent earthworks survive. Management advice given - see site file.

Source work relating to this record: Church AH, 1910, Corinium Museum, A Guide to the Museum of Roman Remains at Cirencester, p30 could not be located on 28/06/2002 {pers comm A Morris}.

2001/2 - The site was visited as part of the 2001/2 Gloucestershire Monuments Management Scheme (MMS). The site is situated within woodland mainly comprising conifers reaching commercial maturity and some mature coppicing. The surviving earthworks include banks up to 1m in height and a number of distinguishable building sites. Some of the excavated sites were never completely backfilled and survive as masonry sites with walls up to 1m in height with internal divisions. It is proposed that an extraction plan should be produced that identifies and prioritises areas for felling with practical extraction routes and methods. The original survey by P Ellis has been located and will form the basis for the production of a detailed felling plan to be produced as part of the 2002/3 MMS. {Source Work 7125.}

(PRN 8734 and 'Finds: Gloucester City Museum. Acc No. 8-1912 : 9-1912' quoted on SMR Amendment sheet but not clarified and not sure whether finds are from the 1910 excavation.)

The original survey by P Ellis was located as part of the 2001/2 Gloucestershire Monuments Management Scheme. This survey will form the basis for the production of a detailed felling plan to be produced as part of the 2002/3 MMS.

2010 Cotswold Hills/South Cotswold NMP

ST 974993 Site of (NAT) Hullacide (NR) (Saxon Hamlet) (NAT)

The deserted medieval village of Hullasey, occurring as a manor under the form 'Hunlafsed' (Hunlaf's Hyde) in the Domesday survey, had become the property of Romsey Abbey by the time of Henry I. A chapel there, mentioned in 1349, was still in existence in Rudder's time though used as a barn. Excavations in 1907 by St Clair Baddeley revealed the remains of several dwellings, and structures thought to be ovens, with pottery dating from 12th to 15th century, and a few stray pieces of Romano-British ware. Three houses built mainly of undressed oolite stone were uncovered (Nos 1, 2 and 3 on plan, at ST 97399919, ST 97319917 and ST 97339931 respectively), and the remains of about thirty more were noted. Baddeley also found the remains of the chapel, with 14th century pottery, in the cattle yard of Hullasey Barn (ST 97169913). Some pottery from the site is in Cirencester Museum. Nothing visible on air photographs - site mainly obscured by trees.

Area centred ST 973992. Situated on a gentle N facing slope in good arable farmland, lies Hullasey grove deserted medieval village. The grove is a relatively undisturbed deciduous wood of considerable age, and it is this which has preserved the village in such exceptionally good condition. Though the scrub tends to obscure detail it is possible to trace a three branched dendriform road system with some 33 rectangular buildings, and associated enclosure banks.

The buildings average 12.0 m by 4.0 m, with turfed over walls up to 1.0 m high, and tend to lie either parallel to and along the main N-S hollow-way, or in small clusters at the end of the cul-de-sac branches. Though there are 33 individual buildings only 12 appear to have been dwellings. Other smaller subsidiary buildings are either joined on to, or in close proximity to these.

Two particularly large buildings at ST 97359917 may have been barns, the more southerly having an unusually large entrance 4.0 m wide. The structures thought to be ovens could not be positively identified.

The area surrounding the wood has been intensively farmed, and the only extant remains are those of the hollow-way which runs from the village SW to the modern road. Crop marks of rectangular fields can be seen running from the holloway up the hill to the E.

Around the N, E and W margins of the wood stone scatter and medieval pottery fragments are present over a considerable area. The site of the medieval chapel at ST 97169913 produced no surveyable feature, though several large stones are embedded in the trackway here. The present barn buildings do not contain any building material that can be associated with the once chapel of Hullasey.

A representative selection of medieval pottery from Hullasey deserted medieval village, is distributed between Corinium Museum (Acc Nos B1418; B1419; B1422;B1575-79); the Bathurst Collection, and the Cripps Collection (a).

ST 973 992. A survey was made of Hullasey DMV in 1981-2 after tree falling. Possible prehistoric lynchets, some over 1m high, were noted within the site and extending into adjacent fields. The medieval settlement was laid out along a N-S track. This, with another track running to the E, perhaps relate to an earlier Romano-British settlement pattern. 30 medieval house sites and 5 possible house sites were recorded. The ramains of banks and stones were visible beyond the modern boundary bank on the site's W side. 3 of the house plans were probably of the long house type with opposed entrances. 4 of the smaller houses also appeared to have had opposed entrances.

ST 974 993. Site listed in review of deserted medieval villages in Gloucestershire.

A series of possibly Bronze Age Iron Age or Roman lynchets are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs. The site as a whole is centred on ST 793 992, although most of the site is wooded and not visible on the available aerial photographs.

The portions of the site visible on aerial photographs comprise circa 9 lynchets defined by a combination of scarps and boundary banks, though at least two have a ditch on their downslope edge. These are the lynchets mentioned as being possibly Prehistoric in source 12. The plan on page 211 of source 12 shows a Medieval house cut into one of these lynchets. Some of these lynchets are shown as scarps on the first edition Ordnance Survey mapping, 1886. The lynchets appear to define cultivation terraces of up to 75 metres in length, on various orientations. The narrowest measure between 8 metres and 15 metres wide, while the full width of the widest terraces is covered by the woodland.

A pair of nearby hollow ways may be related to this site (1515807) and 1515812).

This site has been mapped from aerial photographs as part of the Cotswold Hills National Mapping Programme. {Source Work 4249.}

Heritage at Risk Register 2019

Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems. Scrub/tree growth {Source Work 16466.}

Heritage at Risk Register 2020

Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems. Scrub/tree growth {Source Work 17056.}

Heritage at Risk Register 2021

Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems. Scrub/tree growth {Source Work 17405.}

Heritage at Risk Register 2022

Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems. Scrub/tree growth {Source Work 17931.}

Heritage at Risk Register 2023

Generally unsatisfactory with major localised problems. Scrub/tree growth {Source Work 18159.}