| Summary : A deserted Medieval settlement with indication of a Roman predecessor is known from documentary evidence and field visits. Possible Bronze Age, Iron Age or Roman lynchets at the site are visible on aerial photographs and Ordnance Survey mapping. The site is mentioned as a manor in Domesday, it had become the property of Romsey Abbey by the time of Henry I. A chapel mentioned in 1349 was still in existence in the late 18th century, although used as a barn. Excavations in 1907 revealed the remains of three stone built houses and the remains of about thirty more were noted. Structures thought to be ovens were noted and 12th to 15th century pottery recovered, together with a few stray pieces of Romano British ware. Remains of the chapel with 14th century pottery were found in the cattle yard of Hullasey Barn. Possible Bronze Age, Iron Age or Roman lynchets, some over 1m high, were noted within the site and extending into adjacent fields to the south and west. A pair of nearby hollow ways may be related to this site (1515807 and 1515812). The lynchets and hollow ways have been mapped from aerial photographs as part of the Cotswold Hills project of the National Mapping Programme. The Medieval settlement was laid out along a north-south track, which with another track running to the east perhaps relate to an earlier Romano British settlement pattern. Thirty Medieval house sites, some of long house type, and five possible houses were recorded. |
More information : ST 974993 Site of (NAT) Hullacide (NR) (Saxon Hamlet)
(NAT) (1)
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. (2-8)
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).
Deserted medieval village. Surveyed at 1:2500 on permatrace. (9-10)
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. [sources include plans]. (11-12)
ST 974 993. Site listed in review of deserted medieval villages in Gloucestershire. (13)
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 (14-16).
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