Monument Type(s):

• SHRUNKEN VILLAGE (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: Part of the earthworks of this medieval shrunken settlement lie within the complex of earthworks scheduled as Holdgate Castle and associated garden remains.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA2613 - 1981 survey
• ESA2614 - 1986 survey of Holdgate DMV by the NMR
• ESA2615 - 1979 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA5018 - 1999 WB on drainage works for barn conversion at Holdgate Hall Farm by SCCAS

Description

A possible deserted medieval village at Holdgate. All that remains of the settlement are the church (PRN 11390), parts of the castle (PRN 00183), and a farmhouse (PRN 11392). Earthworks can be traced in the field running south east from the road <1a>
Accepted as a deserted medieval village <1b>
Vague disturbance can be seen on the 1948 RAF vertical Aps in a field at SO 563 895 and a holloway is visible at SO 561 893 <1c>
In two large pasture fields S and SE of the church (SA 11390) at Holdgate are earthworks representing probably Medieval desertion. They comprise seven possible building platforms, together with holloways and fields, covering approximately 8 hect. The slopes are generally 0.8m in height. OS FI 1979 <1>

The earthworks at Holdgate were surveyed during a one week field archaeology course …directed by Trevor Rowley and James Bond. The site extends over some ten hectares….The Domesday survey records fourteen tenants at Holdgate, with a church and a priest. In 1222 licence was granted for a weekly market and annual fair. Twelve tenants were assessed for tax in 1333. As late as 1672 there were eighteen houses here; final contraction seems to have occurred in the C18, following from amalgamations. By 1793 there were only eight dispersed farms and a scatter of cottagers in the parish. Two fields south of the road contain extensive settlement earthworks, including platforms, enclosures and a hollow way, with a considerable but somewhat disjointed terrace marking the village boundary. Parts of the site have suffered some post medieval disturbance. <2>

The domesday book records a minimum population of 11 households in Helgot's manor of Stanton in which his castle and church stood. Twelve persons in Holdgate were assessed for tax in 1333. Includes an analytical description of the earthworks as they were recorded in 1986, including PRN 21424 (hollow way), PRN 21425 (ridge and furrow) and PRN 21426 (earthwork enclosure and trackway).<9>

Measured survey drawing of the deserted medieval settlement earthworks, from 1986. <10>

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-91, High score as one of 16 Shrunken/Shifted Medieval villages <11>

Surveyed by the RCHME in 1986. Within the settlement earthworks the RCHME identified the possible remains of a formal garden (PRN 07728) which they thought were probably associated with the early phases of Hall Farm. The scheduled area of Holdgate Castle was subsequently (1995) extended to include these garden remains, and thereby some of the settlement earthworks. <12>

Watching brief carried out on drainage works far a barn conversion at Holdgate Hall Farm, Much Wenlock in 1999 by SCCAS. The site overlaid both the remains of Holdgate Castle [PRN 00183] and the deserted medieval village of Holdgate. No significant features or deposits were disturbed during the cutting of the trenches. <13>

Photographed during aerial survey in 2008. <14><15>

Earthworks, including hollow way and house plots visible on LiDAR and on modern aerial photography. <16><17>

SO 562 895 (FCE). Settlement remains at Holdgate. Earthworks to the NW and SE of Holdgate Castle do not, as previously thought, belong entirely to the medieval village of Holdgate. An area of regular, rectangular earthworks immediately SE of the present farm actually represents the terraced layout of formal gardens of the early Hall Farm. Only slight traces of what may be the earlier medieval settlement are discernible, comprising several properties with a nucleus some distance from the castle. The most clearly-defined medieval earthwork is a hollow-way, roughly orientated NW-SE, which extends both N and S of the modern road. The extent of the medieval settlement remains, their relation to this hollow-way and their regular layout suggest that they represent a small village with some element of lordly planning. Medieval cultivation is evidenced by small areas of broad ridge-and-furrow, but the majority of ridge-and-furrow on the site appears to belong to a later period of occupation. The remains of a post-medieval farm (SO 58 NE 23) are situated adjacent to and overlie the medieval hollow-way. Indeed the majority of earthworks recorded by the present survey relate to a network of field boundaries and hedge-lines associated with this post-medieval phase.
The above description is summarised from a detailed level 3 RCHME 1:1000 scale survey conducted in October 1986, the products of which are held in the NMR archive.
Wayne Cocroft, Robert Wilson-North and David Field/OCT-1986/RCHME: Shropshire Medieval Settlement Project.<18>

Sources

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.