Billesley Trussel Shrunken Medieval Village

Description of this historic site

The deserted Medieval settlement of Billesley Trussel. House platforms, hollow ways, enclosures and ridge and furrow cultivation are still visible as earthworks. The settlement is also known from documentary evidence. It is situated to the east of Billesley Hall.

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Notes about this historic site

1 The Domesday book records a priest and a substantial peasant population. C14 documents indicate that the population was still fairly high. The Lay Subsidy of 1428 records only 4 persons.
2 Rous in late C15 records that all inhabitants had been driven out, and only the manor house remained. In Dugdale’s time even the church was in ruins.
3 On either side of a single street, are house platforms and crofts backing onto the ridge and furrow of former open fields. The surviving earthworks are amongst the most impressive in the county. A considerable amount of pottery has been found, mostly coarse wares of C13-C15, also a clay pipe bowl (1640-80) and a small medieval iron arrowhead.
4 Pottery found.
5 Further finds from SP 1456 (see PRN WA 3680) – 7 pieces of post-medieval tile.
6 Plan.
7 Extensive earthworks. Crofts behind the village street on northern side have been ploughed away, but main village street and adjacent house platforms survive.
8 Scheduling information.
9 Letter from 1960.
10 Portable Antiquities Scheme find provenance information:
Date found: 2006-08-08T23:00:00Z
Methods of discovery: Metal detector