Long Lawford Medieval Settlement

Description of this historic site

The probable extent of the medieval settlement at Long Lawford based on the Ordnance Survey map of 1887, excavation, and on aerial photographs.

Notes about this historic site

1 The probable extent of the medieval settlement of Long Lawford based on the OS first edition map of 1887, 28 NW.
2 The ridge and furrow plotting of the parish.
3 Domesday lists Long Lawford in Marton Hundred. The Phillimore ed. has a grid ref. Of 4775.
Ref 31,4 In (Long Lawford) 5 hides. Land for 14 ploughs. In lordship 1. 14 villagers and 7 smallholders have 7 ploughs. A mill at 14s. The value was 40s; now 50s.
4 The 1887 map shows a neat rectangular village with a regular grid of lanes – clearly planned. Most of the plots are occupied; many have orchards beyond the back garden. Ridge and furrow survival can be seen to abut the settlement and radiate from it on almost all sides, but it is patchy in the north and north east. Both a ford and a foot bridge are marked crossing the brook to the west. There is no medieval church; Long Lawford used to be part of the parish ofNewbold on Avon.
5 The excavation of three trial trenches west of the Caldecott Arms, Chapel Street, Long Lawford (SP4716 7595), recorded evidence of medieval activity across the site. This included a ditch and a stone wall, which probably represented medieval property boundaries behind houses fronting onto the Main Street. Evidence of terracing down the hill to the north-west was recorded and this was probably carried out in the medieval period as an aid to cultivation. No evidence for medieval structures or occupation along the Chapel Street frontage was recorded, though it was possible that the pits and gullies recorded in this area were of medieval or later date.
6 Medieval ditches were uncovered during an excavation which followed on from the evaluation of 5. These followed a north/south and east/west alignment. They probably represent property divisions just behind the properties fronting the main street.
7 An undated east-west ditch 1.85m wide by 0.65m deep was recorded cutting natural gravel during observation of groundworks at the Country Inn, Main Street.
8 Possible late medieval or early post medieval quarry pits were recorded within the western extent of the medieval settlement.

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