Polesworth Medieval Settlement

1 The possible extent of the medieval settlement based on the OS map of 1885, 6NW.
2 Polesworth is not listed in Domesday.
3 Greenwood’s map of 1822 shows settlement both north and south of the river.
4 The 1885 map shows two centres, one along the roads to the north and the west of the Abbey, and another south of the river, with the apparent survival of strip fields to its south. The Abbey [WA203] dates from the early medieval period, and there was a medieval chapel [WA225] a kilometre to the southeast. The bridge [WA212} dates from the medieval period, as does the watermill [WA209].
5 The extent to which Polesworth developed urban characteristics during the medieval period is difficult to ascertain as no documentary sources appear to have survived showing the presence of burgage tenure in the town. The major landowner and the lord of the manor was the Abbey; practically none of its records have survived.
However, the lay subsidy of 1332 records 47 tax payers suggesting about 94 households (possibly 470 tennants). Archaeological evidence from the town suggests Polesworth may have been a centre for patterned tile production.