Priors Marston Medieval Settlement

1 The possible extent of the Medieval settlement, based on the first edition 6″ map of 1884, 41SW.
2 Not listed in Domesday.
3 The 1884 shows a large village with lots of back lanes, plots and little fields. Most plots contain buildings, but a few are empty. There is no boundary hedge; lanes and orchards seem to represent the limit of settlement. The parish has not yet been plotted for ridge and furrow, but the database mapping shows survival all around the village. Although it looks old and organic it is not listed in Domesday. The church dates from the C13th.
4 Following demolition of the school buildings,a watching brief on Prior’s Marston School (9-11 April 2013) by an archaeologist took place on stripping of the sub-base to natural geology with a subsequent visit to note alerations for car-parking. Contained former 19th century land drains (damaged) suggesting arable plot of long standing. A few un-stratified sherds of medieval and early Post-medieval pottery attest former, small scale occupation or refuse disposal, possibly from an adjacent plot. The report contains historical information relating to the medieval settlement.
5–7 A large area of earthworks were identified from Google Earth satellite imagery, potentially associated with areas of shrunken settlement within the previously mapped extent of medieval settlement, by the AOC Assessment of Local Services Villages for Stratford-on-Avon District Council in 2012. The exact nature of the earthworks remains difficult to interpret, but they may in part relate to shrunken settlement, elements of which are visible on LiDAR imagery; see MWA19257 for further details of this area of earthworks, which has been mapped separately.