Shrunken Medieval Settlement at Ryton

Description of this historic site

The site of a Medieval shrunken village. The village is known from documentary evidence and its remains are visible as earthworks. It is situated 400m north east of Ryton on Dunsmore.

Notes about this historic site

1 The Commissioners of the 1517 Inquiry into depopulation reported that at Ryton on Dunsmore ‘by reason of enclosure the remainder of the inhabitants are deprived of common pasture and impoverished. The church is likely to be left desolate.’ Ryton occurs again in the 1607 Inquiry, but although serious, the enclosure could not have been total, and Ryton Church is not left desolate.
2 Earthworks in a field behind the churchyard could indicate shrunken settlement.
3 The earthworks were surveyed by Warwickshire Museum in 1993, they were made up of two elements. To the east a series of corrugations running east-west were recognized as the remains of ridge and furrow cultivation. To the west the earthworks relate to the Medieval properties fronting Church Road. Included in this group is a possible house platform of Medieval date..
4 Considerable archaeological remains, mostly associated with medieval Ryton survive across this site, particularly in the area closest to the existing churchyard and the street frontage.

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