In the United Kingdom, a deserted medieval village (DMV) is a former settlement which was abandoned during the Middle Ages, typically leaving no trace apart from earthworks or cropmarks.[ citation needed ] If there are fewer than three inhabited houses the convention is to regard the site as deserted; if there are more than three houses, it is regarded as a shrunken medieval village. There are estimated to be more than 3,000 DMVs in England alone.
Not all sites are medieval: villages reduced in size or disappeared over a long period, from as early as Anglo-Saxon times to as late as the 1960s, due to numerous different causes.
Over the centuries, settlements have been deserted as a result of natural events, such as rivers changing course or silting up, flooding (especially during the wet 13th and 14th centuries) as well as coastal and estuarine erosion or being overwhelmed by windblown sand.
Many were thought to have been abandoned due to the deaths of their inhabitants from the Black Death in the mid-14th century. While the plague must often have greatly hastened the population decline, which had already set in by the early 14th century in England because of soil exhaustion and disease,[ citation needed ] most DMVs actually seem to have become deserted during the 15th century. At this time, Inclosure Acts and other policies allowed land traditionally cultivated for cereals and vegetables to be transformed into pastures for sheep. The medieval ridge and furrow cultivation pattern remains evident in fields, even until today. This change of land use by landowners, which was to take advantage of the profitable wool trade, led to hundreds of villages being deserted.
Later, the aristocratic fashion for grand country mansions, parks and landscaped gardens led to whole villages being moved or destroyed to enable lords of the manor to participate in this trend: a process often called emparkment or enclosure.
Perhaps the best-known deserted medieval village in England is at Wharram Percy in North Yorkshire, because of the extensive archaeological excavations conducted there between its discovery in 1948 and 1990. Its ruined church and its former fishpond are still visible. [1]
In Northamptonshire, around 100 villages can be classified as deserted: there are articles relating to many of them, such as Onley, Althorp, Canons Ashby, Church Charwelton and Coton along with Faxton, Glendon, Snorscombe, Wolfhampcote and Wythmail.
Other examples are at Gainsthorpe and Burreth in Lincolnshire. [2] [3] [4]
A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economic activity that supported it has failed or ended for any reason. The town may have also declined because of natural or human-caused disasters such as floods, prolonged droughts, extreme heat or extreme cold, government actions, uncontrolled lawlessness, war, pollution, or nuclear and radiation-related accidents and incidents. The term can sometimes refer to cities, towns, and neighborhoods that, though still populated, are significantly less so than in past years; for example, those affected by high levels of unemployment and dereliction.
The Yorkshire Wolds are hills in the counties of the East Riding of Yorkshire and North Yorkshire in Northern England. They are the northernmost chalk hills in the UK and within lies the northernmost chalk stream in Europe, the Gypsey Race.
Wharram Percy is a deserted medieval village and former civil parish near Wharram-le-Street, now in the parish of Wharram, on the western edge of the chalk Wolds of North Yorkshire, England. It is about 1 mile (1.6 km) south of Wharram-le-Street and is signposted from the Beverley to Malton road (B1248). Wharram Percy was part of the East Riding of Yorkshire until the 1974 boundary changes. In 1931 the parish had a population of 40.
An abandoned village is a village that has, for some reason, been deserted. In many countries, and throughout history, thousands of villages have been deserted for a variety of causes. Abandonment of villages is often related to epidemic, famine, war, climate change, economic depressions, environmental destruction, or deliberate clearances.
Barrowby is a village and civil parish in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is 2 miles (3.2 km) west of Grantham. It overlooks the Vale of Belvoir and has a Grade I listed parish church. The hamlet of Casthorpe is part of the parish. The 2001 Census listed 795 households and a population of 1,996, which fell to 840 households with 1,952 inhabitants at the 2011 census. It was estimated at 1,986 in 2019.
Alnham is a hamlet and civil parish in Northumberland, England. It is about 14 miles (23 km) west of Alnwick, and is about 6 miles (10 km) from the Scottish border, on the south of a small tributary of the River Aln. The village stands on uneven ground, sloping from south to north, at the foot of the southern outliers of the Cheviot Hills. The River Aln flows eastward through the village from its source in the Cheviot Hills down to the coast. The layout of the village appears to have been dictated by the river. The estimated population taken at the 2011 Census was around 245.
Bigby is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England.
Kirby Sigston is a denucleated village and civil parish in North Yorkshire, England, approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Northallerton. The parish is situated on the Cod Beck river, and also includes the hamlet of Jeater Houses, east of the village on the A19 road, on the boundary with Thimbleby.
Mareham le Fen is a village and civil parish about 6 miles (10 km) south from the town of Horncastle, Lincolnshire, England. The hamlet of Mareham Gate lies about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) south from the village, and it is believed that the deserted medieval village (DMV) of Birkwood is situated nearby.
Wharram-le-Street is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Wharram, in North Yorkshire, England.
Sevenhampton is a village and civil parish in Cotswold District, Gloucestershire, 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Cheltenham. The parish is located in the Cotswolds in an area designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Most of the parish population reside in the two main settlements of Sevenhampton village and Brockhampton village, both are located in the valley of the River Coln.
Priors Dean is a hamlet in the civil parish of Colemore and Priors Dean, in the East Hampshire district, in the county of Hampshire, England. It is in the Hampshire Downs about 3 miles (5 km) west of Liss and about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Petersfield. It is a deserted medieval village first mentioned in the 1100s. Until 1932 it was a separate parish. The nearest railway station is at Liss.
Great Sturton is a hamlet and civil parish in the East Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated approximately 7 miles (11 km) from the market town of Horncastle.
Hungry Bentley is a deserted medieval village and civil parish in the Derbyshire Dales district of Derbyshire, England, between Uttoxeter and Derby. The site is a scheduled monument and has been called the best "depopulated settlement" in Derbyshire. The name Bentley is said to mean a clearing with bent grass. The more unusual appellation of "Hungry" is said to refer to the poor quality of the land and the local inhabitants' poor food.
The identification of Deserted Villages and Lost Places in Leicestershire owes much to the pioneering work of William George Hoskins during his time at the University of Leicester.
Bixley medieval settlement is a deserted medieval village in Norfolk, England, about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of Norwich. It is a Scheduled Monument.
Wharram is a civil parish in North Yorkshire, England. It lies on the Yorkshire Wolds, 6 miles (10 km) south-east of Malton. The principal settlement is the village of Wharram-le-Street, and the parish also includes the deserted medieval village of Wharram Percy and the deserted medieval villages of Raisthorpe and Burdale, some 3 miles (5 km) south of Wharram-le-Street. The population of the parish was estimated at 120 in 2016.
Burdale is a hamlet in North Yorkshire, England, 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Malton. It lies in a deep valley, also known as Burdale, in the Yorkshire Wolds. It is the site of a deserted medieval village.