Information for record number MWA2315:
Lower Brailes Shrunken Medieval Settlement

Summary The site of the Medieval shrunken village of Lower Brailes. The site is visible as earthworks. It is situated 300m south of the church at Lower Brailes.
What Is It?  
Type: Shrunken Village, Market, Fair
Period: Medieval (1066 AD - 1539 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Brailes
District: Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 31 39
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection National - Old SMR PrefRef (Grade: )
Sites & Monuments Record
Description

  
Source Number  

1 Brailes was a village whose fields lay open in the traditional Midland pattern until William Brown was granted, in 1485, the offices of bailiff of the lordship and keeper of the warren of Brailes (WA 2313). In 1496 he destroyed a messuage and converted 12 virgates (16 acres each) of arable into pasture, putting 4 ploughs out of use and ejecting 16 persons. The village was reported by the Commission of Inquiry of 1517 and 1518 as having suffered enclosure and depopulation on another occasion before 1517.
3 There is an area of disturbance to the south of Green End Farm which shows up clearly in air photographs and on the ground, house platforms and hollow ways are to be seen. (This may be the depopulated village referred to by Leadam - or it may be the one in Upper Brailes (WA 2359)).
6 Air photograph.
7 Market Charter granted to Brailes for Mondays on 16th August 1248 by Henry III to John de Pleissis, earl of Warwick and his wife Margery. To be held at the manor. Market recorded in 1275. Fair Charter for vigil feast morrow George (23rd April) granted 16th August 1248 by Henry III to John de Plessis, earl of Warwick and his wife Margery. To be held at manor. (location uncertain, see also MWA2359)
8 In Domesday in Fexhole Hundred. The Phillimore edition has a grid ref of 31,39 which matches Lower Brailes. Ref 1,1 Earl Edwin held it. 46 hides. Land for 60 ploughs. In lordship 6; 12 male and 3 female slaves; 100 villagers and 30 smallholders with 46 ploughs. A mill at 10s; meadow, 100 acres; woodland 3 leagues long and 2 leagues wide. Before 1066 it paid £17 10s; value now £55 and 20 packloads of salt.
9 Earthworks with Lower Brailes were mapped as part of the NMP. These include- NRHE 1573198: An extensive area of Medieval settlement is visible as Earthworks on aerial photographs taken in, though it appears to have been ploughed level on aerial photographs taken in 2006. The site comprises at least 25 building platforms in at least a dozen crofts, circa 20 hollow ways. There are three associated levelled and three extant blocks of ridge and furrow. There are two possible ponds and additional buildings suggested by extensive building platforms. The most complex and detailed Earthworks are located to the south of Green End Farm, but there are also Earthworks to the north of the road in the area marked as The Park. This site has been mapped from aerial photographs as part of the South East Warwickshire and Cotswolds HLS Target Areas National Mapping Programme. NRHE 1573323: A probably Medieval croft is visible as Earthworks on aerial photographs. The site comprises a hollow way and two parallel boundary banks. This croft is likely to be related to the Medieval settlement in Lower Brailes (1573198) and Upper Brailes (1573176).
10 That Brailes was a Medieval Borough is confirmed by the 1267/8 Inquisitiones Post Mortem of William Mauduit, Earl of Warwick, giving rents of burgesses; a 1339 indenture mentioning burgages in "Chipping Brailes" (sic); and the 1401 Bailiff's Account, "burgage outside the gate of the manor"
 
Sources
Source No: 6
Source Type: Aerial Photograph
Title: SP3138
Author/originator: Palmer N J
Date: 1992
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: SP3138G
   
Source No: 5
Source Type: Aerial Photograph
Title: SP3138
Author/originator: Palmer N J
Date: 1989
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: SP3138C-F
   
Source No: 4
Source Type: Aerial Photograph
Title: SP2862
Author/originator: CUC
Date: 1965
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: SP2862BM,BN
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: Domesday of Enclosures
Author/originator: Leadam I
Date:
Page Number: 419 & 649
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 3
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: Consultancy, Lower Brailes
Author/originator: Ford W J
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: 33, 34
   
Source No: 1
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: Ministers accounts of Warwick estates of Duke of Clarence
Author/originator: Dugdale Society
Date:
Page Number: 22
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 8
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: Domesday Book Warwickshire incl Birmingham
Author/originator: Phillimore and Co Ltd
Date: 1976
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 10
Source Type: Correspondence
Title: Parish of Brailes; comment on Historic Town Assessment
Author/originator: Dr Phillip Tennant
Date: 2015
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 9
Source Type: Desk Top Study
Title: SE Warwickshire and Cotswolds NMP Project
Author/originator: Russell Priest
Date: 2010-2012
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 7
Source Type: Internet Data
Title: Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs to 1516 (Warwickshire)
Author/originator: Institute of Historical Research (CMH)
Date: 2005
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: Warwickshire
   
Images:  
There are no images associated with this record.  
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
source Domesday Book The Domesday Book was commissioned in December 1085 by William the Conqueror, who invaded England in 1066. It contains records for about 13,000 medieval settlements in the English counties south of the rivers Ribble and Tees (the border with Scotland at the time). The Domesday Book is a detailed record of the lands and their resources that belonged to the king. It also records the identity of the landholders and their tenants. back
technique Earthwork Earthworks can take the form of banks, ditches and mounds. They are usually created for a specific purpose. A bank, for example, might be the remains of a boundary between two or more fields. Some earthworks may be all that remains of a collapsed building, for example, the grassed-over remains of building foundations.

In the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky than during the other seasons, earthworks have larger shadows. From the air, archaeologists are able to see the patterns of the earthworks more easily. Earthworks can sometimes be confusing when viewed at ground level, but from above, the general plan is much clearer.

Archaeologists often carry out an aerial survey or an earthwork survey to help them understand the lumps and bumps they can see on the ground.
 		back
technique Aerial Photograph Aerial photographs are taken during an aerial survey, which involves looking at the ground from above. It is usually easier to see cropmarks and earthworks when they are viewed from above. Aerial photographs help archaeologists to record what they see and to identify new sites. There are two kinds of aerial photographs; oblique and vertical. back
period Medieval 1066 AD to 1539 AD (the 11th century AD to the 16th century AD)

The medieval period comes after the Saxon period and before the post medieval period.

The Medieval period begins in 1066 AD.
This was the year that the Normans, led by William the Conqueror (1066 – 1087), invaded England and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in East Sussex.
The Medieval period includes the first half of the Tudor period (1485 – 1603 AD), when the Tudor family reigned in England and eventually in Scotland too.

The end of the Medieval period is marked by Henry VIII’s (1509 – 1547) order for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the years running up to 1539 AD. The whole of this period is sometimes called the Middle Ages.
more -> 		back
monument VILLAGE * A collection of dwelling-houses and other buildings, usually larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a simpler organisation and administration than the latter. back
monument SITE * Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type wherever possible. back
monument SETTLEMENT * A small concentration of dwellings. back
monument BUILDING * A structure with a roof to provide shelter from the weather for occupants or contents. Use specific type where known. back
monument BOUNDARY BANK * An earthen bank that indicates the limit of an area or a piece of land. back
monument RIDGE AND FURROW * A series of long, raised ridges separated by ditches used to prepare the ground for arable cultivation. This was a technique, characteristic of the medieval period. back
monument PARK * An enclosed piece of land, generally large in area, used for hunting, the cultivation of trees, for grazing sheep and cattle or visual enjoyment. Use more specific type where known. back
monument SHRUNKEN VILLAGE * A settlement where previous house sites are now unoccupied, but often visible as earthworks, crop or soil marks. back
monument MILL * A factory used for processing raw materials. Use more specific mill type where known. See also TEXTILE MILL, for more narrow terms. back
monument POND * A body of still water often artificially formed for a specific purpose. Use specifc type where known. back
monument MARKET * An open space or covered building in which cattle, goods, etc, are displayed for sale. back
monument CHURCH * A building used for public Christian worship. Use more specific type where known. back
monument FAIR * A site where a periodical gathering of buyers, sellers and entertainers, meet at a time ordained by charter or statute or by ancient custom. back
monument ROAD * A way between different places, used by horses, travellers on foot and vehicles. back
monument PASTURE * A field covered with herbage for the grazing of livestock. back
monument BUILDING PLATFORM * A site where a building once stood as identified by a level area of ground, often compacted or made from man-made materials. Use only where specific function is unknown, otherwise use more specific term. back
monument FIELD * An area of land, often enclosed, used for cultivation or the grazing of livestock. back
monument ENCLOSURE * An area of land enclosed by a boundary ditch, bank, wall, palisade or other similar barrier. Use specific type where known. back
monument MANOR * An area of land consisting of the lord's demesne and of lands from whose holders he may exact certain fees, etc. back
monument HIDE * A shelter, sometimes camouflaged, for the observation of birds and animals at close quarters. back
monument CROFT * An enclosed piece of land adjoining a house. back
monument HOUSE PLATFORM * An area of ground on which a house is built. A platform is often the sole surviving evidence for a house. back
monument MEADOW * A piece of grassland, often near a river, permanently covered with grass which is mown for use as hay. back
monument GATE * A movable stucture which enables or prevents entrance to be gained. Usually situated in a wall or similar barrier and supported by gate posts. back
monument OFFICE * A building or room where business, administrative or professional activities are conducted. Use specific type where known. back
monument FARM * A tract of land, often including a farmhouse and ancillary buildings, used for the purpose of cultivation and the rearing of livestock, etc. Use more specific type where known. back
monument TARGET * Any structure or object, used for the purpose of practice shooting by aerial, seaborne or land mounted weapons. back
monument TOWN * An assemblage of public and private buildings, larger than a village and having more complete and independent local government. back
monument MESSUAGE * A dwelling-house with outbuildings and land assigned to its use. back
monument EARTHWORK * A bank or mound of earth used as a rampart or fortification. back
monument HOLLOW WAY * A way, path or road through a cutting. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record