Information for record number MWA4293:
Shrunken Medieval Settlement at Ryton

Summary 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.
What Is It?  
Type: Shrunken Village
Period: Medieval (1066 AD - 1539 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Ryton on Dunsmore
District: Rugby, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 38 74
(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 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.
 
Sources
Source No: 3
Source Type: Evaluation Report
Title: A45
Author/originator: Jones C
Date: 1993
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: A445 Improvements, R
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Record Card/Form
Title: SMR Card
Author/originator: JH
Date: 1983
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: PRN 4293
   
Source No: 1
Source Type: Serial
Title: TBAS vol 66
Author/originator: Beresford M W
Date: 1945
Page Number: 99
Volume/Sheet: 66
   
Source No: 4
Source Type: Unpublished document
Title: Archaeological Evaluation of proposed cemetery extension adjacent to St Leonard's Church, Ryton on Dunsmore, Warwickshire
Author/originator: Bryn Gethin and Caroline Rann
Date: 2010
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: Report 1008
   
Images:  
There are no images associated with this record.  
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
source SMR Card Sites and Monuments Record Card. The Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record began to be developed during the 1970s. The details of individual archaeological sites and findspots were written on record cards. These record cards were used until the 1990s, when their details were entered on to a computerised system. The record cards are still kept at the office of the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. back
source TBAS Transactions of the Birmingham and Warwickshire Archaeological Society is a journal produced by the society annually. It contains articles about archaeological field work that has taken place in Birmingham and Warwickshire in previous years. Copies of the journal are kept by the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. back
technique Documentary Evidence Documentary evidence is another name for written records. The first written records in Britain date back to the Roman period. Documentary evidence can take many different forms, including maps, charters, letters and written accounts. When archaeologists are researching a site, they often start by looking at documentary evidence to see if there are clues that will help them understand what they might find. Documentary evidence can help archaeologists understand sites that are discovered during an excavation, field survey or aerial survey. 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.
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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.
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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 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 SHRUNKEN VILLAGE * A settlement where previous house sites are now unoccupied, but often visible as earthworks, crop or soil marks. back
monument CHURCH * A building used for public Christian worship. Use more specific type where known. 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 FIELD * An area of land, often enclosed, used for cultivation or the grazing of livestock. back
monument MUSEUM * A building, group of buildings or space within a building, where objects of value such as works of art, antiquities, scientific specimens, or other artefacts are housed and displayed. 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 CEMETERY * An area of ground, set apart for the burial of the dead. back
monument CHURCHYARD * An area of ground belonging to a church, often used as a burial ground. 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 EARTHWORK * A bank or mound of earth used as a rampart or fortification. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record