Information for record number MWA550:
Spernall Shrunken Medieval Village

Summary The site of an area of shrunken village at Spernall dating from the Medieval to the Post Medieval period. The remains of the village are visible as earthworks. Medieval pottery has been found at the site during archaeological work.
What Is It?  
Type: Shrunken Village
Period: Medieval - Post-Medieval (1066 AD - 1750 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Spernall
District: Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 08 62
(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
Picture(s) attached

 
Description

 
Source Number  

1 1195-1361 the village was largely depopulated by pestilence, so that many villein tenements came into the hands of freemen.
2 The village consists of the church (PRN 549) and rectory and a few scattered houses.
3 Minor disturbances evident in the field to the S of the church, bounded by ridge and furrow, probably marks the site of the village before migration to the present site, ribboned along the road eastwards from the bridge.
4 The main village nucleus developed around the church. Raised platforms to the SW of the church which were subsequently ploughed over may represent an early settlement site. A platform leads into and between the platforms terminating at the river. Some Post Medieval houses survived on the site (PRN 6122).
6 Revived as a hamlet of tenant farmers, working small holdings, and lasted until the 18th century.
7 A geophysical survey (as part of an evaluation, see reference 8) identified anomalies which coincided with visible earthworks.
8 An archaeological evaluation was undertaken by Warwickshire Museum of land required for a new bridge and realignment of the highway at Spernall bridge. The evaluation identified medieval settlement remains which included probable settings for a medieval timber framed building. A large quantity of pottery was also recovered, mainly from a layer within evaluation trench 3.
9 Listed in Domesday, in Ferncombe Hundred. The Phillimore edition has a grid reference of 08,62. Ref 29,4 (Land of William Bonvallet) Hugh holds 2 hides in Spernall from William. Land for 4 ploughs. In lordship 1; 4 villagers and 7 smallholders with 3 ploughs. A mill at 4s and 7 sticks of eels; meadow, 8 acres; woodland 3 furlongs long and 1 wide. Value 40s.
10 Correspondence from 1988 with the owner of Upper Spernall farm.
11 Notes relating to
10.
12 Portable Antiquities Scheme find provenance information: Date found: 1997-01-01T00:00:00Z Date found: 2001-09-30T23:00:00Z Methods of discovery: Metal detector
 
Sources

Source No: 5
Source Type: Aerial Photograph
Title:
Author/originator: J Pickering
Date: 1962
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: SP4489 C/D/E/X
   
Source No: 4
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: Studley Parish Survey
Author/originator: Hooke D
Date: 1980
Page Number: 59
Volume/Sheet: Studley Parish Surve
   
Source No: 1
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: Victoria County History, vol 3, Warwickshire
Author/originator: Salzman L F (ed)
Date: 1945
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet: 3
   
Source No: 9
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: Spernall DMV and priory
Author/originator: Stephen Cracknell
Date: 1988
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 8
Source Type: Evaluation Report
Title: Archaeological Evaluation at Spernall Bridge, Spernall, Warwickshire
Author/originator: Palmer N J
Date: 1995
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 7
Source Type: Geophysical Survey Report
Title: Spernall Bridge
Author/originator: Palmer N J
Date: 1995
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No:
Source Type: Internet Data
Title: Portable Antiquities Scheme (PAS) Database
Author/originator: British Museum
Date:
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 6
Source Type: Monograph
Title: Medieval Villages
Author/originator: Hooke D
Date: 1985
Page Number: 147
Volume/Sheet: OUCA Monograph 5
   
Source No: 11
Source Type: Note
Title: Spernall DVM
Author/originator:
Date: 1988
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 3
Source Type: Record Card/Form
Title: OS Card 25NE6
Author/originator: Ordnance Survey
Date: 1968
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Serial
Title: TBAS vol 66
Author/originator: Beresford M W
Date: 1945
Page Number: 99
Volume/Sheet: 66
   
Images:  
Spernall shrunken village
Copyright: Warwickshire County Council
Date: 1994
Click here for larger image  
 
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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
source OS Card Ordnance Survey Record Card. Before the 1970s the Ordnance Survey (OS) were responsible for recording archaeological monuments during mapping exercises. This helped the Ordnance Survey to decide which monuments to publish on maps. During these exercises the details of the monuments were written down on record cards. Copies of some of the cards are kept at the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. The responsibility for recording archaeological monuments later passed to the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historic Monuments. 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 Geophysical Survey The measuring and recording of electrical resistivity or magnetism in order to determine the existence and outline of buried features such as walls and ditches. Geophysical techniques include resistivity survey, magnetometer survey and ground penetrating radar. View Image 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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period Post Medieval About 1540 AD to 1750 AD (the 16th century AD to the 18th century AD)

The Post Medieval period comes after the medieval period and before the Imperial period.

This period covers the second half of the reign of the Tudors (1485 – 1603), the reign of the Stuarts (1603 – 1702) and the beginning of the reign of the Hannoverians (1714 – 1836).
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monument LAYER * An archaeological unit of soil in a horizontal plane which may seal features or be cut through by other features. back
monument HOUSE * A building for human habitation, especially a dwelling place. Use more specific type where known. 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 HAMLET * Small settlement with no ecclesiastical or lay administrative function. 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 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 PRIORY * A monastery governed by a prior or prioress. Use with narrow terms of DOUBLE HOUSE, FRIARY, MONASTERY or NUNNERY. 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 TENEMENT * A parcel of land. 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 BRIDGE * A structure of wood, stone, iron, brick or concrete, etc, with one or more intervals under it to span a river or other space. Use specific type where known. back
monument PLATFORM * Unspecified. Use specific type where known. back
monument TRENCH * An excavation used as a means of concealment, protection or both. back
monument TIMBER FRAMED BUILDING * A building constructed with a basic timber framework; between the members are panels which can be infilled with timber, wattle and daub, plaster, brick or other materials. back
monument HIDE * A shelter, sometimes camouflaged, for the observation of birds and animals at close quarters. back
monument MEADOW * A piece of grassland, often near a river, permanently covered with grass which is mown for use as hay. 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 EARTHWORK * A bank or mound of earth used as a rampart or fortification. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record