Information for record number MWA1257:
Thornton Deserted Medieval Settlement

Summary The site of the deserted settlement of Thornton which dates to the Medieval period. The earthworks of the village street and house platforms are still visible. A large quantity of Medieval pottery has been found at the site, which is also known from documentary sources.
What Is It?  
Type: Deserted Settlement, House Platform
Period: Medieval (1066 AD - 1539 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Ettington
District: Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 27 50
(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: )
Scheduled Monument (Grade: )
Sites & Monuments Record
Description

  
Source Number  

1 Fifteen tenants are mentioned in Rous' list at 'Thornden'. Dugdale describes it as 'long since depopulated'. The Tithe Award of 1845 has the name 'Thornton Town Ground'.
2 The village site is bisected by a disused railway. To the N of the line the earthworks are under grass and apart from the moat (surveyed at 25") are entirely amorphous. S of the line the fields are arable with a considerable surface stone scatter.
3 Several Samian sherds were found amongst large quantities of Medieval pottery.
4 The earthworks lie in two fields S of Thornton Farm but pottery scattered to S of railway shows that the site is more extensive. The moated manor (PRN 6284) on the W of the site is particularly well preserved. The stone foundations of buildings are visible on the island of the moat. The moat widens on the W to form a fishpond (PRN 6285). In the E field a wide street ran down towards the stream and house platforms survive on the E side. To the S of the railway all earthwork features have been removed by modern ploughing but scatters of pottery extend as far as the stream. Pieces of stonework suggest that substantial buildings occupied the site. Sherds of Romano British pottery, including Samian, indicate Romano British occupation on the site.
8 The Medieval village was a large one & lay beside a stream, here a tributary of the River Dene. The earthworks of its moated manor are some of the best in the county & the village consisted of blocks of settlement between streets running down to the stream. Roman and Medieval pottery collected from that part of the village near the stream. There is no separate entry for Thornton in the Domesday survey. Thornton was sublet in the13th century when it had some 21 inhabitants, but by 1447 there were only 5 tenants, there are few details of how the depopulation came about. Today, a house of mid 16th century date stands on higher ground overlooking the village and manor house site.
9 Plan of site.
10The lidar imagery shows that the village was located east of (and possibly south of) the moat. A curving street running north and then east has house platforms along it. A stone foundation, possibly a barn, is visible as a cropmark on a single air photo held by the HER (SP 2750 F ) and also on the HER 2006 GIS air photo layer at SP2739 5023. The earthworks survive very well.
11 The reference to the Roman evidence in Sources 4 and 5, have been recorded seperately in another record, Monument Number 1547084. The deserted Medieval settlement remains are visible as earthworks on aerial photographs and have been (part) mapped as part of the SE Warwickshire and Cotswolds HLS NMP survey. The moat and adjoining fishpond were clearly discernible on the available aerial photographs, at SP 27260 50188, but only some house platforms and hollow ways were visible; most remains were only observable as amorphous earthworks and could not be transcribed. The moat and fishpond remain the most clearly visible features on recent aerial photographs taken in 2001 and 2007. The ‘surface stone scatter’ referred to in
2, which is located south of the railway line, is visible as a light coloured spread of material on an aerial photographs taken in 1969.
 
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: 8
Source Type: Monograph
Title: Medieval Villages
Author/originator: Hooke D
Date: 1985
Page Number: 147
Volume/Sheet: OUCA Monograph 5
   
Source No: 9
Source Type: Plan
Title: Medieval Villages
Author/originator: Hooke D
Date: 1985
Page Number: 129; Fig 10.2
Volume/Sheet: OUCFA Monograph 5
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Record Card/Form
Title: OS Card 25NE6
Author/originator: Ordnance Survey
Date: 1968
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 3
Source Type: Serial
Title: WMANS no 21 1978
Author/originator: Atkinson D
Date: 1978
Page Number: 14
Volume/Sheet: 21
   
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: 6
Source Type: Scheduling record
Title: Thornton DMV, Ettington
Author/originator: DoE
Date: 1971
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 7
Source Type: Scheduling record
Title: SAM list
Author/originator: DoE
Date: 1985
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 4
Source Type: Unpublished document
Title: DMV of Thornton, Ettington
Author/originator: Hooke D
Date: 1978
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 10
Source Type: Verbal communication
Title: Pers. Comm.
Author/originator: B Gethin
Date: 2013 onwards
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Images:  
There are no images associated with this record.  
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
none Scheduled Monument Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAMs) are those archaeological sites which are legally recognised as being of national importance. They can range in date from prehistoric times to the Cold War period. They can take many different forms, including disused buildings or sites surviving as earthworks or cropmarks.

SAMs are protected by law from unlicensed disturbance and metal detecting. Written consent from the Secretary of State must be obtained before any sort of work can begin, including archaeological work such as geophysical survey or archaeological excavation. There are nearly 200 SAMs in Warwickshire.
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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 SAM List Scheduled Ancient Monument List. A list or schedule of archaelogical and historic monuments that are considered to be of national importance. The list contains a detailed description of each Scheduled Ancient Monument (SAM) and a map showing their location and extent. By being placed on the schedule, SAMs are protected by law from any unauthorised distrubance. The list has been compiled and is maintained by English Heritage. It is updated periodically. 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
source WMANS West Midlands Archaeological News Sheet, a publication that was produced each year, this later became West Midlands Archaeology. The West Midlands Arcaheological News Sheet contains reports about archaeological work that was carried out in the West Midlands region in the previous year. It includes information about sites dating from the Prehistoric to the Post Medieval periods. It was produced the Department of Extramural Studies at Birmingham University. Copies are held at the Warwickshire Sites and Monuments Record. 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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technique Cropmark Cropmarks appear as light and dark marks in growing and ripening crops. These marks relate to differences in the soil below. For example, parched lines of grass may indicate stone walls. Crops that grow over stone features often ripen more quickly and are shorter than the surrounding crop. This is because there is less moisture in the soil where the wall lies.

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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 Modern The Modern Period, about 1915 AD to the present (the 20th and 21st centuries AD)

In recent years archaeologists have realised the importance of recording modern sites. They do this so that in the future people will be able to look at the remains to help them understand the events to which they are related.
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period Roman About 43 AD to 409 AD (the 1st century AD to the 5th century AD)

The Roman period comes after the Iron Age and before the Saxon period.

The Roman period in Britain began in 43 AD when a Roman commander called Aulus Plautius invaded the south coast, near Kent. There were a series of skirmishes with the native Britons, who were defeated. In the months that followed, more Roman troops arrived and slowly moved westwards and northwards.
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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 modern About 1915 AD to the present (the 20th and 21st centuries AD)

In recent years archaeologists have realised the importance of recording modern sites. They do this so that in the future people will be able to look at the remains to help them understand the events to which they are related.
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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 FISHPOND * A pond used for the rearing, breeding, sorting and storing of fish. 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 STONE * Use only where stone is natural or where there is no indication of function. back
monument MANOR HOUSE * The principal house of a manor or village. back
monument FEATURE * Areas of indeterminate function. back
monument MOAT * A wide ditch surrounding a building, usually filled with water. Use for moated sites, not defensive moats. Use with relevant site type where known, eg. MANOR HOUSE, GARDEN, etc. back
monument DESERTED SETTLEMENT * An abandoned settlement, usually of the Medieval period, often visible only as earthworks or on aerial photographs. back
monument WELL * A shaft or pit dug in the ground over a supply of spring-water. back
monument FIELD * An area of land, often enclosed, used for cultivation or the grazing of livestock. 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 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 BARN * A building for the storage and processing of grain crops and for housing straw, farm equipment and occasionally livestock and their fodder. Use more specific type where known. back
monument ISLAND * A piece of land, sometimes man-made, completely surrounded by water. back
monument STREAM * A natural flow or current of water issuing from a source. 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 RAILWAY * A line or track consisting of iron or steel rails, on which passenger carriages or goods wagons are moved, usually by a locomotive engine. back
monument TOWN * An assemblage of public and private buildings, larger than a village and having more complete and independent local government. 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