The atmospheric earthworks of the deserted #medieval village of Nobold, Northants., first recorded in 1284 - the main street, house plots & their back yards clearly visible. Most of the house sites & yards were ploughed up after abandonment (of which more, in a moment) ... (1/3) 
2. You can tell ploughing happened after the village was abandoned as the blocks of ridges are bounded by the ditches that divided one property from the next. Is it possible to tell when it was abandoned? Well, maybe ...
3. First: when was it deserted? We don’t know. There are only some fragmentary records. In 1459 there were just 2 houses standing on 1 of the 3 manors with tenants in the village; but we don’t know the situation on the other 2 manors. By the early 18thC abandonment was complete.
4. Second: the RCHM survey shows that all the properties (house sites *and* yards) to the S of the main street were ploughed with ridge & furrow, but some of the house sites at the E end weren’t even though their yards were. Why were those plots not ploughed? Was it because ...
5. ... this is where the last few occupied houses were still stand in / soon after 1459? The documentary evidence is ambiguous. It’s fair to say, though, that the 15thC
6. was the period in which most desertions occurred.
7. Just a bit of fun with landscape history that we can all play with on a hot summer’s day.
Sources:
For the @HistoricEngland air photograph historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/rese…
For the RCHM earthwork survey and text, via @ihr_history british-history.ac.uk/rchme/northant…
Sources:
For the @HistoricEngland air photograph historicengland.org.uk/whats-new/rese…
For the RCHM earthwork survey and text, via @ihr_history british-history.ac.uk/rchme/northant…
