Deserted Medieval Settlements in the Clee Hills, Shropshire

By Bernard O'Connor

In the two centuries after the Norman invasion, Britain’s population more than tripled. Demand for food meant more land had to be brought under cultivation. As the climate was generally warmer than it is today, it was possible to grow cereals and vegetables on higher land. On the Clee Hills in Shropshire, between Ludlow and Bridgnorth, woods were cleared and the timber used in the construction of new houses. Boulders and rocks were moved from the soil and used for building walls. The newly exposed soil was ploughed, seeded, weeded and harvested to feed the growing population.
Many new settlements grew up on the slopes below abdon Clee, Clee Burf and Titterstone Clee. Some of them are still in existence but a number have been deserted. Studying deserted medieval villages began in the 1960s and Maurice Beresford, Trevor Rowley, Neha Patil and other historians and archaeologists have researched and written about those in Shropshire.
Whilst many believe that the Black Death was responsible for massive rural depopulation, there were a number of other reasons why people deserted these settlements including economic hardship due to climate change, crop failures, animal diseases and wealthy landowners wanting the land for sheep grazing, for parkland and to remove unsightly buildings which spoilt their view.
Bernard O’Connor’s Deserted Medieval Settlements on the Clee Hills uses extracts from books, the Alchetron, OpenDomesday, the Victoria County History, Shropshire History, British History, Historic England, English Heritage and other websites to detail the deserted settlements of Abdon, Ashfield, Balsam’s Heath, Bitterley, Bockleton, Broncroft, Brookhampton, Lower Cleeton, Cleestanton, Coldgreene, Cold Weston, Corfham, Corfton, Culmington, Ditton Priors, Downton, Egerton, Heath, Holdgate, Kinson, Lackstone, Lawton, Leverdgrene, Lydehole, More, Neen Savage, Newton, Great Oxenbold, Ruthall, Shipton, Thonglands, Tugford, Wheathill, Witchcot and The Yeld.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Lulu.com
• Release date: Jan 21, 2023
• ISBN: 9781447876984

Book preview

Deserted Medieval Settlements

of the Clee Hills, Shropshire

Bernard O’Connor

Copyright © 2022 Bernard O’Connor

  All rights reserved.

  Attempts have been made to locate, contact and acknowledge copyright holders of quotes and illustrations used in my work. They have all been credited within the text and in the bibliography. Much appreciation is given to those who have agreed that I include their work. Any copyright owners who are not properly identified and acknowledged, get in touch so that I may make any necessary corrections.

  Small parts of this book may be reproduced in similar academic works providing due acknowledgement is given in the introduction and within the text. Details of any errors or suggested additions can be forwarded to me for future editions.  [e-mail]

ISBN: 978-1-4478-7698-4

Table of Contents

Foreword

Introduction

Abdon                  Ashfield

Balsam’s Heath            Bitterley

Bockleton            Broncroft

Brookhampton            Lower Cleeton

Cleestanton            Coldgreene

Cold Weston            Corfham

Corfield            Corfton

Culmington            Ditton Priors

Downton            Egerton

Heath                  Holdgate

Kinson                  Lackstone

Lawton                  Levergreene

Lydehole            More

Neen Savage            Newton

Great Oxenbold            Ruthall

Shipton                  Thonglands

Tugford                  Wheathill

Witchcot            The Yelds

Bibliography

Index

Foreword

On retiring in 2019 to Bouldon, a small hamlet on the western foothills of the Clee Hills, South Shropshire, I purchased all the local Ordnance Survey maps, the available county geology, archaeology and history books and looked up numerous related websites. Having taught Geography, History and Religious Education for many decades, I was particularly interested in discovering what I could about my local area.

Back in 1985 when I was living in Malinslee, Telford, I attended a course in Wellington College on the Archaeology of Shropshire. In one of my lectures I was given handouts on deserted medieval villages. Little did I know then that I’d be using them nearly 40 years later. One stated that on the 1:50,000 Ordnance Survey map of Ludlow (No. 129), there are 24 sites of deserted medieval villages and a further 17 sites where the village has shrunk to six houses or less.

A village traditionally had a church or a chapel but as some of the sites have no evidence of a religious building, I have described them as hamlets. As a town had a market and were more successful, my study has focused on deserted settlements, villages and hamlets.

As most of the deserted medieval settlements in Shropshire are on or near the Clee Hills, I decided to investigate them. Having already published ‘Nordy Bank: Iron Age Hillfort, Clee St Margaret, Shropshire’, ‘The Bouldon Iron Furnace’ and ‘Air Crashes on the Clee Hills’, I thought I could publish another on the local deserted medieval settlements.

I need to acknowledge the work undertaken by Maurice Beresford, Trevor Rowley and Neha Patil and those who have painstakingly researched and written the pages on the Alchetron, OpenDomesday, the Victoria County History, Shropshire History, British History, Historic England, English Heritage, Ecastles, castlesuk and gatehouse-gazetteer websites. In particular I need to thank Giles Carey, the Historic Environment Records Officer in Shrewsbury for his assistance with illustrations and David Cornah, for his research on Heath.

Introduction

Following the Norman invasion in 1066, about 4,000 Anglo-Saxon nobles were dispossessed, their land was confiscated by the new king, William of England. He kept some but gave most to about 200 Norman barons, members of his family, friends, knights, the clergy and religious communities. His cousin, Roger of Montgomery, who had fought with him at the battle of Hastings, was given seven eighths of Shropshire.

Some Anglo-Saxon landowners who showed allegiance to the new king were allowed to keep some of their land. Earl Edwin of Mercia accepted William but in the West Midlands, there was opposition to the occupying forces. Eadric the Wild, also known as Wild Eadric, Eadric Cild (Child) and Edric the Forester, was an Anglo-Saxon landowner (thane or thegn) who led the resistance to the Normans in this area until 1070. Eadric and his cousin Siward had been amongst the wealthiest Saxon landowners in Shropshire. He held two estates from Much Wenlock Priory and about 12 hides in Herefordshire. A hide was originally the area of land needed to feed a household for a year. Considered to be 120 hectares (49 acres), it became a measure of value and tax assessment, including obligations for paying food rent (feorm) to the landowner, maintenance and repair of bridges, fortifications, manpower for the army (fyrd) and eventually land tax (geld).

With the assistance of other Saxon thanes, Bleddyn ap Cynfyn and his brother Riwallon, Eadric unsuccessfully attacked the Normans at Hereford Castle in 1067 and had to flee to Wales. During the widespread English rebellions between 1069 and 1070, Eadric, assisted by Welshmen and other English rebels, unsuccessfully besieged Shrewsbury castle and the town was razed to the ground. After Edwin was murdered, William installed Roger de Montgomery as Earl of Shrewsbury in 1071. He was given right to hunt in the Clee Forest ‘chase’ and the right to cut timber.

To defend the border area from attack by the Welsh and Anglo-Saxons, Roger built about 70 motte and bailey castles. He also reinforced the Catholic religion by commencing the construction of abbeys, religious houses and churches. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_de_ Montgomery) Gryffth ap Llewelyn, Prince of North Wales in an alliance with Algar, the outlawed Earl of Anglia, raided Shropshire in 1077, 1088 and 1094. The Norman response to these rebellions was what has been called the ‘harrowing’ or the ‘harrying’ of the north. Like many of the earlier Viking raiders, Norman soldiers went up valleys burning crops, setting fire to thatched roofs and killing or enslaving any who opposed them.

Graphical user interface, application, map Description automatically generated

Medieval castles and motte and baileys in southeast Shropshire

In southeast Shropshire, garrisons of Norman soldiers in the new castles of Ludlow (1066), Shrewsbury (1070) and Holdgate (by 1086) put down any remaining Saxon opposition. Bridgnorth Castle was not completed until 1101. Later, motte and bailey castles were erected in Corvedale at Culmington, Corfton and Corfham. There are reports that there was an early Norman fortification at Broncroft.

The Domesday Book recorded 45 Saxon manors in Shropshire as being laid waste in 1086. Following Eadric’s forces being defeated at Stafford in late 1069, he submitted to King William and supported the Normans in their invasion of Scotland in 1072. The Domesday Book reported Edric Salvage as the former tenant of six manors in Shropshire, one in Herefordshire and many others. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadric_the_Wild)

Having subdued all opposition, the Normans introduced a feudal system and harsh penalties were imposed on anyone who disobeyed their rules. Slavery continued to be practised and serfs, captured Saxons, were engaged in labouring work, particularly earthwork, castle and building construction, in return for their food and accommodation. Villeins, semi-free men, owed allegiance to the new Lord of the Manor. They had to pay rent to grow crops or keep animals on the ‘common’ land and do occasional work on the Lord’s land. When called upon, the men of fighting age had to help the Lord during times of conflict. A period of peace and prosperity followed the construction of Norman castles. Markets and fairs were common and some merchants became wealthy trading with Europe.

The population of England was reported to have doubled from about 1.5 million in 1086 when the Domesday Book was written, to about 3 million in 1300 and to have more than tripled by 1350. This led to what is called land starvation. There was not enough land being cultivated to feed the additional people. New settlements were constructed on the slopes of higher land. Although population figures for Shropshire are not available, population growth, land clearance and new settlements occurred in the 11th and 12th centuries. The climate was warmer in the 11th and 12th centuries allowing food crops to be grown on higher land. Woods, bushes and shrubs were cleared to create open fields for cereal and vegetable production or pasture for cattle and sheep grazing. Each parish had a common and three open fields. These fields were divided into long, narrow strips of land which the Lord of the Manor, or their reeve, estate manager, rented out to the peasants. (https://industrialrevolutiongroupbuddies.weebly.com/agriculture.ht ml)

Picture

(https://industrialrevolutiongroupbuddies.weebly.com/agriculture.html)

Each year, one of the three fields was left fallow, uncropped, and sheep and cattle were allowed to graze there so that their dung would fertilise the soil. Another field was left fallow the following year and the manured soil was seeded, weeded, watered and harvested. In Shropshire, these strips are known as ‘rudges’ or ‘reans’. The ridge and its furrows were known as a selion. This pattern of medieval farming became ‘fossilised’ in the landscape. Strip farming led to the ridge and furrow pattern that can be seen on the Clee plateau, especially during the winter months when the grass is short and the sun is low on the horizon.

Graphical user interface, application, PowerPoint Description automatically generated

Medieval ‘rudges’ or ‘reans’, the ridge and furrow system (https://www.webbaviation.co.uk/aerial/picture.php?/2997)

A computer screen capture Description automatically generated with low confidence

Example of strip lynchets (not in the Clee Hills) (https://www.webbaviation.co.uk/aerial/picture.php?/22779)

Walking the upper slopes of the Clee Hills, the outlines of the rudges and reans can still be seen. Those lucky enough to fly over the hills can see them more clearly. Where the land was steep, a stone retaining wall was built along the contour. The top soil from a metre or so above the wall was dug out and thrown down against the 9 stones. This produced a flat strip of land known as a lynchet. Strip lynchets, field terraces or field steps can be found marked on Ordnance Survey maps.

When the upland open fields were enclosed during the 18th and 19th centuries, the land was left as permanent pasture for cattle and sheep. The Norman word ‘paysans’ meant the people of the country. The peasants had to hand over a large proportion of their harvest to the Lord of the Manor for the right to farm his land as well as do occasional work in the parish like cutting down trees, collecting brushwood and digging stones and gravel to fill in the ruts in the farm tracks caused by cart wheels, cattle and sheep. As well as supplying the Lord after harvest, peasants had to give 10% of the produce to the church. These tithes were stored in the tithe barn and sold. 25% of the revenue raised went to look after the poor, widows and orphans, 25% went to the priest, 25% went to the bishop and 25% went to the Pope.

The Normans maintained the Catholic religion of the Saxons but with bishops, priests, monks and nuns brought over from Normandy. A church building programme started. Lords of the Manor rebuilt wooden Saxon churches with stone. New settlements of any size had to have a church or a chapel and a house nearby for the priest.

Cutting down trees and clearing fields of large boulders and stones provided building materials, but where there was a larger settlement, stone quarrying