Summary

The site includes the earthworks and buried archaeological remains of the medieval village of Braunston Cleves or Fawcliff including hollow ways, building platforms and ridge and furrow.

Source: Historic England

Details

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
The monument comprises the earthworks and buried remains of the medieval village of Braunston Cleves which lies in the north of the parish of Braunston on the steep south-west side of Cleve Hill, on Jurassic clay, between 125m and 150m above OD. At the time of assessment in 2013, the monument was under permanent pasture.

DESCRIPTION
The earthworks depict a small settlement bounded by a well-defined hollow way running around the east, west and southern sides. A small number of building platforms or tofts are sandwiched between the course of an old stream to the west and by the broad hollow way on the east. The tofts are evident as a series of shallow depressions which are bounded by low scarps and banks standing up to 0.5m high, attached crofts or closes are similarly defined. To the west of the stream and to the south of the site are other ditched enclosures and ditches along some of which the diverted stream flows. Some of these appear to be relatively modern and are recorded in 1981 as having been bounded by hedges until relatively recently and may be connected with the drainage work recorded in 1828.

At the northern end of the monument is a small area of broad curving ridge and furrow which has been bisected by a straight gully. The western side of the monument is defined by a hollow way and running parallel to this is relatively straight, slightly degraded, ridge and furrow which has been cut through at its southern end to form a banked and ditched enclosure.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The area of scheduling encompasses the whole field of well preserved earthworks and is defined by field boundaries on all sides. All field boundary fences, gates and animal feeding troughs are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath them is included.

There is potential for undesignated (but possibly nationally important) heritage assets to survive outside the area of the scheduling. Certainly further remains of ridge and furrow are evident west of the scheduled area but this is degraded and given it is no longer contiguous with the village remains it has not been included in the scheduling.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

The medieval village site at Braunston Cleves is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: for the well defined settlement earthworks and the associated ridge and furrow which depict the form and plan of the settlement and its associated agricultural practices;

* Potential: for the stratified archaeological deposits which retain considerable potential to increase our understanding of the physical characteristics of the buildings and settlement. Buried artefacts will also have the potential to increase our knowledge and understanding of the social and economic functioning of the settlement within the wider medieval landscape;

* Documentation: for the historical and archaeological documentation pertaining to the settlement’s evolution;

* Group value: for its close proximity to other related contemporary scheduled monuments. Combined, the sites provide a diverse range of settlement plans and different evolutionary histories all of which have the archaeological potential to aid our understanding of settlement density, development and abandonment both within Northamptonshire and on a national scale;

* Diversity: for the range and complexity of features such as building platforms, crofts and trackways which, taken as a whole, provide a clear plan of the settlement and retain significant stratified deposits which serve to provide details of the continuity and change in the evolution of the settlement.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Allison, K J, Beresford, M W, Hurst, J G, The Deserted Villages of Northamptonshire, (1966)
Astill, G, Grant, A, The Countryside of Medieval England, (1988)
Aston, M, Austin, D, Dyer, C(eds), The Rural Settlements of Medieval England: Studies dedicated to Maurice Beresford and John Hurst, (1989)
Dyer, C, Jones, R, Deserted Villages Revisited, (2010)
Hall, D, Turning the Plough. Midland Open Fields;landscape character and proposals for management, (2001)
Partida, T, Hall, D, Foard, G, An Atlas of Northamptonshire The Medieval and Early-Modern Landscape, (2013)
Roberts, , Wrathmell, , An Atlas of Rural Settlement in England, (2000)
Royal Commission on Historical Monuments of England, , An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Northamptonshire III, (1981)
Williamson, T., Partida, T, Champion. The Making and Unmaking of the English Midland Landscape, (2013)
Other
Northamptonshire Historic Environment Record (HER),

Source: Historic England