Details

The monument includes buried and earthwork remains of the medieval settlement
of Towthorpe along with the surviving earthworks of part of the settlement's
open field system. It does not include the area of the settlement which is now
occupied by the modern farm and Towthorpe Manor.
The Domesday Book recorded that Towthorpe was held by four land holders before
the Norman Conquest. By 1086, about two thirds of Towthorpe had passed into
the king's hands, with the remainder forming part of a manor in Howsham held
by Count Robert Mortain. It appears to have been a relatively poor settlement
in 1334 when it was only taxed at 24 shillings for the Lay Subsidy, compared
with the average of 33 shillings for the Wapentake, the local administrative
area. However, it appears to have survived the economic hardship of the mid-
14th century, caused by the Black Death and other factors, as it was only
granted 12% relief from this tax in 1354, when other nearby settlements were
granted around 50%. There is a 1343 document which mentions Towthorpe amongst
possessions returned to the Crown on the death of William de Ros of Havelake.
In 1377, 72 people over the age of 14 were recorded for the Poll Tax, which
again was below the average for the area. The settlement is mentioned in a
number of 16th century legal documents relating to the transfer of property in
1524 and 1563, a marriage settlement in 1569 and a will in 1584. In 1650
Towthorpe was described as a hamlet and a map of 1772 shows the village
depopulated except for one or two farms at the east end of the village which
developed into the modern farm.
The earthwork remains of Towthorpe confirm that it was a small settlement with
two rows of properties facing each other across a lane. This lane, which still
survives as a farm track, runs approximately east-west and on the 1772 map is
shown to broaden to include a small pond at the centre of the former village.
This area is considered to have been a small village green with the pond
acting as the focus for the settlement. Either side of the lane there are a
series of earthwork banks standing between 0.2m and over 1m high. These are
the remains of small courtyard farmsteads of a type which are thought to have
developed in the 16th century. Although there is considerable variety in the
size and layout of the farmsteads, each is typically represented by a square
or rectangular area 50m-80m across defined by a boundary bank. They normally
have central courtyards surviving as broad sunken areas, surrounded by the
embanked footings of small rectangular buildings. On the south side of the
lane there are the earthworks of at least four farmsteads with a further five
or more on the north side, with the possibility that some of these had
secondary courtyards. To the south of the southern row of farmsteads there is
a continuous bank that divides the settlement from a set of ridge and furrow.
These regular undulations are orientated NNE to SSW, with each furrow 12m-13m
from the next, and are the result of medieval arable cultivation. Behind the
farmsteads on the north side of the lane, the hillside slopes downwards and
would not have been so easily ploughed. Running from the village green
northwards, between two farmsteads, there is a hollow way or track which leads
into what was a large enclosure shown as New Close on the 1772 map. This
close, which has been overlain by modern field boundaries, extended down the
hill to the bottom of the dale to the north of Towthorpe. To the west of the
hollow way, to the rear of the farmsteads which ran along the north side of
the lane, there are a number of small enclosures typically up to about 50m
across, defined by low banks and breaks of slope. These are considered to have
been crofts, small garden or paddock areas. To the east of the hollow way to
New Close, the 1772 map shows a series of narrow strip-like enclosures
extending northwards which are considered to have been medieval crofts
extending behind individual properties fronting onto the village green and
lane to their south. Some low banks which are thought to be the boundaries of
these enclosures can be seen extending northwards from the farmsteads, but
these fade out as the downwards slope of the hillside increases, uphill from a
large natural sink hole which lies just outside of the monument.
A number of features are excluded from the scheduling; these include all
modern fences, walls, styles and gates, and all coups, water and feeding
troughs with the platforms that they stand on; although the ground beneath
these features is included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Medieval rural settlements in England were marked by great regional diversity
in form, size and type, and the protection of their archaeological remains
needs to take these differences into account. To do this, England has been
divided into three broad Provinces on the basis of each area's distinctive
mixture of nucleated and dispersed settlements. These can be further divided
into sub-Provinces and local regions, possessing characteristics which have
gradually evolved during the last 1500 years or more.
The Yorkshire Wolds local region is a soft, rolling, chalk landscape with deep
valleys. Dispersed farmsteads, usually impressive creations of the late 18th
and 19th centuries, are present in small numbers. The earlier pattern of
medieval nucleated settlements - villages and hamlets - still dominates the
archaeological landscape as either deserted settlement sites or sites still
occupied by rural communities.

Medieval villages were organised agricultural communities, generally sited at
the centre of a parish or township, that shared resources such as arable land,
meadow and woodland. Village plans varied enormously, but where they survive
as earthworks, their most distinguishing features include roads and minor
tracks, platforms on which stood houses and other buildings such as barns,
enclosed crofts and paddocks. They frequently included the parish church
within their boundaries, and as part of the manorial system, most villages
included one or more manorial centres which may also survive as visible
remains as well as below ground deposits. In the Central Province of England,
villages were the most distinctive aspect of medieval life, and their
archaeological remains are one of the most important sources of understanding
about rural life in the five or more centuries following the Norman Conquest.
Medieval villages were supported by a communal system of agriculture based on
large, unenclosed open arable fields. These large fields were divided into
strips (known as lands) which were allocated to individual tenants. The
cultivation of these strips with heavy ploughs pulled by oxen-teams produced
long wide ridges and the resultant ridge and furrow, where it survives, is
the most obvious physical indication of the open field system. Individual
strips were laid out in groups known as furlongs defined by terminal headlands
at the plough turning points and lateral grass baulks. Furlongs were in turn
grouped into large open fields. Well preserved ridge and furrow, especially in
its original context adjacent to village earthworks, is both an important
source of information about medieval agrarian life and a distinctive
contribution to the character of the historic landscape.
Towthorpe is of particular note for the survival of the earthworks of 16th
century style courtyard farms, rather than the earlier form of longhouse
based farms. Evidence of earlier settlement phases are also likely to survive
beneath the later farm earthworks.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Record cards, Sites & Monuments Record, 1020, (1998)

Source: Historic England