Details

The monument is situated on the south western outskirts of Stoke Golding and
includes the earthwork and buried remains of a Saxon burial mound and a
medieval farmstead.

The farmstead lay within a rectangular enclosure, bounded to the west and
along much of the southern and northern sides by banks and ditches. The
southern ditch, which has been recut, and the eastern boundary, which is no
longer evident, are not included in the scheduling. In the south eastern
quarter of the site is a slightly raised, square platform, believed to
represent the site of the medieval farmhouse. Although the building itself is
not visible on the surface its buried remains will provide evidence for the
plan of the house. To the west and north west of the platform are several
small closes which are defined by low banks and drainage channels, whilst to
the south are the remains of a pair of linear ponds, now seasonally
waterfilled.

In the northern part of the monument are the earthwork remains of an Anglo-
Saxon burial mound (a hlaew). It stands approximately 2m high and is 14m in
diameter. Although no longer visible at ground level, a ditch, from which
material was quarried during the construction of the hlaew, surrounds the
mound. This has become infilled over the years but survives as a buried
feature, approximately 3m wide. The mound was partly excavated in the 1930s
and pottery fragments and the enamelled escutcheons from a 7th century hanging
bowl were recovered.

All fence posts are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath
these features is included.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Farmsteads, normally occupied by only one or two families and comprising small
groups of buildings with attached yards, gardens and enclosures, were a
characteristic feature of the medieval rural landscape. They occur throughout
the country, the intensity of their distribution determined by local
topography and the nature of the agricultural system prevalent within the
region. In some areas of dispersed settlement they were the predominant
settlement form; elsewhere they existed alongside, or were components of, more
nucleated settlement patterns. The sites of many farmsteads have been
occupied down to the present day but others were abandoned as a result of, for
example, declining economic viability, enclosure or emparkment, or epidemics
like the Black Death. In the northern border areas, recurring cross-border
raids and military activities also disrupted agricultural life and led to
abandonments. Farmsteads are a common and long-lived monument type; the
archaeological deposits on those which were abandoned are often well-preserved
and provide important information on regional and national settlement patterns
and farming economies, and on changes in these through time.

The monument at Stoke Golding represents a well preserved example of a
complete manorial site with a house platform, associated fishponds, and
closes, located within a defined enclosure. Evidence for the building which
originally occupied the platform will survive beneath the ground surface and
will contribute towards an understanding of the economy of the site's
inhabitants.
The Anglo-Saxon burial mound in the northern part of the site is a rare
example of this type of monument in this area. Limited archaeological
investigation of the mound has indicated that valuable evidence relating both
to the construction and use of the burial mound will survive.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Pickering, A J, A Hanging Bowl from Leicestershire, (1932), 174-5

Source: Historic England