Details

The monument, which lies in two areas, includes medieval settlement remains at
Sevenhampton, located in fields which surround the parish church. The monument
is situated south of the present village on the south west facing slope and
bottom of a valley.

The greater part of the monument lies around the church, the precinct of which
is enclosed by a well defined ha-ha. North east of the church, on the steepest
ground, are eight rectangular house platforms, bounded by three hollow ways.
Immediately north of the church are two rectangular depressions, possibly the
site of an earlier church. South east of the church is a group of six
rectangular plots defined by ditches. This part of the settlement is bounded
by a bank and slight ditch, which separates the plots from a block of well
preserved ridge and furrow cultivation remains, extending from the north east
corner of the churchyard across a large area.

The settlement earthworks extend into the fields west of Roves Lane. The
western boundary is formed by the River Cole, and earthworks are traceable
northwards along the river as far as the buildings of Sevenhampton Farm. A
north-south aligned hollow way is located west of Keepers Cottage, and a
series of low banks divide the area into plots. The hollow way continues
northwards into the paddock south of Greystones, where a distinctive
rectangular house platform is visible. Further features including another
hollow way are visible in the small paddock adjacent to Roves Lane.

St James' Church, churchyard and churchyard wall are totally excluded from the
scheduling. All fenceposts, gateposts, troughs and stiles are also excluded
from the scheduling but 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

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 past 1500 years or more.
The South Midlands local region is large, and capable of further subdivision.
Strongly banded from south west to north east, it comprises a broad succession
of clay vales and limestone or marlstone ridges, complicated by local drifts
which create many subtle variations in terrain. The region is in general
dominated by nucleated villages of medieval origin, with isolated farmsteads,
mostly of post-medieval date, set in the spaces between them. Depopulated
village sites are common, and moated sites are present on the claylands.

The medieval settlement remains at Sevenhampton are well preserved and will
contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the
monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Source: Historic England