Summary

The remains of the medieval village of Horton, Northamptonshire, both north and south of the lake, including possible C18 militia works.

Source: Historic England

Details

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
The scheduled area includes the earthworks and buried archaeological remains of the medieval village of Horton, to the north and south of the stream and C18 serpentine lake, including its most immediately surrounding fields. The site is on limestone and clay, and slopes down to the river from the north.

DESCRIPTION
To the north of the stream and east of the site of Horton Hall the Royal Commission survey identifies linear features, possible closes, in about the same location as houses shown on the 1728 map, immediately to the east of the Hall. These are no longer visible as earthworks. To the east is a large circular depression, a mid-C18 garden feature, immediately to the east of which is the north end of another parkland feature, a ditch or haha which sweeps south and then east in a wide curve. Parallel to this ditch as it runs east is a shallower, more meandering linear depression, apparently respected by the ridge and furrow on the same alignment immediately to the north, although the relationship is not entirely clear. This appears to be a hollow way, and follows the route of a track or boundary shown on both the 1622 and 1728 maps. These maps also show this road branching to the south and sweeping east in a curve before turning south and east again, where it runs parallel with the surviving hollow way. Between these two routes, the maps show two houses, with a third on the south side of the south road; these are separated by the clean curve of the ditch or haha. The Royal Commission survey indicates the plots of the two dwellings to the north within a coherent rectilinear arrangement of features, apparently overlying ridge and furrow, the latter faintly visible on aerial photographs. The area to the east of the houses is described as 'warren' on the maps of 1622 and 1728, although slightly differently configured; the small close to the east on the 1728 map relates to the present paddock to the west of Manor House, an area of more pronounced earthworks. To the north of the surviving hollow way is an extensive area of ridge and furrow; this remains clearly defined to the south of an C18 parkland avenue, but to the north has been degraded by ploughing at some time in the past. To the south of the paddock are linear features that may relate to the garden landscape.

To the south of the serpentine lake, immediately opposite the site of the hall, a hollow way runs south, curving out slightly to the east where a slighter and narrower lane branches, forming a back lane to two or three closes (crofts) containing house platforms facing east onto the main street. Opposite these, on the east side of the hollow way, are two larger possible closes, the corner of that to the north clipped by the early-C18 avenue as it strikes out to the south, its level surface and slight flanking ditches cutting through ridge and furrow. Immediately to the west of the back lane is a furlong of ridge and furrow, with lands oriented east to west. To the east of the C18 avenue is another extensive area of ridge and furrow. This consists of one large furlong with lands running from west to east, and a second with lands oriented south to north, but with some evidence of change, the most significant of which is a levelled area about 170 metres by 190 metres in the corner of the field where the serpentine lake curves towards he south. Overlying the faint evidence of ridges is a group of narrow, mainly rectilinear mounds, as well as several ditches, These broadly form two groups: to the east is a group of three fairly closely spaced, equidistant parallel banks, diminishing in size, the smallest roughly square in shape; immediately to the east is a group of three more widely spaced parallel ditches, between and to the east of which are several rectilinear banks of different dimensions, but similar in form, on a slightly different alignment. The Royal Commission survey indicates that the ditches may form small enclosures. This group of features is associated by local tradition with exercises undertaken by Lord Halifax's private militia in the C18. There are also scoops and indents in the river bank to the north with paths or drainage channels leading into them.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The scheduled area falls into two, separated by the serpentine lake; both are within the registered park and garden. The area to the north of the lake is bounded to the west by the boundaries of the properties to the west and extends north as far as a small pond, where it turns to follow a straight line as far as The Arches. The line turns south to follow the west side of a band of trees, curving west around a small copse to the west boundary of the Manor House. It turns south to take in the linear features to the south of the Manor House, turning west to meet the bank of the serpentine lake which completes and closes the area.

The serpentine lake also forms the boundary around the north, north-east and east of the scheduled area in Curtis Meadow, from the Lily Pond Bridge to the west (listed at Grade II), all the way to the north side of Icehouse Spinney to the south (the spinney contains an icehouse, listed at Grade II). The boundary curves around Icehouse Spinney before turning south-west and then north-west to follow the field boundary as far as the Newport Pagnall Road. It turns north-east to follow the field boundary as far as the property boundaries to the north, which it follows east to its starting point east of Lily Pond Bridge.

Where the boundary of the scheduling follows field or property boundaries it falls on the inside of those. All fence posts, gate posts and other modern insertions, as well as any fixed modern structures, are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included.

There is considerable potential for undesignated heritage assets to survive within the currently occupied areas of the village of Horton. These may take the form of standing structures or buried deposits but are considered to be most appropriately managed through the National Planning Policy Framework (March 2012) and are not therefore included within the Scheduled area.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

The settlement remains of the medieval village of Horton, overlain by two main phases of C18 parkland landscaping designed for the 1st and 2nd Earls of Halifax, is scheduled for following principal reasons:

* Survival: village earthworks to the south of the river, including ridge and furrow, survive particularly well, depicting the form and plan of the settlement and its associated agricultural practices. Earthworks to the north of the lake also survive, although less well defined;
* Potential: stratified archaeological deposits both within areas where earthworks survive well, under old pasture, and where they have been reduced by ploughing, will retain considerable potential to increase our understanding of the physical characteristics of the buildings and settlement, as well as the local rural economy. The material evidence of both occupation and abandonment may inform our understanding of local, regional and national settlement dynamics, and their underlying social, political and economic forces;
* Documentation: the later development of the landscape, and the final abandonment of the village is well documented, complementing and enhancing the material evidence;
* Group value: the C18 landscaping is related to other contemporary designated monuments;
* Diversity: the range and complexity of features such as building platforms, crofts and trackways, provide a clear plan of the settlement and are overlain by, and have a clear relationship with, features associated with different phases of the C18 parkland landscape, including the mounds to the south of the river said to be associated with the regiment raised by the 2nd Lord Halifax in 1745. These, and the stratified deposits they contain, provide evidence of an evolving economic, social and political landscape.

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)
Christie, N, Stamper, P (eds), Medieval Rural Settlement: Britain and Ireland AD 800-1600, (2012)
Dyer, C, Jones, R, Deserted Villages Revisited, (2010)
Hall, D, Turning the Plough. Midland Open Fields;landscape character and proposals for management, (2001)
Hall, D, The Open Fields of Northamptonshire, (1995)
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, , An Inventory of Archaeological sites in central Northamptonshire, (1979)
Salzman, L F, The Victoria History of the County of Northampton: Volume IV, (1937)
Taylor, C, Parks and Gardens of Britain: A landscape History from the Air, (1998)
Williamson, T., Partida, T, Champion. The Making and Unmaking of the English Midland Landscape, (2013)
Websites
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, accessed from http://www.oxforddnb.com

Source: Historic England