Summary

Abandoned medieval village.

Source: Historic England

Details

Abandoned medieval village.

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
The site includes the earthworks and buried archaeological remains of the abandoned medieval village of East Wykeham, including the site of the church, building platforms, sunken roads, and ridge and furrow.

DESCRIPTION
East Wykeham is situated on both sides of a small valley which slopes slightly southwards down to a stream. The remains of the village are preserved under permanent pasture which forms the parkland setting for Wykeham Hall and is interspersed with mature broadleaf trees. The east-west aligned modern road to the Hall cuts through the former village remains. The earthworks are well-defined but not easy to interpret although it is possible to trace the site of the church, four steadings and two hollow ways, in addition to other ditches and banks.

From the north-west corner of the area under assessment (north of Wykeham Hall), the road which led from South Cadeby to Ludford survives as a sunken track running southwards towards the hall. This road is visible on aerial photographs as a cropmark as it continues westwards (beyond the area of protection) to join West Wykeham half a mile away. Directly to the east of the sunken track an area of ridge and furrow, aligned east-west, survives as earthworks. A bank to the north could be interpreted as a headland or part of a building platform. To the east of this, the foundations of the church are visible, centred at TF 22426 88277.

Approximately 7m to the south-west are the Grade II listed church ruins, reconstructed as a C19 folly using limestone rubble and ashlar dressings. The walls survive to a maximum height of 3m and consist of a nave and apsidal chancel. The upper parts of the walls and the roof are missing. There is a doorway in the west wall and a lancet window in the east wall of the chancel. A plain wall slab in the nave commemorates members of the Child family and a servant, all c.1870. There is a burial vault beneath the nave.

To the east of the church a hollow way runs north-south for c.97m. An embanked enclosure at the north end on the east side appears to represent a building platform. Further to the east (still on the north side of the modern road) is a series of ditches and platforms surviving as earthworks between 1m and 2m in height. These are interpreted as tofts and crofts although only two have been positively identified in the National Mapping Programme (NMP) at TF 22546 88248. To the east there is a large platform and a small rectangular depression. To the north there is a long linear ditch with a parallel bank on the north side. This latter feature may be a headland to the ridge and furrow which is evident in the north-east corner of the site. The bank running parallel to the modern road which bounds the site to the east appears to be post-medieval in date and possibly relates to C20 drainage works. To the west of this are three or four strips of ridge and furrow.

On the south side of the modern road running through the village there is a hollow way, centred at TF 22624 88174, which runs north-south for c.74m. To the west two tofts and crofts have been identified by the NMP. To the west again there is a linear ditch, approximately 55m long, aligned north-south. A block of ridge and furrow occupies the south-west corner of the site, but is cut by a C20 drain that runs north-south through it.

EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The area of protection includes the site of the abandoned medieval village. The west and north boundaries are defined by hedges and post and wire fences, and the east by a road up to the drive to Wykeham Hall. From here the boundary is defined by a post and wire fence to the south-east corner at TF 22693 88105. From here the southern boundary is defined by a post and wire fence with woodland beyond until TF 22510 88141 where it runs north-westward to the drive, 11m east of the main gate to the Hall. It then continues north-westwards, defined by a wooden fence and the northern side of the stable block.

All post and wire fences, tree protection fences, wooden fences, modern tracks, drives and concrete surfaces are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath them is included.

There is considerable potential for un-designated (but potentially nationally important) remains to survive outside the scheduled monument.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

The remains of the medieval settlement of East Wykeham is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: for the well preserved earthworks and parchmarks depicting the form and plan of the settlement and its associated agricultural practices;
* Diversity: for the range and complexity of features, such as the hollow ways, crofts and tofts with building platforms, and ridge and furrow, which indicate a plan of the settlement and retain significant stratified deposits providing details of the continuity and change in the evolution of the settlement;
* 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 documentation pertaining to the settlement’s evolution;
* Group value: for its strong group value with the nearby West Wykeham to which it is linked by a road surviving as a cropmark, and also with the abandoned medieval villages of Kelstern, Calcethorpe and South Cadeby situated two miles away, all of which are scheduled.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Books and journals
Beresford, M, Lost Villages of England, (1954)
Hall, D, Turning the Plough. Midland Open Fields;landscape character and proposals for management, (2001)
Harris, John, Pevsner, Nikolaus, Antram, Nicholas, The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, (2002)
Roberts, B K, Wrathmell, S, An Atlas of Rural Settlement in England, (2003)
Websites
Pastscape , accessed 4 March 2016 from http://www.pastscape.org.uk/default.aspx
Other
Canon C. W. Foster, Extinct Villages and Other Forgotten Places in The Publications of the Lincoln Record Society, vol. 19, 1921
Lincolnshire HER Data MLI40581 and MLI93238

Source: Historic England