Shrunken or moved villages

More common than deserted villages are villages that have changed in size or moved sites altogether. Churches standing alone in the landscape or earthworks can often signify where previous buildings may have stood. The Herefordshire Historic Environment Record lists Monnington on Wye (HER reference number 6878) as a shrunken medieval village.

Villages were moved for one of several reasons. Sometimes the lord wanted to enclose for sheep farming or create a deer park near to his manor house and the village was in the way or spoiled his view. It is thought that the medieval village beside Croft Castle in north Herefordshire was moved to make way for the deer park.

Sometimes a village had to move because traffic patterns shifted. A village at a crossroads could prosper, one in the middle of nowhere was at a great disadvantage. Knapwell in Cambridgeshire is an example of a village which had to move in the 13th century because the road changed its course. (Nigel Saul, "A Prosperous People", in Nigel Saul (ed.), Historical Atlas of Britain, Prehistoric to Medieval, The National Trust and Sutton Publishing, 1997, p. 137)

[Original author: Toria Forsyth-Moser, 2002]