Burton Dassett Excavations: A Digital Supplement to 'Burton Dassett Southend, Warwickshire: a Medieval Market Village', N. Palmer and J. Parkhouse
Archaeology Warwickshire, 2022. https://doi.org/10.5284/1083492. How to cite using this DOI
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Resource identifiers
- ADS Collection: 3886
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1083492
- How to cite using this DOI
Introduction
Investigations were undertaken by Warwickshire Museum under the direction of Nicholas Palmer at the medieval site of Burton Dassett Southend in 1986-88, in advance of construction of the M40 motorway. Southend was one of five medieval settlements in Burton Dassett and the site of a market for which a charter was obtained in 1267; there were other indicators of a proto-urban character. At the time of the excavation the site was marked by extensive earthworks surrounding the 13th-century St James's chapel. The site appeared to be representative of villages within the open 'champion' landscape of the Warwickshire Feldon area, and like some of the other sites had been subjected to depopulation and enclosure in the late 15th century.
No large-scale excavation had previously been undertaken on a medieval rural settlement in the West Midlands; the imminent construction works and the opportunities afforded at that time by the Manpower Services Commission provided the impetus for an extensive programme of earthwork survey, field-walking and extensive open-area excavation. The aims of the programme were to study the material culture of a medieval Feldon settlement by examination of complete crofts and building complexes, to recover plans of domestic and agricultural buildings, to collect faunal and botanical evidence to provide insight into the agricultural economy and natural environment of the settlement, and to collect substantial pottery and other artefact assemblages to permit analysis of the economic and social lives of the inhabitants and of regional patterns of commerce. It was also hoped to obtain evidence for the origin and development of the settlement to provide a better understanding of the dynamics of polyfocal settlement and of settlement nucleation, expansion and decline.
Further fieldwalking was undertaken adjacent to the site in 1991, whilst in 2003 archaeological recording was undertaken at St James's chapel and the adjacent 17th-century Priest's House, prior to conversion to domestic use.
The building remains were generally well-preserved with evidence for internal organisation and use of space. The pottery assemblage underpins the County type series, whilst the extensive artefact assemblage illustrates the site's economic context, contributing to debates about differences between urban and rural sites.
At the time of publication, some thirty years had elapsed since the fieldwork was undertaken, and the excavation remained the largest intervention on a medieval rural settlement in Warwickshire, despite its location in an area (the Feldon) with a number of deserted settlements.
