The Whittlewood Project: Medieval Settlements and Landscapes in the Whittlewood Area
Christopher Dyer, Richard Jones, Mark Page, 2005. https://doi.org/10.5284/1000289. How to cite using this DOI
Data copyright © Prof Christopher Dyer, Dr Richard Jones, Dr Mark Page unless otherwise stated
This work is licensed under the ADS Terms of Use and Access.
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Richard
Jones
University of Leicester
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- ADS Collection: 458
- DOI:https://doi.org/10.5284/1000289
- How to cite using this DOI
Overview
Background to the Project
The purpose of the project officially entitled Medieval Settlements and Landscapes in the Whittlewood Area, but universally known as the The Whittlewood Project, was to explain the origin and survival of contrasting patterns of nucleated villages and of dispersed settlements found in one small part of the Central Midlands.
The research was based on the intensive study of a group of twelve parishes straddling the county boundary of Buckinghamshire and Northamptonshire, lying between Towcester to the north and Buckingham to the south. During the middle ages, the whole of this area lay for a short time within the royal forest of Whittlewood, hence its name. The project explored the complete development of this varied landscape, from the Mesolithic to the present day, with a particular focus on the four centuries between AD 850 and 1250, the period generally acknowledged as a formative in the development of rural settlements of all types and a period which saw enormous changes in the surrounding countryside.
Themes investigated included: the influence of prehistoric and Romano-British use of land; the chronology of medieval settlement formation; the significance of such factors as environment, demography and lordship on the settlement patterns; the functioning of the settlements in the 13th and 14th centuries; their varied experience of contraction after 1350. Using an interdisciplinary approach, weaving archaeological and historical evidence together, and in combination with studies of ecclesiastical and vernacular architecture, the palaeoenvironmental record, and place-names, the project investigated how, when, and why people took divergent paths towards nucleated and dispersed settlements. Much of its success was founded on its use of the comparative method - i.e. the simultaneous exploration of a number of settlements and landscapes - enabling local developments to be seen in their broader context.
The project was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Board (now Council) in two phases: a two-year pilot project which ran from May 2000 to June 2002; and a three-year continuation from August 2002 to July 2005. Other grants were received from the Medieval Settlement Research Group; the Society of Antiquaries, London; the Royal Archaeological Institute; the British Academy; the Society for Medieval Archaeology; and the Aurelius Trust. The project's director was Professor Christopher Dyer, University of Leicester. Applications were supported by Dr Mark Gardiner, University of Belfast, and Dr Stephen Rippon, University of Exeter. The research was undertaken at the Universities of Birmingham and Leicester by Dr Richard Jones and Dr Mark Page.
Methodology
The area chosen had not previously been subject to systematic study. Little was known or published on the history or archaeology of Whittlewood. A provisional survey of evidence, however, revealed its high potential and these early conclusions proved accurate. Indeed, at times they were surpassed: historical sources were more extensive and informative than had previously been suspected; the problems of identifying relevant deposits for environmental sampling were overcome; and a survey of buildings revealed the survival of substantially more late medieval fabric than initially thought.
The historical record was large and dispersed, housed in national and county repositories in this country, with material relating to Stowe archived in the Huntington Library, San Marino, California. All relevant sources were consulted and detailed transcriptions made. The bulk of the new archaeological data gathered comes from extensive fieldwalking and an extended campaign of test pitting within existing village cores. In addition, surviving earthworks were planned and subjected to geophysical survey, walk over surveys were conducted in wooded areas, trenches were excavated through linear features, and larger opportunistic excavations were carried out in Whittlebury and Wicken. The pottery was analyzed by Paul Blinkhorn, and codified using the Northamptonshire county fabric series. English Heritage commissioned a survey of the vernacular architecture, with every house inspected from the outside, and subsequent internal surveys carried out to level 2 or 3 on a large sample of buildings deemed to be of pre-1700 date. The churches were surveyed by Dr Paul Barnwell, English Heritage. Peat deposits within and just outside the study area were identified and cored by Archaeoscape, Royal Holloway College, London. The place-names of Whittlewood are still the subject of an on-going project being undertaken by Eleanor Forward under the supervision of Dr David Parsons, University of Nottingham.
Non-digital Archive and Publications
The finds and accompanying field notes have been deposited in the Buckinghamshire County Museum at Aylesbury, accession no. 2005.84. Copies of the paper archive, including transcripts of documents remain in the Centre for English Local History at the University of Leicester.
Those using the digital archive may wish to consult the following publications:
- Jones, R. and Page M., Medieval Villages in an English Landscape: Beginnings and Ends (Macclesfield, 2006).
- Page, M. and Jones, R. 'Stable and Unstable Village Plans: case-studies from Whittlewood', in M. Gardiner and S. Rippon (eds.) Medieval Landscapes in Britain (Macclesfield, 2006).
- Jones, R., Dyer, C., and Page, M. 'Changing Settlements and Landscapes: Medieval Whittlewood, its Predecessors and Successors', Internet Archaeology, 19 (2006).
- Page, M., 'Destroyed by the Temples: the deserted medieval village of Stowe', Records of Buckinghamshire, 45 (2005), 189-204.
- Jones, R., 'Signatures in the soil: the use of ceramic manure scatters in the identification of medieval arable farming regimes', Archaeological Journal, 161 (2005), 159-88.
- Page, M. and Jones, R., 'The Whittlewood project: excavation of a medieval manor at Wicken, 2004', MSRG Annual Report, 19 (2004), 24-7.
- Jones, R. and Page, M., 'Characterizing rural settlement and landscape: Whittlewood Forest in the middle ages', Medieval Archaeology, 47 (2003), 53-83.
- Page, M., 'The extent of Whittlewood Forest and the impact of disafforestation in the later middle ages', Northamptonshire Past and Present, 56 (2003), 22-34.
- Page, M. and Jones, R., 'The Whittlewood project interim report 2002-3', MSRG Annual Report, 18 (2003), 27-36.
- Jones, R. and Page, M., 'Medieval settlements and landscapes in the Whittlewood area: interim report 2003-4', MSRG Annual Report, 18 (2003), 37-45.
- Dyer, C., 'Whittlewood: revealing a medieval landscape', Current Archaeology, 182 (2002), 59-63.
- Jones, R., 'The Luffield Priory grange at Monksbarn, Whittlebury, Northants', Northamptonshire Archaeology, 30 (2002), 126-39.
- Jones, R. and Page, M., 'Medieval settlements and landscapes in the Whittlewood area: interim report 2001-2', MSRG Annual Report, 16 (2001), 15-25.
- Page, M. and Jones, R., 'The Whittlewood project interim report 2000-1', MSRG Annual Report, 15 (2000), 10-18.
The Digital Archive
The digital archive is an integral part of the reporting process and comprises all files generated in electronic format generated during the course of the project, and for which permissions have been granted for deposit. Client confidentiality, for example, precludes the inclusion of reports from the buildings survey. Photographs for which copyright rests outside the project have also been excluded. Full access to the archive is gained from the download page. A series of maps linked to files allows the archive to be interrogated by theme and place. Selective access to the archive can be gained via the article in Internet Archaeology 19.
The archive contains the following:
- Monograph: Medieval Villages in an English Landscape: Beginnings and Ends - final drafts of the project monograph, subject to a closure period.
- Monograph Illustrations: Illustrations used in the monograph, subject to a closure period.
- Articles: Full drafts of a selection of publications produced during the course of the project.
- Historical Reports: Transcripts of documents; working papers; parish surveys.
- Archaeological Reports: Fieldwalking, Excavation, Woodland Survey, and Test Pitting reports; specialist reports; working papers.
- Databases: Test Pitting results; fieldwalking results; excavation results; trial trench results; small-scale interventions; miscellaneous spreadsheets.
- Finds: Photographic record of small finds, organized by material.
- Geophysics Results: Files and meshes generated by geophysical surveys.
- Geographic Information Systems: Floating files generated by GIS
- Global Plotting System files: Raw and processed files generated by GPS surveys.
- Images: Illustrations not used in the monograph; landscape photographs arranged by parish; survey photographs arranged by activity.
- Movies: short video clips.
