The field [at NT 999450] was the original site of the village of Ancroft. It was deserted c.1600 when a plague virtually wiped it out. The field name 'Broomy Huts' is traditionally derived from the burning of plagued bodies with brooms. (a)
The remains consist of banked enclosures. Building steadings and small enclosed fields. Much of the area has been mutilated by surface quarrying. (1)
Surveyed at 1/2500. (2)
[NT 99994513] Deserted Medieval Village of Ancroft. (Site of). (3)
Description correct. Survey of 1962 has been revised. (4)
Ancroft was a member of the Bishop of Durham's estate of Norham and Islandshire, held in moieties in 1208-10 by Roger de Audrey and Ingram de Hulecot. The moiety of Robert de Colville in 1338 comprised a manor site, 70 acres of land, six and a half husbandlands and four cottages.
1560/1 Survey: 12 husbandlands and cottages, and a peel, built on the end of the chapel. 1666 Hearth Tax: 45 householders. 1693 Grey Rental: circa eight farmers. Described as a 'large village with a chapel in it', by Warburton in the early 18th century. A 'barren and unimproved' heath was noted to the west of the village by George Mark in 1734. Common lands divided soon after 1737. Armstrong's map of 1769 shows a hamlet west of the chapel and some dispersed farms.
Earthworks of former village lie between the Home Farm to the west and the Berwick to Wooler road to the east. Confused and amorphous earthworks; a distinct hollow-way enters at the east end and a probable line of house sites on the south side. (5)
Field centred NT 99854522, surveyed at 1:250 by S Speak for Tyne and Wear Museums in March 1993. Two periods of landuse represented by the remains surveyed. Firstly broad ridge and furrow and a hollow way which may be contemporary with each other. Secondly there was a complex of buildings built within the corner of a series of enclosing earthworks and associated with ridge and furrow of different character to the broad ridge and furrow. (6)
Infra-red line scan reveals the outline of plots to the north of the road. Features can be identified with geophysical survey carried out in 1994 by Geoquest. (7)
Geophysical survey and trial trenching, in the field centred at NT 99854522, by GeoQuest in 1994 identified archaeological remains across most of the development site, but were most densely clustered towards the centre. A probable 17th century building was identified and a large quantity of 12th-13th century pottery was recovered from the topsoil.
From the combined results of earthwork survey, trial trenching and geophysical survey in 1993 and 1994 it would appear that there has been occupation and cultivation on the site since the late 12th century which continued, either continuously or intermittently, until the late 17th-early 18th centuries. The pattern of later land use has had an impact on the survival of remains. Medieval ploughing appears to have destroyed any below ground remains at the west end of the site, but in the centre of the site where earthworks are visible and have not been ploughed the archaeological remains are surviving exceptionally well. In the east end of the site later ridge and furrow has impacted on the survival of archaeological remains but to a lesser
extent than the medieval ploughing and substantial remains have been uncovered. (8)
A watching brief was kept on a building plot in Ancroft village in July 1998 by TWM Archaeology. Foundation trenches were dug to a depth of 0.5m but no features of archaeological significance were encountered. (9)