More information : SO 563 897. A possible deserted Medieval village sited at Holdgate. All that remains of the settlement are the church, parts of the castle and a farmhouse. Earthworks can be traced in the field running south-east from the road. (Not mentioned by Beresford in Deserted Medieval Villages 1971). (1)
Vague disturbance can be seen in a field at SO 563 895, on air photographs and a hollow way is visible at SO 561 893. (2)
SO 562 898. Accepted as a deserted Medieval village. (3)
SO 562 895. In two large pasture fields south and south-east of the church at Holdgate are earthworks representing probably Medieval desertion. They comprise seven possible building platforms, together with hollow ways and fields, covering approximately eight hectares. The slopes are generally 0.8m in height.
Survey at 1:2500 on MSD. (4)
Note on topographical survey with plan of deserted village and castle (SO 58 NE 2) undertaken in 1983. Domesday survey records 14 tenants at Holdgate, with a church and priest. In 1222 a licence was granted for a weekly market and annual fair. Twelve tenants were assessed for tax in 1333. As late as 1672 there were 18 houses here; final contraction seems to have occurred in the 18th century, following farm amalgamations. By 1793 there were only 8 dispersed farms and a scatter of cottages in the parish. Settlement earthworks include building platforms, enclosures and a hollow way, plus a considerable, but disjointed terrace marking the village boundary. Parts of the site have suffered from post medieval disturbance. (5)
SO 562 895 (FCE). Settlement remains at Holdgate. Earthworks to the NW and SE of Holdgate Castle (SO 58 NE 2) do not, as previously thought, belong entirely to the medieval village of Holdgate. An area of regular, rectangular earthworks immediately SE of the present farm actually represents the terraced layout of formal gardens (SO 58 NE 22) of the early Hall Farm. Only slight traces of what may be the earlier medieval settlement are discernible, comprising several properties with a nucleus some distance from the castle. The most clearly-defined medieval earthwork is a hollow-way, roughly orientated NW-SE, which extends both N and S of the modern road. The extent of the medieval settlement remains, their relation to this hollow-way and their regular layout suggest that they represent a small village with some element of lordly planning. Medieval cultivation is evidenced by small areas of broad ridge-and-furrow, but the majority of ridge-and-furrow on the site appears to belong to a later period of occupation. The remains of a post-medieval farm (SO 58 NE 23) are situated adjacent to and overlie the medieval hollow-way. Indeed the majority of earthworks recorded by the present survey relate to a network of field boundaries and hedge-lines associated with this post-medieval phase.
The above description is summarised from a detailed level 3 RCHME 1:1000 scale survey conducted in October 1986, the products of which are held in the NMR archive. (6) |