More information : (SP 412808 ) Deserted Village : Lower Smite
(412808 : CPE UK 2546/3777)
"This may be Warwickshire's oldest lost village or rather pair
of villages (including Upper Smite: SP 48 SW 5). The foundation
of Combe Abbey in 1150 'created pasture ground where antiently
two villages stood in depopulation whereof hath been antient for
the vestiges and searce to be discerned.' The old parish name
of Smite was replaced by Combe but is preserved in the Smite Brook.
Smeeton Lane, and Smite Hill. Lower Smite must be associated
with the remains of St. Peter's Church in corporated in Peter
Hall (SP 48 SW 3), and connected with such names as 'Peterchurch
field'. There are very clear earthworks to the west of the bridge
at spot-height 255 and south of the stream, but Dr. W. G. Hoskins
persuades me that these are water containing and not house-sites.
The air photograph has suspicious markings in the field south of
Peter Hall, leading down to Smite.Brook, although the land is
now ploughed.
There were rating disputes with Binley and Brinklow at Quarter
Sessions in 1654, 1661, 1664, 1665 and 1681. In 1654 the shepherds
were appointed overseers and collectors..." (1)
There are no indications of this village either on air-photographs
(RAF 1948) or on the ground; on the air-photos most of the ground
SW of Peter Hall is rig and furrow. For the 'earthworks to the west
of the bridge see SP 47 NW 1. (2)
(Name SP 409805) Village (NR) (site of)
(No authority for placing name at this position). (3)
A well-defined, sub-rectangular enclosure close to Smite Brook
is visible on air photographs at SP 41218043 -?. Possibly
associated with Deserted Medieval village. (4)
Scheduled as the 'site of a deserted villiage and Upper Smite' (5)
"The earliest known settlement at Coombe has not been evaluated, although there is scattered evidence for Roman settlement [NMR AMIE number 337568, SP 47 NW 2] since the Roman period or possibly earlier. The survival of two possible prehistoric barrows [NMR AMIE numbers 889195, SP 37 NE15 and 337576, SP 47 NW 8] indicates remnant survival from the prehistoric landscape. Romano-British finds have been made at a number of locations in the parish, and the site is located in close proximity to the Roman Road the Fosse Way. Less than a kilometre to the North East at Peter Hall [NMR AMIE number 337883, SP 48 SW 3] is the location of the remains of a medieval parish church which is believed to provide the nucleus settlement for the medieval village of Lower Smite [NMR AMIE number 337880, SP 48 SW 2]. The village and manorial complex at Lower Smite are believed to have been part of the endowment of the Cistercian abbey [NMR AMIE number 337563, SP 47 NW1] at Combe, and were incorporated into the demesne estates resulting eventually in their depopulation." (6)
Cropmarks on aerial photographs show traces of enclosures probably associated with the village of Lower Smite located at SP 4089 8054. (7) |