More information : (SP 575506) Canons Ashby. (SP 575507) Deer Park. (1)
The Augustinian Priory at Canons Ashby (SP 55 SE/13), dedicated to
the Blessed Virgin, was founded 1147-51, probably for 13 canons, and
was dissolved in 1536 (2). A church and surrounding land, houses
crofts, a fishpond and a horse-mill were given at the founding (3).
The lay manor was wholly enclosed by the Dissolution; and 2000 sheep
were kept here in 1547 (4).
On APs (5) the area of the village is clearly outlined by rig and
furrow. At SP 57505091 is a large flat-topped mound, possibly a
barrow or a motte (SP 55 SE/14). At SP57955040 is a circular mark
(the horse mill?) (2-6). Other associated features are a string of
large fish ponds to the W, a mill mound at SP 56935033 and the site
of the village which was probably NW of the house, although no
surveyable features now remain. The site of the horse mill could not
be substantiated. See photo's and annotated 25" surveys (7).
SP 576507 Village of Canons Ashby first mentioned in Domesday,
population 16. Priory (SP 55 SE/13) founded 1150 at S end of village.
1301 18 Lay Subsidy payers. 1316 village mentioned in Nomina
Villarum. 41 houses in 1343. 1377 82 Poll Tax payers (age 14+)
recorded. 1489 Prior of Canons Ashby destroyed 3 houses for pasture.
In 1492 he evicted 24 people. By 1524 only 21 tax payers listed. In
1535 9 tenants paid rent to the priory. At the Dissolution in 1537
the lands passed to Sir Francis Bryan, then to Sir John Cope who by
1547 had 2000 sheep in the parish. 5 Hearth Tax payers recorded in
1674. c1720 only 3 farm houses and 2 or 3 lodges remained. In 1801 40
resident in the parish. Surviving earthworks are well preserved NW of
Canons Ashby House. Close boundaries cut through ridge and furrow,
and pottery scatters suggest that the 14th century expansion of the
village northwards may have built over former arable land. Several
hollow ways suggest the layout of the medieval road system (3).
The following sites were previously recorded together with the
village as SP 55 SE/1 and have now been recorded under individual
site records: Canons Ashby Priory (SP 55 SE/13), the supposed motte
(SP 55 SE/14), fishponds (SP 55 SE/15), a windmill mound (SP 55 SE/
17) and Canons Ashby Hall (SP 55 SE/18). (8)
(SP 577507). In December 1992, RCHMEs Cambridge Office carried out
an analytical earthwork survey of elements of the deserted village at
Canons Ashby, and a field observation on the other remains, following
a request from the National Trust. The principal area studied was
the field now known as `The Orchard' (SP 55 SE/25). The other
surviving DMV earthworks comprise a linear settlement of numerous
domestic enclosures (crofts), some with associated house platforms
(tofts), all ranged along a system of medieval hollow-ways. The
village is surrounded by ridge-and-furrow cultivation. (9)
The plan of the medieval village, which was largely deserted
following enclosure for sheep in the sixteenth century, can be
reconstructed from the earthwork remains (9a). The village was
arranged around a crossroads with most of the surviving remains
lying in the northeastern quarter, between the Preston Capes and
Adstone roads. The southern arm leads to the church and priory (SP 55
SE/13). The south-western arm followed a route now partly under
Canon's Ashby House (SP 55 SE/18) but visible as a hollow way to the
west of the formal gardens.
A row of crofts is laid out along the east side of the Preston Capes
road with a back lane identifiable as a hollow way. A second row of
crofts survives along the north side of the Adstone road with a
similar back land surviving as a hollow way.
At some point the village may have expanded over the former open
fields at the northern end of the sites, suggested by crofts
apparently overlying very degraded ridge-and-furrow. This expansion
is enclosed by a bank and ditch and, perhaps fortuitously, resembles
the Canons' Walk in both size and shape (SP 55 SE/13). However, it is
unclear whether the northern enclosure is contemporary with or later
than the village remains.
The crofts were rectangular in plan and aligned at right angles to
the hollow ways and were divided by low banks. The crofts range in
size from 35m by 25m to 60m by 22m, the largest properties fronting
the Preston Capes road. The actual tofts are seldom evident, one of
the surviving examples measures 20m by 12m or 25% of the area of its
croft.
The surviving earthworks seem scarcely sufficient to account for the
41 houses listed in 1343 (9b), it is possible that some crofts have
been destroyed or are no longer recognisable as earthworks.
Documentary evidence suggests that Canons Ashby House may stand on
the site of a medieval farm (9a) and there may have been further
dwellings on the west side of the Preston Capes road. Beyond the
village cluster in the area of the later parkland no medieval
earthworks now survive except for ridge-and-furrow.
The village was completely surrounded by arable arranged into three
large fields, the North, West and East Fields (9a). Ridge-and-furrow
is still well defined to the east of the village and in the western
part of the park where it extends down to the fishponds (SP 55 SE/
15). Cultivation may have extended eastward to the Preston Capes road
before landscaping for the part obliterated the ridges. Aerial
photographs show traces of ridge-and-furrow around Park Cottage
(SP 57555075) which were too faint to be recorded on the ground. In
the fields east of the Orchard (SP 55 SE/25) and Canon's Walk no
trace of ridge-and-furrow is visible on aerial photographs. Ridge-and
furrow recorded by the RCHME in 1981 in the paddock west of the
church is now buried beneath the National Trust car park.
For further details, see RCHME Level 3 client report and plans at
1:1000 and 1:2500 scales, held in archive. (9).
The renovation of the Tudor House and the Monastic church by the
National Trust, together with the conservation of the barn and wood
yard required that archaeological excavation should be carried out.
This was completed in 1981, service trenches made it possible to
confirm the observations made by Sir Henry Dryden in the last
century. (11) |