More information : ? Settlement remains and rabbit warren (SK 943774; fig. 00)
perhaps of a Premonstratensian manor or grange lie at
approximately 19m above OD on Middle Lias clay and shale.
The manor at North Carlton held by William Wildeker in the
13th century was transferred to Barlings Abbey before 1303 and augmented by many smaller gifts in both North and Middle Carlton in the later 13th and 14th centuries. The manor or grange remained in the hands of Barlings Abbey until the Dissolution, when it was granted to Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and in the later 16th century was acquired by the Monson family and made to form one of their principal residences.(a)
A distinct group of earthworks, clearly not village remains
and not in origin part of the post-medieval garden and park
layout, lie S of the modern E-W road and E of the N-S farm road that leads to South Carlton. They are bounded on the E by a surviving hedgeline and on the S either by the stream or more probably by a boundary just S of it that continues the hedgeline. The latter, with the S part of the hedgeline, formed the boundary of the rectory lands of Middle Carlton lying to the E and S. This block, called Brown Leas in 1805, contains a series of large closes or ditched paddocks overlying earlier arable: only in the SW and SE are there signs of occupation that has levelled or lowered the arable traces. This is similar to monastic properties, especially granges, identified elsewhere in this study, and may represent the demesne farm of Barlings Abbey. Its location places it effectively at the W end of Middle Carlton village and linked to it by a hollow-way following the stream, while also connected by the N-S road to the abbey's grange at South Carlton.
At 'h', a group of at least 11 mounds of varied plan forms from circular to elongated oval and heights up to 1.5m, some clearly ditched around, appear to be intrusive into the arrangement of closes. Their date is unknown and their function uncertain, but they may be forms of pillow mound making a compact rabbit warren. The Monsons certainly promoted similar ventures elsewhere in their estates, including a duck decoy at Skellingthorpe (by 1638), a duck decoy at Burton (Burton (5)) and another at South Carlton (South Carlton (4)), together with a hare park in the same parish (both by 1720), whose location was latterly marked by a plantation called Hallifirs.(b) (1-2)
The possible grange and pillow mounds described by authorities 1-2 were seen as earthworks and mapped from good quality air photographs. The remains of the grange comprise paddocks, located at SK 9434 7746 and SK 9450 7757. Within one of these enclosures is a group of at least ten pillow mounds, ranging in length from 6m to 26m, centred at SK 9434 7739. (Morph No. LI.643.3.1- 3.4)
This description is based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database.
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