Monument record 0031200000 - BEDGROVE FARM, AYLESBURY

'BIBBEGROVE' (1295) PROBABLY BEDGROVE, FORMERLY IN WESTON TURVILLE (B1,B11).
GOOD SUNKEN ROAD & PLATFORMS NEAR BEDGRAVE FARM (B5).
HOUSE PLATFORM EXCAVATED. 3 SEASONS' WORK FOUND FLINT COBBLING, TRACES OF 3 BUILDINGS, OVEN. ALSO ROMAN & LATE SAXON PRESENCE IN AREA (SITE CONFIRMED AS BEDGROVE, NOT CALDECOTE)(B5,B9).
Roger holds Bedgrove himself. It answers for 2 hides. Land for 3 ploughs; in lordship 1. 5 villagers with 5 smallholders have 2 ploughs. Meadow for 1 plough. Value 30s; when acquired 10s; before 1066, 40s. Swein, Alwin Varus' man, held this manor; he could sell (B10).

An area of shrunken settlement of medieval date is visible on historic aerial photographs as extant earthworks and was/were mapped as part of the Aylesbury Vale Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18604). Located at Bedgrove, Aylesbury, and centred at SP 83903 12636. Bedgrove is now the name for a part of Aylesbury but formerly was the name of a farm where occupation since Saxon times was recorded out of excavations undertaken in the 1964-6, prior to construction of the houses, shops and schools at the site of the farm. The earthworks are very clear on photographs from 1950; by 1961 development is in progress and completed by 1971. The visible earthworks are probably linear ditches forming plot boundaries and paths, as well as possible building platforms and linear banks. The site was partially excavated in 1964-6 and medieval settlement with Anglo Saxon origins was recorded with desertion happening through the 14th century. Recorded field names show more than one homestead and possible land uses; a mill is also referred to. Discrete patches of ridge and furrow earthworks can be seen in between the plot boundaries. These boundaries are parallel to the field boundaries visible on the 1940s aerial photographs and are visible on three sides of the farm buildings. The boundaries appear to continue across the site of the farm yard, which most likely dates from the 18th or 19th century and the time of the inclosure of the parish. The plot boundaries are parallel to each other and are approximately 22-25m apart, possibly forming a linear settlement alongthe line of a former road that might have run north-south through the side, prior to the construction of the farm buildings. Most of these former boundaries were completely removed by the redevelopment in the 1950s and 60s although the remains of some can be traced through the housing estates. Iron Age and Romano-British pottery is recorded in an excavation in the 1990s in what is now Jansel Square. It is not clear what features remain closer to the site of the farm house and yard because of tree cover in the 1940s and 50s and some of the boundary ditches appear to extend in to the woodland to the east of the site of the farmhouse and yard; some of the earlier ground level and features may survive inside this area of woodland. (14-23)