Monument record 0512200000 - 'THE LEASES', SOULBURY

REMAINS OF HOUSE SITES, CROFTS & CLOSES VISIBLE. THE MOST CLEARLY INTERPRETED FEATURES ARE BOUNDARY DITCHES DIVIDING VILLAGE FROM ADJACENT FIELDS. AP' S REVEAL FURTHER BOUNDARIES NOW LOST UNDER MODERN HOUSES & GARDENS, TO E OF EARTHWORKS. SKETCH PLOT OF EARTHWORKS AT 1:2500. NGR TO CENTRE OF EARTHWORKS (B1).

Remains of medieval village shrinkage is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as earthworks and was mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located in fields west of Soulbury village between the cricket ground and All Saints Church and centred at SP 88066 27093, the complex of earthworks banks and ditches extend over an area of about 215 metres NE-SW and 125 metres NW-SE. The main features are a curvilinear hollow way that ranges in width from 5 to 20 metres wide that extends from Church Lane and follows the curving field boundary behind the church, halfway along which has a further hollow way extending westwards. Other linear and curvilinear ditches form a number of rectilinear enclosures, within one of which is a small block of medieval ridge and furrow cultivation. Two irregularly shaped earthwork platforms and other linear banks flanking the large hollow way may represent settlement. Aerial photographs taken in 2019 indicate that many of the earthworks remain extant, except where the cricket ground has been created, where the features appear levelled (2-4).