Monument record 0577700000 - WATER STRATFORD

Village earthworks visible around village on each side of road by Town & Manor Farms on 1946 AP (B1 ).
Slight earthworks, probably village shrinkage, visible in 3 areas at NGR's above. Infilling & garden/farm encroachment has presumably destroyed other areas (B2).

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 on both sides of the road passing through Water Stratford and centred at SP 65296 34401, the main features are in fields between the east side of the village and the River Great Ouse, comprising two probable parallel hollow ways extending up to 230 metres NW-SE. The two hollow ways are joined together by a linking ditch close to the village, creating a ditched trapezoidal enclosure about 85 metres wide that is open to the NW, where the fourth side is formed by the road and dwelling boundaries. Within the enclosure are fragmentary linear banks up to 3 metres wide that appear to form a rectangle with an internal dimension of 22 x 40 metres. To the west of the road and adjacent Hillside Cottages, a ditch up to 6 metres wide suggests two probable rectangular enclosures, against which ridge and furrow cultivation earthworks are abutting. On aerial photographs taken in 2019 and recent remote sensing data, residential housing developments now partly covers these features, though those to east of the village appear to remain mostly extant (4-7).