Monument record 0599000000 - GLEBE FARM, LILLNGSTONE LOVELL

GOOD & EXTENSIVE EVIDENCE OF VILLAGE SHRINKAGE: HOUSE PLATFORMS, HOLLOW WAYS, CLOSES ETC, NOTED ON AIR PHOTO. PRESENT CONDITION UNKNOWN (B1).
Aerial photographs taken in 1996 show ridge and furrow to the east, house platforms and tofts, and hollow way (B2).
18 test pits excavated in the area of settlement earthworks and adjacent properties in July and August 2003 as part of the Whittlewood Project. A number of test pits included compact limestone surfaces, interpreted as domestic floor and yard surfaces, deposits of stone rubble interpreted as the remains of demolished buildings; whilst test pit 7, sited on earthworks interpreted as a manorial enclosure where geophysical survey had indicated the remains of a substantial building, located the foundations of a sizeable building, probably the manor house. Pottery finds indicated that occupation of the village commenced in the later 10th century north of the church and expanded southwards and eastwards from 1100 to about 1250. In the mid 13th century the construction of the large manorial complex resulted in a radical replanning of the village, with regular rectangular crofts created to the north, south and east. The newly created crofts appear to have been abandoned by 1450 as the village contracted to its original settlement core north of the church and the manorial complex also appears to have been abandoned. See report for detail (B3).

Shrunken settlement of medieval and post medieval date is visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as extant earthworks and was mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located at Lillingstone Lovell and centred at SP 71251 40333. Earthworks of boundaries, possible building platforms and trackways are visible all across the site. The modern settlement is to the east of the watercourse which runs north south and a few houses remain next to the church on the west of the watercourse; the shrunken settlement lies in between these areas. On the west of the watercourse these earthworks include two probable ponds close to the site of a large building platform, possibly the house shown on the Ordnance Surveyors’ Drawing of Stony Stratford. The pottery recorded from field walking in the arable field immediately to the south west, undertaken as part of the Whittlewood Project, showed a large number of medieval wares. The earthworks continue to the south towards Lillingstone Hall, later Hall Farm, but not all are clear enough to map as features. More recent Google Earth photographs appear to show cropmarks of possible building outlines. Modern land use is pasture. (13-19)