Pitchcott

The earliest remains found in Pitchcott were a pit and ditch containing Late Iron Age and Early Roman pottery that were found in a pipeline in the 1970s near Upper Blackgrove Farm. A lot of Roman pottery was also found in fieldwalking south-east of the village, suggesting a Roman settlement nearby. A Roman road seems to run from Akeman Street (the modern A41) north of Fleet Marston five miles to Pitchcott. Many later parish and field boundaries seem to follow its route. It is therefore not surprising to find some Roman activity.

Pitchcott was on the edge of Bernwood Forest in the late Saxon and medieval period. Bernwood had been a hunting forest from the time of Edward the Confessor. It grew to its largest extent under Henry II. The whole area was not covered by woods; in the medieval period a forest was a place where deer roamed for hunting and so included open land, villages and fields. All those who lived in the forest were not allowed to hunt or even gather wood without a special licence from the king. Bernwood Forest was finally disafforested in the reign of James I in 1635, although it had been shrinking in size since the time of King John (1199-1216).

The former St Giles’ church is the oldest building in the parish, possibly dating back to the 12^th century in places. The last service was held in 1974 and it was later converted to a house. The village was bigger in the medieval period and so could support a church. The house platforms and hollow-ways of the village can be seen to the south and south-east of the road running south of the village. The village also had a windmill as a mound has been found to the east of Manor Farm. The remains of medieval farming can also be seen around the village in the form of ridge-and-furrow.

In the 20^th century a bombing target was set up near Folly Farm that can be clearly seen on a 1948 aerial photograph and less clearly on a 1957 one.