Earthwork settlement remains, Welton le Wold. {1}{2}{3} The earthwork remains of the medieval settlement of Welton le Wold lies immediately east of the parish church and to the east of the modern settlement, and there is considerable evidence of medieval ridge and furrow. The extensive area of earthworks represent the remains of medieval crofts and tofts. The field encloses a domed hill slope, the crest of which is situated toward the southern edge. Stepping down the slope are a series of small terraces, more of which surround the church, also located upon a prominent mound. Along the brow are a series of platforms standing up to 1.5m high. Two trenches were dug at 42940a in 1959 which revealed traces of abandoned houses from the medieval village, they are the remains of buildings occupied between c.1050 and 1350. Earthworks were also visible in 1959. At the western edge of the ridge, near the church, a stone-foundered structure was examined and dated to c.1350-1450. This chronological sequence, albeit slight, could tentatively be used to imply that abandonment was an ongoing process. {1}{2} The settlement at Welton le Wold is first mentioned in the Domesday Book (1086) which states that there were 167 freemen, 37 villagers and 27 small holders from whom taxes were due. There was also one manor which belonged to Count Alan. It is recorded that there was a mill and a church belonging to this manor. There is evidence indicating that the village has contracted. This may have begun in late Saxon or Norman times, as at the time of the Domesday survey it was noted that Count Alan’s lands were only worth three quarters of their value prior to 1066. {6} A survey of the lands held in common in the parish was undertaken in 1770 under the direction of the enclosure commissioner, John Parkinson of Asgarby. {7} This resulted in their alienation and the re-division of the landscape following the Enclosure Award, 1771. This fundamental change in the nature of landholding prefigured and possibly precipitated a number of significant changes in the built and social landscapes of Welton le Wold, most of which appear to have been enacted in the early to mid 19th century. {8}