Monument record MLI60734 - Dunsby St Andrew deserted settlement

Summary

Dunsby St Andrew deserted settlement

Type and Period (4)

Protected Status/Designation

Full Description

60734 Dunsby St Andrew is first documented in the Domesday Book, where two landholdings are listed, which were both sokeland of two different manors. The landholdings were of similar size, one belonged to a manor in Quarrington, which was owned by St Benedict of Ramsey Abbey, and the other was sokeland of a manor in Ruskington, which belonged to Geoffrey Alselin. The minimum population at that time was 28. The name means 'Dunn's farmstead or village', and is a hybrid of an Old English personal name and Old Danish. {1}{2} There is no explicit evidence of the form of settlement at this time, but it is likely that dispersed smallholdings were the norm. The process of manorialisation after the Conquest probably encouraged some nucleation of settlement around the church. Much of the land in Dunsby was given to Catley Abbey, Newbo Abbey and Temple Bruer in the late twelfth century. This probably meant that much of the land in Dunsby was no longer available for cultivation to the occupants of the settlement, particularly as arable farming gave way to sheep farming, and consequently there may well have been a contraction of the settlement in the thirteenth century. Climatic and social change probably speeded up this process and by 1428 there were only six servants, presumably paid labourers, living there. After the Dissolution the manor was bought by Robert Carre of Sleaford, and the area of tillage was laid down to grass for sheep, the redundant peasants evicted and the church and parsonage demolished. In 1563 there were five households left in the vill, and the only substantial structure was the hall. By the nineteenth century there were only three cottages left in Dunsby, although it was stated that the foundations of the church 'and a large mansion may still be seen'. The layout of the earthworks bears little resemblance to a village site, and maybe more readily interpreted as a building complex, perhaps including some garden remains. Aerial photographs show in more detail a group of buildings around a yard to the west of the site. The field is called Hall Close on the 1839 map and the site can almost certainly be identified with that of the sixteenth century manor house (see 62467). In 1872 Trollope mentions 'portions of the wall' but says that there is no trace of the chapel and houses. One particular individual structure south of the main complex is about 12m across, consistent in size with a dovecote. Tradition gathered by the late Mrs E.H.Rudkin, places the church west of the main road, beneath the present Dunsby House (converted from the last pair of cottages); if the cottages were post-1842 (they were probably erected by the Bristol Estate in the second half of the nineteenth century), this would explain the lack of either earthworks or of a ploughed-out building stone that might have come from a church (see 62466). Fieldwalking west of Dunsby House has produced little evidence of occupation, although the ploughed-out remains of dry stone walls can still be seen. These surround closes of about 9 hectares in size which are apparently those shown on the Brauncewell tithe map; they are not necessarily of any earlier date than enclosure of the heath, which took place in this area in the late eighteenth century. Aerial photographs show a few ploughed-out crofts immediately north of Dunsby House. It is not certain that there was more of the village east of the road. {3} Earthworks were noted at TF 0400 5135 , along with a surface scatter of medieval building material and pottery, and a wide spread of oyster shell. {8} Aerial photographs taken of the area in 1998 show an east-west aligned rectangular cropmark, also identified during the National Mapping Programme project. It appears to be the remains of a building, and it has also been interpreted as the chapel of St Andrew (see also 62466). {6}{14}

Sources/Archives (16)

  •  Bibliographic Reference: C.W. Foster and T. Longley. 1924. Lincolnshire Domesday and Lindsey Survey. VOL 19, P XV, P LXXVIII.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Kenneth Cameron. 1998. A Dictionary of Lincolnshire Place-Names. page 39.
  •  Unpublished Document: R.H. Healey and D.R. Roffe. Some Medieval and Later Earthworks in South Lincolnshire. pp.21-24, Fig 7.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Edward Trollope. 1872. Sleaford and the Wapentakes of Flaxwell and Aswardhurn in the County of Lincoln. pp.234-35.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: William White. 1856. History, Gazetteer and Directory of Lincolnshire - Second Edition. page 445.
  •  Map: Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. 1992-1996. National Mapping Programme. TF0351:LI.867.7.1-17, 1996; see also parish file.
  •  Index: SMR FILE. BRAUNCEWELL. TF 05 SW:H.
  •  Index: OS CARD INDEX. BRAUNCEWELL. TF 05 SW:3; 1964; Baird, J..
  •  Scheduling Record: HBMC. 1930. AM 7. SAM 277.
  •  Aerial Photograph: RAF. 1946-71. RAF POST WAR COLLECTION. CPE:UK 2073:4408,4409,1947.
  •  Aerial Photograph: THOMSON B. 1990-91. Aerial photographs taken by B. Thomson. -.
  •  Aerial Photograph: THOMSON B. 1990-91. Aerial photographs taken by B. Thomson. -.
  •  Aerial Photograph: 1945-84. CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY COLLECTION. AWX30, 1969.
  •  Index: NORTH KESTEVEN RECORDS. BRAUNCEWELL. NK 15.2, 28.
  •  Scheduling Record: ENGLISH HERITAGE. 1998. REVISED SCHEDULING DOCUMENT 22738. MPP23.
  •  Bibliographic Reference: Gerald A.J. Hodgett. 1975. Tudor Lincolnshire. page 190.

Map

Find a placename, postcode or grid reference

Map layers

Base layers

Info

Record list

Tools

Location

Grid reference Centred TF 0392 5131 (465m by 525m)
Civil Parish BRAUNCEWELL, NORTH KESTEVEN, LINCOLNSHIRE

Related Monuments/Buildings (2)

Related Events/Activities (5)

Please contact the HER for details.

External Links (0)

Record last edited

Mar 21 2021 8:35PM

Feedback?

Your feedback is welcome. If you can provide any new information about this record, please contact us.