Monument record MDO7230 - Deserted medieval village of Holworth, Chaldon Herring

The deserted medieval village of Holworth is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs to the east of the modern village. Deserted Medieval village surviving as a series of earthworks including a hollow way, crofts, tofts and a pond. The village dates to at least 933 when it was a separate part of Milton Abbas due to a grant by King Athelstan to Milton Abbey. Two excavations have been carried out on the site dating the earliest buildings investigated to the 12th century which were represented by pits, ditches and post-holes. Dating from the 13th century was a possibly 3-room house discovered from stone footings. No earlier pottery than the 12th century has been found, and there is no settlement evidence for any time later than the 15th century. The last documentary reference to the village is in 1333 when there are fourteen people mentioned, indicating the village was already in heavy decline.

Holworth, deserted Medieval village (SY 771833), immediately E of Holworth Farm, is a complex of scarps and banks on either side of a partly sunk W to E road. The site, together with the adjacent areas of Owermoigne, was formerly a detached part of Milton Abbas parish due to King Athelstan's grant of six hides at Holworth to Milton Abbey in 933. Of three Holworths known to belong to Milton Abbas this might be either 'East' or 'North' Holworth. The last significant reference to Holworth is apparently that in the Lay Subsidy Roll of 1333 when fourteen persons were mentioned.

Excavations made in 1958 on behalf of the D.N.H.A.S produced Medieval pottery continuing to the 15th but no evidence for occupation after that date <1>.

The remains lie on the N-facing slope of a shallow valley through which runs a small stream. The subsoil includes clays and grits of the Wealden Beds and the site needed careful drainage. The area has been disturbed by shallow quarrying but is now in permanent pasture and cut by a recent track, running from NW to SE (not shown on plan). The modern fields to the E and SW have been heavily ploughed destroying any evidence for an extension of the settlement. The road crossing the site from W to E is blocked at both ends by hedgerows but was once continuous with the present track to Holworth Farm from the WSW; it is 20ft to 30ft wide. A narrow terrace-way runs N from the road past a later pond. To the E a series of seven roughly square, platform-like enclosures (`tofts'), each of about 1/8 acre, lines the N side of the road. One of these, (a), was excavated in 1958. Most seem to have sunken ways in from the N in their NW angles, and their banks have been much robbed. To the N of each lies a long narrow field (`croft') defined by banks or low scarps and varying in size from some 280ft by 70ft to 300ft by 100ft; there is little evidence of ploughing in them and they run down to wet meadow-land.
A slight near-rectangular enclosure (b), about 40ft by22ft, in the W angle of the road and the terrace-way to the N, perhaps the site of a building, is at the SE angle of a block of earthworks notably different in character from the tofts.

S of the road the slope increases and few of the closes are flat. At the extreme W a scarp 8ft high dropping to the road may perhaps be a relic of `Celtic' fields. A terrace-way, marked on the upper side by a positive lynchet 4ft and more high, lines the S edge of the main part of the field. Between it and the road and at angles to both are fragmentary banks, lines of scarps and a wide hollow; this last, SW of (a) and possibly a track, may be relatively late if the cutting at its S end through the terrace-way is original. There are no signs of settlement on the S of the terrace-way which runs E to join a N to S track.

Immediately S of the W-E road at its E end an oblong features ©, 30ft by 12ft to 15ft, possibly marks footings of a building though its surface slopes E at an angle of some 3.5 degrees and the E end is open.

In 1936 the Rev D Dixey and Mr H.S.L Dewar carried out trial excavations (typescript in D.C.M). Medieval pottery including C13th forms was among the finds from three places, of which one was a triangular platform, (d), where partly dressed stones were also found. Other potsherds, including `scratch-mark' ware, were found in the toft E or (a) during the Commission's survey. In 1958 toft (a) was excavated (ie toft (5) in authority 3). The excavator thought that the srcaped platform forming the toft resulted from a long period of casual build-up. Two periods of occupation were established.

Period I probably antedated the toft lay-out; no building was found but pits, ditches and a few post-holes contained pottery probably of the C12th to C13th or earlier. Period II, from the C13th to C15th, was represented by stone footings of a structure, 68ft by 17ft externally, at the SW angle of the toft, with the long axis parallel to the road. This may have been a three-roomed house, three separate buildings with common walls or, most likely, two buildings separated by a yard bounded by a wall on the S. The wall footings, mainly of flint, were very slight and probably supported a timber framework; at least two phases of rebuilding were noted. There was no archaeological evidence for settlement after the C15th. Plan.

Clearly defined on air photographs. <4>

The earthworks of Holworth deserted Medieval village remain as described by RCHM, under permanent pasture and in a very good state of preservation. Surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD. (Incorporating RCHM survey). <6>

The deserted medieval village of Holworth is visible as earthworks on aerial photographs to the east of the modern village. The village earthworks consist of: an east-west oriented line of crofts and tofts; a number of enclosures around the settlement; and a hollow way extending to the west. The earthworks are visible over an area measuring approximately 380 m by 500 m. <8-9> The village dates to at least 933 when it was a separate part of Milton Abbas due to a grant by King Athelstan to Milton Abbey. Two excavations have found that the earliest buildings on the site date to the 12th century. (NRHE 454272) These features were digitally plotted as part of the Wild Purbeck Mapping Project.

Medieval Archaeology Vol 3, 321
Medieval Archaeology Vol 4, 65ff

<1> Rahtz, P A, Holworth Medieval Village excavation, 1958. Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society 81, 127-147 (Article in serial). SDO20429.

<2> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1959, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1958, 103-105 (Serial). SDO58.

<3> Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Map 6in, 1963 (Map). SWX1540.

(Centred SY 771833) Village (NR) (site of) (NAT)

<4> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1970, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume II (South East) Part 1, 35-37 (Monograph). SDO148.

<5> Beresford, M, and Hurst, J G, 1971, Deserted Medieval Villages, 153, 186 (Monograph). SWX1568.

<6> Barton, J G, Various, Field Investigators Comments JGB, F1 JGB 18-SEP-80 (Unpublished document). SDO11900.

<7> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), 1994, Medieval Village Research Group Index, PRN 511 (Index). SDO16386.

<8> Royal Air Force, 04-NOV-1946, RAF/CPE/UK/1824 3273-4 (Aerial Photograph). SDO13847.

<9> Dorset County Council, XX-XXX-2009, Dorset CC Vertical Digital Photo Tile (Aerial Photograph). SDO13314.

<10> Medieval Settlement Research Group, Medieval Village Research Group Archive - measured drawings (Excavation archive). SDO20430.

<11> Historic England, Historic England Archive, 884025 (Index). SDO14738.

RCHME: Holworth DMV, Chaldon Herring, Dorset. Detail of holloway not whole village plan

<12> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB74/04535 (Index). SDO14738.

ROUGH PLAN OF DMV - ABANDONED C15

<13> Historic England, Historic England Archive, BB74/04536 (Index). SDO14738.

PLAN OF VILLAGE - ABANDONED C15

<14> Historic England, Historic England Archive, CC74/00400 (Index). SDO14738.

PLAN OF DMV. LAST MENTIONED 1333. POTTERY EVIDENCE SUGGESTS OCCUPATION TO C15

<15> Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, Externally held archive: RCH01/093 RCHME Inventory: Dorset II (South-East) (Unpublished document). SDO17434.

<16> National Record of the Historic Environment, 454272 (Digital archive). SDO14739.

Record last edited

Oct 7 2024 3:38PM