Landscape Detective

The later medieval period saw a decline in settlement and the appearance of the Deserted Medieval Village.

This is all that remains of the small medieval village of Abdon. The earthworks represent house platforms and the road can clearly be seen as a Holloway running through the middle. Surrounding the village are the remnants of ridge and furrow.

There are around 100 known Deserted Medieval Villages (DMV) in Shropshire. The Black Death or Plague, which accounted for the deaths of up to a quarter of the population of England in 1348-9, has been blamed for the presence of so many of these settlements.  However village abandonment was more probably due to the reaction of  changing economic and social conditions. Widespread changes in employment occurred in the countryside with the movement away from the labour intensive open field system of agriculture to predominantly pastoral activities. Sheep farming became more and more important with the growth of the wool industry which required far fewer people to work the land.

This small Norman chapel at Heath gives us a picture of what it would have been like 800 years ago. The nave and chancel remain virtually untouched. Today it is isolated sitting amongst the remains of ridge and furrow.

This photograph shows the surviving earthworks surrounding the chapel, which cover an area of around 4 hectares. They include at least five possible building platforms and a number of holloways, ancient tracks that have been worn into the landscape through heavy use. Like Abdon, Heath declined in the later Middle Ages.

The Dissolution of the Monasteries in the sixteenth century resulted in the biggest exchange of ownership since the Norman invasion in 1066. Henry VIII confiscated large tracts of land, which had previously belonged to the abbeys and priories, and shared it out amongst his followers. The result was the creation of new country houses and parks. Often the landlords were more concerned with the appearance of their houses and gardens than the welfare of the local population.

At Shipton, Richard Lutwyche decided to build a new Hall in 1587 replacing an older timber framed house. Lutwyche felt that the view from his house would be improved by demolishing most of the village which was recreated around a new green. This photograph shows the earthworks on the opposite side of the road to the present hall which are all that remain of the old village of Shipton.

The church of St Gregory at Morville, shown here, now stands alone in a field overlooked by the hall. The village which would have surrounded it has been moved and now lies to the north of the church along the road. A new village green was created in the 16th century. All these diversions were to improve the view from the "big house" Morville Hall. The only building the Lord was not allowed to remove was the church.