Upton Cressett medieval settlement facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Upton Cressett medieval settlement |
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Looking east across the site
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| Location | Upton Cressett, Shropshire |
| OS grid reference | SO 657 923 |
| Area | 4.5 hectares (11 acres) |
| Designated | 30 October 2012 |
| Reference no. | 1409739 |
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Upton Cressett medieval settlement is an amazing archaeological site in Shropshire, England. It's what we call a deserted medieval village, meaning it was once a busy village that people left long ago. You can find it right next to the modern village of Upton Cressett, about 3 miles (5 km) west of Bridgnorth.
This site is so important that it's protected as a Scheduled Monument. This means it's a special place that helps us learn about the past.
A Glimpse into the Past
This old village, known as Ultone back then, was first written about in the Domesday Book of 1086. The Domesday Book was a huge survey ordered by William the Conqueror to record everything in England.
For many years, the village belonged to a powerful family called FitzAlan. Later, in the late 1300s, another family, the Cressetts, took over. They became the Lords of Upton through marriage. This is how the village got the "Cressett" part of its name!
Right next to the old settlement, you can still see two very old buildings. There's St Michael's Church, which dates back to the 12th century. It might even be built on the spot of an even older Saxon church. Also nearby is Upton Cressett Hall, a grand house mostly built in the 1400s. It's thought to stand where an even older house once was, surrounded by a moat.
Why Did the Village Disappear?
Have you ever wondered why a whole village would become empty? For Upton Cressett, it might have been because of a deer park.
In 1517, a record called Thomas Wolsey's Inquisition of Enclosures mentioned Upton Cressett Park for the first time. It said that a man named Thomas Cressett had turned 40 acres of farmland into a park for deer.
A map from 1647 clearly shows that the old village site was inside this deer park. This suggests that the villagers might have been asked to leave their homes so the land could be used for hunting and keeping deer.
What Can We See Today?
Even though the village is gone, you can still see its remains! The site covers about 4.5 hectares (about 11 acres) and is east of the church and hall.
You can spot the path of the old main street, which was quite wide and ran towards the southeast. Most of the interesting features are to the southwest of this old street. You can see flat areas where houses once stood, like platforms. There are also other long, narrow shapes in the ground. These might have been small fields or pens for animals.
In the southeast part of the site, there's another less clear old street. It runs at a right angle to the main street. Along this second street, you can still make out more building platforms. One large platform, about 25 meters (82 feet) long and 10 meters (33 feet) wide, might have been a big barn. These "earthworks" are like clues left behind, showing us where people lived and worked centuries ago.
