Ancient "lost" villages of Huntingdonshire

ANCIENT VILLAGE SITES

[Class H]

COLNE

In the angle formed by the junction of the Cranbrook with the Old West Water, near the road leading from Somersham to Chatteris, a grass field is intersected with numerous shallow trenches ranging from 1  ft. 6 in. to 2 ft. deep, which seem to indicate the site of a British village of the Roman period. 1  There are several circular mounds about 35 ft. diameter and 1 ft. high, with trenches partly surrounding them and depressions 2 ft. 6 in. deep in the middle.

Crop marks indicate the "Lost" village near Colne

Some of these earthworks extended into the adjoining grass field on the west.  The fields to the north of those in which the earthworks are situated lie at a rather lower level, and where the two abut against each other the sloping bank of the higher field is cut away in places to form what appear to be docks or boat slips.  In one place the ground between two of these docks has the appearance of a well-developed quay, standing 3 ft. above the level of the lower field.

WASHINGLEY

There also appears to be another "lost" medieval village at Washingley, near Folksworth. There does not appear to be much information available other than the record on the Ordnance Survey Map

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland

EYNESBURY HARDWICK, Weald Village

Another deserted or "lost" medieval village appears on the Ordnance Survey map between Croxton and St. Neots.

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland

EYNESBURY HARDWICK, Wintringham

A few miles to the west of Weald Village (above) is the deserted medieval village of Wintringham.

Image produced from the Ordnance Survey Get-a-map service. Image reproduced with kind permission of Ordnance Survey and Ordnance Survey of Northern Ireland

Footnotes

1. Similar works are described by Mr. A. Hadrian Allcroft, in his Earthworks of England (1908) pp. 261-264. On p. 558 he mentions these earthworks as being in Somersham. Mr C. F. Tebbutt has kindly placed at the writer’s disposal a careful plan he made of these earthworks.