Untitled - Council for British Archaeology

55
EARTHWORK SURVEY
Much of the ridge and furrow in Milton
Keynes new city has already been planned at
1500, Aa have medieval village sites at Great
Linford, Walton and Woughton on the Green'.
This year the programme of surveying continued
an all the medieval and postmedieval earthworks
witKinthe .city area. Mrs. Charmain.Woodfield
has surveyed extensive earthworks associated
with scheduled Ancient Monument sites at
Loughton, Great Woolstone and Great Linford.
Paul Smith and Julia Bradley are at present
surveying the Tattenhoe D.M.V.
Loughton (Fig.15 )
To the S. of Leys Road and Loughton Brook
an area 250m x 150m is covered with earthworks
of medieval and postmedieval date.
Most prominent are -a scheduled Moat and fishpond
(M28). These are, however, only part of
a complex range of earthworks consisting of
house sites, ponds, leets and enclosures.
House Platforms (marked 'hl on plan)
Seven previously unrecorded building platforms
were surveyed, of these M152 was certainly
of medieval date and a wall of C18th
bricks was found protruding through the turf
of PM33. M152, M101, M108, M159 and M160 all
flank the course of the old Loughton Brook
which was superseded by the modern channel in
the 1930's. These.platforms are all associated
with leets which ran into the brook from
the moat or other earthworks, the presence of
which suggests an industrial use related to
water power.
M152, lay in the path of an access road,
and was surveyed as a possible building. This
was confirmed when the S.W. corner was cut and
a quantity of late medieval pottery was found.
To the S. is a croft enclosed by ditches with
a S. entrance. To the W. a further complex of
ditches (M161) may represent the croft associated
with a building now lost beneath the two
modern bungalows, Nos. 2 and 4 Leys Road.
M101 and M108 both share a croft which runs
S. to the N. bank-of the moat with leets from
the moat on both sides. M159 and M160 share a
croft which includes a later ? (PM735) enc16s-
Ure.
The moat and fishpond would appear to be contemporary
with the building sites, although on
the E. side they appear to overlay ridge and
furrow, which runs under the banks at an angle.
The fishpond was fed in part from the Fountain
Inn and the small stream from that source,
now aulverted underground at the S.W. corner
of the fishpond, continued to run during the
particularly hot summer of 1975. The main
supply of water was at the S.E. corner where
ditches drain a well preserved ridge and furrow
system. There are also indications of .a
sluice or overflow channel running from the
N.W. corner into the W. ditch of the moat. A
i'urther sluice is indicated where the ditch
narrows at the N.W. corner of the moat. At
this point four footpaths meet at a footbridge
and it seems probable that there has been a'
bridge and sluice here for some time.
Post Medieval Earthworks
The large enclosure PM32 overlie's ridge
and furrow running in the same direction as
the long N.S. banks. This probably represents
stock, perhaps lambing,enclosures, constructed
on an amalgamation of strip holdings.
To the west FM33 marks the site of.a cottage,
recalled by old inhabitants of the village,
c.1960, and associated with an apple tree
which still survives.and is shown on the plan.
A County map of 1762 shows two houses on the
S. side of the brook, one of which may be PM
33 since C18th bricks were-found just under
the turf when the platform was surveyed. The
other house was further to the W. in the area
of M159M160.
When bulldozed C17th material was found in
the banks of the pond PM35, and the house
PM34 may be assOciated and of Similar date.
Most of these earthworks remain intact,- only
part of house platform M152 and the pond PM35
were destroyed by the Loughton Valley Trunk
Foul Sewer.
GREAT WOOLSTONE (Fig. 16)
To the S. and W. of Gt. Woolstone church
there are a group of scheduled fishponds situated
in meadowland on the W. bank of the
Ousel. The proximity of the church and the
faint traces of a moat in the same field have
always suggested that this is a potential
manor site.