Untitled - Council for British Archaeology

Apart from the sherds mentioned.aboye the only Saxon material.from
the parish:1:8'4 trefoil-headed brOpth noW in the British Museum (8),. If
the village does,have origins As far back as.thé.Middle'Saxon Period' then
the most likelY site Is the area of.ironstbne:soil underlyingthe present
settlement:
. . .
-
or Saxon site is the cemetery,Mentioned
Another:possible 'prehistoric
by Mastin (p10) He refers to:skeletonsbeing,discovered when,4 windmill
waS erected.in about 1.730. He assuMed that it must bta.chapel site 417
thtugh none of the*unty histérians,Mentions a chapel or.other ecéles-
i4stic41 house at NaSeby. ' It'iS not clear froM Mastin's ittount where
the windmill was; two mounds are possible candidates, one at SP 6852 7932
and a .particùlarly.:fine one'in.a.field of ridgeand-furrow off the Thornby
Road (SP 6862 7716)., Since-the field adjatent,to the latter mOund is -
called Chapei Field it seems,likely that it is Mastin'S,mill .(thename';'
being a back. formation becaùse 'of his:interpretation).
Mastin mentiânS'how he Was unable tb find:any footings or gravestones
(which woùldéertainly,be expetted from A-.Mediev41,buildine, 4nclit seems
likely that-the.site is i prehistoric barrow Or.a.S4xon cemetery..
The village of Naseby 4ppearsto be'a dOuble settlement in that the
southern end is palled Nutcote. There is,no evidence that Nutcote,ever
haciany.independent txistence'ih.termS-Of:Manorial rights'or 4 separate
systemi.the nemeiSnotrecOrded-unti1J630 ,
The Settlements are considerably shrunken, especially Nutéote, where
there are the,usual house.platforms, hollow,ways, property.boundaries,
and fishponds'.(SF 6845 7786 and SP.685'778). The earthWorkS correspond,
clOsely with features marked on:a. map of 1030 and have, been treated in
detail elsewhere (10). Thé area of SUcient inclosure in 1630 includes:
ridge-and-furrow at the north and east of' thevillage, showing.thé ùival
medieval expansion on to-former plOughland. The Hall manor,stood at the
north end.
. .
The open-field system was recoverable with moderate ease:, difficult-.
les were encountered in places because of,19th Century-steam-plough ridgeand-fUrrow
which had obliterated the medieval (a good example of steam
ploughingis at SF.688'787). Parts of thesouthern end' ofthe parish
could not be mapped adequateiy, but from the documentatiOn it is clear
that the area had been ploughed....
The pattern-as a whole is typic4l'of'NorthampteinShire, i.e. 4 completely
,ploughe&landscape apart from meadow and marshy areas which- were
left for pasture (Figure 15). The surviving ridge-and-furrow shows the
usual post-medieval modifications, i.e. there are green ends to the lands.
(double heaps of.soil left by-the Plough)-; rick'plades (flattened areas.
for corn stacks (SP 692 776), and green furroWs (alternate' wide'4n8 narrow
lands). The furlong pattern is ajogical :division of the landscape.
Most of the furlongs are identifiable because the 19th Century postinclosure
field names(11) contain a high.proportion of names identifiable
on the 1630 map and in a series of early Sulby charters at the British'
Library (12).''- They are IiStedin Table 1, 'and prove to be a most.interesting
set..