Holt Fleet
| Holt Fleet | |
|---|---|
 Holt Fleet bridge |
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 Holt Fleet
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| Holt Fleet shown within Worcestershire | |
| OS grid reference | SO823635 |
| Civil parish | |
| District | |
| Shire county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Police | West Mercia |
| Fire | Hereford and Worcester |
| Ambulance | West Midlands |
| EU Parliament | West Midlands |
| UK Parliament |
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Holt Fleet is a village in the Wychavon district of the county of Worcestershire, England. The church is dedicated to St. Martin, and dates from about the 12th century. Holt Bridge, over the River Severn, was designed by Thomas Telford, and opened in 1830.
Holt saw archaeological digs during the 1970s, in advance of gravel extraction. The oldest artefacts recovered were late Neolithic flints and pottery, possibly dating to about 2000 BC. Sherds of burial pottery from the Beaker period (c. 2000–1900 BC) were also found.
The bulk of the archaeological evidence related to the early British Bronze Age (c. 1700–1450 BC) in the form of traces of low barrows and enclosures with associated cremations. No dwellings were identified. In 1844 a bronze axe was found during dredging operations in the River Severn below the site of Holt Lock.
British Iron Age (1500 BC – 40 AD) finds have been scarce, although crop marks indicated farming activity and a rectangular enclosure was partly uncovered. A few pottery sherds from that period have been recovered at other times, along with an iron pin also from the area of Holt Lock.
There is some evidence of Roman occupation in neighbouring Little Witley, Shrawley and Grimley.
Worcestershire has one of the most complete and ancient collections of Anglo-Saxon charters that detail the grants of estates by the church and crown. Wick Episcopi was an area to the north-west of Worcester, roughly bounded by the rivers Severn and Teme and a line through Broadwas, Martley, Wichenford, Little Witley and Shrawley Brook, and thus included present-day Holt. The manors (later parishes) within Wick Episcopi where defined during that period. Beonot league (Bentley in today's Holt parish) was first recognised at that time. Other locations in Holt named in the Wick Episcopi grant of 775 include Heafuchrycg (Ockeridge), Doferic (Shrawley Brook), Saeferne (the Severn) and Baele Broc (Babbling Brook = Grimley Brook). Hallow, in 816, was one of the first single manors to be granted to a tenant lord by the Bishopric of Worcester. Prior to that it had been part of a larger estate, Worgorena league (the clearing of the people of Worcester), which also included Holt. The clearing concerned would have been in the southern portion of the still extensive but retreating Wyre Forest.
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Wikipedia