Leicestershire Deserted Villages and Lost Places

The identification of Deserted Villages and Lost Places in Leicestershire owes much to the pioneering work of William George Hoskins during his time at the University of Leicester.

Hoskins prepared his first list of such places for publication by the Leicestershire Archaeological Society in 1945. This list was updated in his book Essays in Leicestershire History published in 1950. In 1956 he published in the Transactions an account of seven of the key sites, Baggrave, Cold Newton, Great Stretton, Hamilton, Ingarsby, Lowesby and Quenby. He wrote numerous other articles and contributed to the Victoria History of the County of Leicester on the theme of deserted villages. He actively promoted research on them at the university and at part-time courses at the Vaughan Adult College in Leicester.

After Hoskins left Leicester the research work was continued by the Deserted Medieval Village Research Group based at the same university. The group published a list of Leicestershire Deserted Medieval Villages edited by J. G. Hurst and M. W. Beresford, in the Transactions of the Society in 1964. This has long served as the key point of reference for Leicestershire Deserted Medieval Villages.

During the last quarter of the 20th century research was extended to other lost places and earlier research findings were subjected to review. The publication of the Leicestershire volumes in the English Place-Name Society series commenced in 1998 with that on Leicester. The Leicestershire series compiler Barrie Cox also produced a summary of the key place-names in the county in 2005, although the number of lost places included was limited. However, the Leicestershire place-name volumes published so far contain a wealth of information on previously little remarked sites such as Duninc Wicon, a probable Romano-British settlement in Ullesthorpe, and Shirtecoat in Great Bowden which shared its name with locations in several other east Leicestershire parishes.

Place name evidence also identified several lost places with the familiar –by, -thorpe and –ton suffixes. Thus, Canby in Sileby, Brastorp in Ashby de la Zouch which is now represented by Prestop, and Lowton in Humberstone have been added to the list of places that are in some way disguised in the modern landscape. Archaeological excavation, frequently by the University of Leicester is also steadily adding to our knowledge of lost places throughout the county. The university’s continuing annual excavation of the Burrough Hill site has highlighted its long residential history and subsequent decline. The Knave Hill abandoned Saxon settlement which was featured by Time Team on Channel 4 in 2008, also brought greater and wider recognition of the wealth of deserted and lost places in Leicestershire.

...
Wikipedia