Britain's Lost Villages

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Sat 20 Nov, 2010 2:05 pm

jim wrote: Btitain's most famous deserted village is Wharram Percy between Malton and Driffield. Forty seasons of excavation have only examined five per cent of the site.A good overview of the topic is "Deserted Villages", Rowley and Wood. It is part of a very interesting series of low priced short introductions on an extremely varied set of subjects published by Shire Books, obtainable over the internet. Remember the thread on overhead and vacuum cash carriers? They have a book devoted to that very subject. £6.99 from their websiteI have found books on amusement machines, quarrying, lead mining, mazes, the salt industry, old gramophones, nailmaking, and chainmaking, amongst a huge range of topics. The Shire site is well worth a look to learn the basics about many of the things you may have wondered about, but thought that the only available books would be too expensive and too heavy (in both senses of the word ) to buy, and that the Wikipedia entry was a little unsatisfying.

biggee99 · Post by **biggee99** » Sat 20 Nov, 2010 4:54 pm

Here are some photos of Wharram percy and railway tunnelhttp://snipurl.com/1hqq6k

Chrism · Post by **Chrism** » Sat 20 Nov, 2010 4:58 pm

Trojan wrote: jim wrote: Btitain's most famous deserted village is Wharram Percy between Malton and Driffield. Forty seasons of excavation have only examined five per cent of the site.A good overview of the topic is "Deserted Villages", Rowley and Wood. It is part of a very interesting series of low priced short introductions on an extremely varied set of subjects published by Shire Books, obtainable over the internet. Remember the thread on overhead and vacuum cash carriers? They have a book devoted to that very subject. £6.99 from their websiteI have found books on amusement machines, quarrying, lead mining, mazes, the salt industry, old gramophones, nailmaking, and chainmaking, amongst a huge range of topics. The Shire site is well worth a look to learn the basics about many of the things you may have wondered about, but thought that the only available books would be too expensive and too heavy (in both senses of the word ) to buy, and that the Wikipedia entry was a little unsatisfying. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be_0zkxbaqg

electricaldave · Post by **electricaldave** » Sat 20 Nov, 2010 6:53 pm

There are many many deserted villages around, you'd be surprised, including one at Harewood House.When the estate was landscaped, the original village was deemed not to be an asset to the vista - so Lord Harewood, in a fit of philanthropy, built the village we know today.Most estate villagers were not so fortunate and were simply evicted.Quite common are shrunk villages, where everyone pretty much left, except perhaps for the central farmholding, and you'll see a farmhouse with outbuildings and even a raod that seems far too substantial - good chance that this is what remains of a much larger settlement.At the top of Greenhow hill there's a village that was built but never occupied, it was a MOD effort and they decided they didn't need it - can't remember why, I suppose technically it isn't deserted, due to its mever being populated.Medieval villages tended to move more than you'd expect, the crummy houses were not very substantial and had to be periodicly rebuilt - so they would do the whole place in one go and move a couple of fields. You'll recognise this phenomenon if you see an old church that seems oddly seperated from a nearby village.Another way of recognising a shrunk village is the size of the church, if you go to Bolton Percy - just a little way South East of Tadcaster, you'll notice that this church (All Saints) is very large considering the size of the village - it has been dubbed the 'Bolton Percy Cathedral' and there is simply no way that the current village could have afforded or supported it. This village shrunk away dramatically during the 20thC, but it was already on the decline by the start of it. The growth of commuterdom has saved it and may other villages like it from dissapearing altogether.

Post by **chameleon** » Sat 20 Nov, 2010 7:29 pm

biggee99 wrote: Here are some photos of Wharram percy and railway tunnelhttp://www.flickr.com/photos/24568668@N04/sets ... 665936563/ Copy and Paste to view!

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Sat 20 Nov, 2010 7:47 pm

electricaldave wrote: There are many many deserted villages around, you'd be surprised, including one at Harewood House.When the estate was landscaped, the original village was deemed not to be an asset to the vista - so Lord Harewood, in a fit of philanthropy, built the village we know today.Most estate villagers were not so fortunate and were simply evicted.Quite common are shrunk villages, where everyone pretty much left, except perhaps for the central farmholding, and you'll see a farmhouse with outbuildings and even a raod that seems far too substantial - good chance that this is what remains of a much larger settlement.At the top of Greenhow hill there's a village that was built but never occupied, it was a MOD effort and they decided they didn't need it - can't remember why, I suppose technically it isn't deserted, due to its mever being populated.Medieval villages tended to move more than you'd expect, the crummy houses were not very substantial and had to be periodicly rebuilt - so they would do the whole place in one go and move a couple of fields. You'll recognise this phenomenon if you see an old church that seems oddly seperated from a nearby village.Another way of recognising a shrunk village is the size of the church, if you go to Bolton Percy - just a little way South East of Tadcaster, you'll notice that this church (All Saints) is very large considering the size of the village - it has been dubbed the 'Bolton Percy Cathedral' and there is simply no way that the current village could have afforded or supported it. This village shrunk away dramatically during the 20thC, but it was already on the decline by the start of it. The growth of commuterdom has saved it and may other villages like it from dissapearing altogether. You state electricaldave "At the top of Greenhow hill there's a village that was built but never occupied, it was a MOD effort and they decided they didn't need it - can't remember why, I suppose technically it isn't deserted, due to its mever being populated". That intriques me as I thought I knew Greenhow Hill but I clearly do not, as I did not know about that. Assuming it is not an MOD "secret" and so you cannot divulge exactly where it is at Greenhow I would be grateful if you could be more precise as to the location. You mention of the lost village at Harewood reminded me that I seem to recall reading that in the Harewood Estate traces of a lost settlement were found some years back in a wooded area near to Herd Farm (near Eccup Waterworks) but that it is on private land so access is not permitted (though there may be little if anything to obviously see).

Trojan · Post by **Trojan** » Sat 20 Nov, 2010 9:57 pm

Leodian wrote: electricaldave wrote: There are many many deserted villages around, you'd be surprised, including one at Harewood House.When the estate was landscaped, the original village was deemed not to be an asset to the vista - so Lord Harewood, in a fit of philanthropy, built the village we know today.Most estate villagers were not so fortunate and were simply evicted.Quite common are shrunk villages, where everyone pretty much left, except perhaps for the central farmholding, and you'll see a farmhouse with outbuildings and even a raod that seems far too substantial - good chance that this is what remains of a much larger settlement.At the top of Greenhow hill there's a village that was built but never occupied, it was a MOD effort and they decided they didn't need it - can't remember why, I suppose technically it isn't deserted, due to its mever being populated.Medieval villages tended to move more than you'd expect, the crummy houses were not very substantial and had to be periodicly rebuilt - so they would do the whole place in one go and move a couple of fields. You'll recognise this phenomenon if you see an old church that seems oddly seperated from a nearby village.Another way of recognising a shrunk village is the size of the church, if you go to Bolton Percy - just a little way South East of Tadcaster, you'll notice that this church (All Saints) is very large considering the size of the village - it has been dubbed the 'Bolton Percy Cathedral' and there is simply no way that the current village could have afforded or supported it. This village shrunk away dramatically during the 20thC, but it was already on the decline by the start of it. The growth of commuterdom has saved it and may other villages like it from dissapearing altogether. You state electricaldave "At the top of Greenhow hill there's a village that was built but never occupied, it was a MOD effort and they decided they didn't need it - can't remember why, I suppose technically it isn't deserted, due to its mever being populated". That intriques me as I thought I knew Greenhow Hill but I clearly do not, as I did not know about that. Assuming it is not an MOD "secret" and so you cannot divulge exactly where it is at Greenhow I would be grateful if you could be more precise as to the location. You mention of the lost village at Harewood reminded me that I seem to recall reading that in the Harewood Estate traces of a lost settlement were found some years back in a wooded area near to Herd Farm (near Eccup Waterworks) but that it is on private land so access is not permitted (though there may be little if anything to obviously see). There's certainly a quarry at the top of Greenhow Hill. I was once drivng a truck up there, I looked down and could see jet planes flying below me

The Parksider · Post by **The Parksider** » Sat 20 Nov, 2010 10:05 pm

Leodian wrote: At the top of Greenhow hill there's a village that was built but never occupied, it was a MOD effort and they decided they didn't need it - can't remember why, I suppose technically it isn't deserted, due to its never being populated. Greenhow hill is the center of lead mining in the southern dales along with Grassington.Probably around 1860 -80 the village was populated by hundreds of people, today it has the odd person here and there.....only there because they are staying out of the way of living in Leeds...

Leodian · Post by **Leodian** » Sat 20 Nov, 2010 10:31 pm

The Parksider wrote: Leodian wrote: At the top of Greenhow hill there's a village that was built but never occupied, it was a MOD effort and they decided they didn't need it - can't remember why, I suppose technically it isn't deserted, due to its never being populated. Greenhow hill is the center of lead mining in the southern dales along with Grassington.Probably around 1860 -80 the village was populated by hundreds of people, today it has the odd person here and there.....only there because they are staying out of the way of living in Leeds... You have not made it clear The Parksider that I did not make that quote about the MOD village but that it is from another person, as I was querying the information it said. I have no knowledge of a "lost" MOD village at Greenhow Hill and would be most interested to know exactly where it is. There is a huge Coldstones Quarry (run by Hanson I think) and a long abandoned Duck Street quarry at the junction of the road from Thruscross near where it joins the road from Pateley Bridge to Grassington. The Greenhow area is of course riddled with old lead mine workings.

Brandy · Post by **Brandy** » Sat 20 Nov, 2010 10:43 pm

Magic maps is a great little site for searching/researching areas.http://snipurl.com/1hqrdk