List of lost settlements in Hertfordshire

Where current settlements are listed they are not the same as the disappeared villages. For example, Stevenage relocated to be closer to the Great North Road, abandoning the previous Stevenage.

Village[1] Parish or Hundred Coordinates
Aldwick Tring 51.848959°N 0.704143°W / 51.848959; -0.704143 (Aldwick)
Alfledawich (Beauchamps) Layston with Buntingford 51.963885°N 0.012495°E / 51.963885; 0.012495 (Alfledawich)
Alswick Layston with Buntingford 51.94696°N 0.003006°W / 51.94696; -0.003006 (Alswick)
Aspenden II Aspenden 51.941379°N 0.039441°W / 51.941379; -0.039441 (Aspenden II)
Ayot St Lawrence Ayot St Lawrence 51.837921°N 0.266054°W / 51.837921; -0.266054 (Ayot St Lawrence)
Ayot St Peter Ayot St Peter 51.820325°N 0.231902°W / 51.820325; -0.231902 (Ayot St Peter)
Berkeden (Berkesdon Green) Aspenden 51.930885°N 0.057355°W / 51.930885; -0.057355 (Berkeden)
Betlow Tring 51.846182°N 0.696963°W / 51.846182; -0.696963 (Betlow)
Bordesden (Bozen Green) Braughing 51.925389°N 0.05441°W / 51.925389; -0.05441 (Bordesden)
Boxbury Walkern 51.923328°N 0.146406°W / 51.923328; -0.146406 (Boxbury)
Bricewold Hertford Hundred Unlocated
Brickendon Brickendon 51.777329°N 0.071208°W / 51.777329; -0.071208 (Brickendon)
Broadfield Cottered 51.961679°N 0.070581°W / 51.961679; -0.070581 (Broadfield)
Broadmead Tring 51.848959°N 0.704143°W / 51.848959; -0.704143 (Broadmead)
Burston St Stephens 51.720505°N 0.355979°W / 51.720505; -0.355979 (Burston)
Caldecote Caldecote 52.031112°N 0.195896°W / 52.031112; -0.195896 (Caldecote)
Chaldean Much Hadham 51.864903°N 0.067632°E / 51.864903; 0.067632 (Chaldean)
Chesfield Graveley 51.934724°N 0.185217°W / 51.934724; -0.185217 (Chesfield)
Childwick St. Michaels, St. Albans 51.783302°N 0.344997°W / 51.783302; -0.344997 (Childwick)
Cockenach Barkway 51.952752°N 0.032373°E / 51.952752; 0.032373 (Cockenach)
Cockhamsted Braughing 51.908138°N 0.063801°E / 51.908138; 0.063801 (Cockhamsted)
Corney Bury Wyddial 51.958186°N 0.022695°W / 51.958186; -0.022695 (Corney Bury)
Digswell Digswell 51.819031°N 0.205833°W / 51.819031; -0.205833 (Digswell)
Flaunden Flaunden 51.699853°N 0.529232°W / 51.699853; -0.529232 (Flaunden)
Flexmere Kings Walden 51.887905°N 0.301917°W / 51.887905; -0.301917 (Flexmere)
Gilston Gilston 51.801564°N 0.089392°E / 51.801564; 0.089392 (Gilston)
Great Munden Great Munden 51.900746°N 0.02958°W / 51.900746; -0.02958 (Great Munden)
Gubblecote Tring 51.828074°N 0.685876°W / 51.828074; -0.685876 (Gubblecote)
Hainstone Odsey Hundred (? near Hinxworth) Unlocated
Hanstead St Stephens 51.702366°N 0.345057°W / 51.702366; -0.345057 (Hanstead)
Hixham Furneux Pelham 51.920713°N 0.115284°E / 51.920713; 0.115284 (Hixham)
Hodenhoe Therfield 51.982742°N 0.039091°W / 51.982742; -0.039091 (Hodenhoe)
Ichetone (Layston) Layston with Buntingford 51.951601°N 0.00552°W / 51.951601; -0.00552 (Ichetone)
Kitts End South Mymms 51.671284°N 0.201927°W / 51.671284; -0.201927 (Kitts End)
Lewarewich (Leverage) Much Hadham/Widford near 51.828651°N 0.083388°E / 51.828651; 0.083388 (Lewarewich)
Libury (Stutereshele) Little Munden 51.893799°N 0.04442°W / 51.893799; -0.04442 (Libury)
Mardley Welwyn 51.850872°N 0.171167°W / 51.850872; -0.171167 (Mardley)
Maydencroft (Furnival Dinsley) St Ippolyts 51.932549°N 0.279865°W / 51.932549; -0.279865 (Maydencroft)
Minsden Langley 51.907041°N 0.257577°W / 51.907041; -0.257577 (Minsden)
Miswell Tring 51.799193°N 0.676563°W / 51.799193; -0.676563 (Miswell)
Moor Green Ardeley 51.922232°N 0.078092°W / 51.922232; -0.078092 (Moor Green)
Napsbury St. Peter Rural 51.725283°N 0.312363°W / 51.725283; -0.312363 (Napsbury)
Nettleden II Nettleden 51.783035°N 0.527696°W / 51.783035; -0.527696 (Nettleden II)
Newsells Barkway 52.015905°N 0.02066°E / 52.015905; 0.02066 (Newsells)
North Mymms North Mymms 51.725866°N 0.229798°W / 51.725866; -0.229798 (North Mymms)
Oxwich Broadwater Hundred near Codicote
Pendley Tring 51.795965°N 0.630247°W / 51.795965; -0.630247 (Pendley)
Plashes Standon 51.864137°N 0.008039°E / 51.864137; 0.008039 (Plashes)
Queenhoo Tewin 51.829769°N 0.144445°W / 51.829769; -0.144445 (Queenhoo)
Quickswood Clothall 51.978956°N 0.138285°W / 51.978956; -0.138285 (Quickswood)
Rodenhanger Norton 51.989472°N 0.208944°W / 51.989472; -0.208944 (Rodenhanger)
Sapeham Edwinstree Hundred Unlocated
Stagenhoe St Paul's Walden 51.890221°N 0.275669°W / 51.890221; -0.275669 (Stagenhoe)
Stanstead Abbots Stanstead Abbots 51.780139°N 0.028955°E / 51.780139; 0.028955 (Stanstead Abbots)
Stevenage Stevenage 51.920501°N 0.195972°W / 51.920501; -0.195972 (Stevenage)
Stivicesworde Hertford Hundred Unlocated
Stocks Aldbury 51.810041°N 0.603707°W / 51.810041; -0.603707 (Stocks)
Stonebury Little Hormead 51.935079°N 0.014116°E / 51.935079; 0.014116 (Stonebury)
Temple Dinsley Preston 51.90918°N 0.280758°W / 51.90918; -0.280758 (Temple Dinsley)
Thorley Thorley 51.848249°N 0.14383°E / 51.848249; 0.14383 (Thorley)
Throcking Throcking 51.955101°N 0.053397°W / 51.955101; -0.053397 (Throcking)
Thundridge Thundridge 51.839319°N 0.013391°W / 51.839319; -0.013391 (Thundridge)
Tiscott Tring 51.851799°N 0.71713°W / 51.851799; -0.71713 (Tiscott)
Titburst (Theobald Street) Aldenham
Wakeley Westmill 51.924426°N 0.047452°W / 51.924426; -0.047452 (Wakeley)
Wandon St Paul's Walden 51.889547°N 0.354176°W / 51.889547; -0.354176 (Wandon)
Wellbury Offley 51.954956°N 0.337227°W / 51.954956; -0.337227 (Wellbury)
Welei (Wain Wood) Hitchin Half-Hundred (in Ippollitts) Unlocated
Wickham Bishops Stortford 51.886016°N 0.144174°E / 51.886016; 0.144174 (Wickham)
Windridge St. Michaels, St. Albans 51.738684°N 0.369804°W / 51.738684; -0.369804 (Windridge)
Wollenwick (Woolwicks) Stevenage 51.912811°N 0.222455°W / 51.912811; -0.222455 (Wollenwick)

Reasons for desertion
  • Climatic change - several calamitous harvests from 1272 on, the end of the Medieval Warm Period followed by a persistently wetter and cooler climate from 1300, and disastrous years in 1317-9. Great variability in the weather, notably the seven-day storm of January 1362.
  • Agrarian blight - land that had previously been the most fertile (especially toward the north-east of the county) had been overfarmed. The rise of grain prices following climatic change led to a preference for arable farming over stock. Stock levels also fell due to murrain. The consequent lack of manure from stock let to the land's fertility declining. See Great Famine of 1315-1317 and the List of famines.
  • Black Death (1348-9)
  • Migration - village relocates to be nearer major road in order to exploit passing trade, as Stevenage did in regard to the Great North Road. The new location positioned it to be an obvious choice for the core of one of the country's first new towns.
  • Pasture - the switch to pasture, exemplified by the enclosures, required less manpower, leading to the decline of village life.
  • Landscaping - village destroyed or relocated to create parkland for a noble's house. Pendley, destroyed soon after 1440 for Sir Robert Whittingham. Kitts End was incorporated in the Byng (Viscount Torrington) family's Wrotham Park estate in the 19th century having dwindled after the construction of a new Barnet - Ridge Hill road in 1826.
  • Urban growth - the growth of Baldock, Buntingford, Royston, St Albans and others with markets or monastic premises seems to have sucked the life from several villages nearby.

References
  1. The Deserted Medieval Villages Of Hertfordshire 2nd Ed 1982- K. Rutherford Davis ISBN 0-901354-23-6
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.