Tuesday, May 13, 2014

A Giant Monolith and a Deserted Village

We decided to visit the deserted medieval village of Wharram Percy on our journey home. We'd highlighted three places on the map that we would like to visit on our journey in and out to the Yorkshire coast. They were the Norman Manor House at Burton Agnes, featured in a previous post, the Giant Monolith at Rudston and Wharram Percy.  We'd visited the Norman Manor House so there were just the other two to tick off the list.  We packed our bags and loaded the car for the journey home before having a last walk along the beach and through the town. 


 

It was a very misty, murky day and visibility wasn't great but we decided to head out towards to the village of Rudston and then on to the deserted village anyway.

The monolith stands in the churchyard in the village of Rudston and at 25ft high is apparently the tallest monolith in the UK.Apparently it is capped in lead because at some point the top piece broke off - it used to be 28ft high.


 In the 18th century Sir William Strickland carried out extensive experiments which concluded that there was just as much of the stone underground as there is above ground. This doesn't ring true somehow but many skulls were found during excavations and imprints of dinosaur feet on the megalith would suggest that it was always a site of great ceremonial importance and of worship - hence the church being built on the site in the 12th century.

Then it was on to find the deserted medieval village of Wharram Percy.  I'd heard about this place over the years but had never visited.  It was still very damp and murky as we set out along the path towards the site.  The walk is about three quarters of a mile and not too bad underfoot although there are slippy slopes in places.  It passes over the Wolds Way about two thirds of the way along.


As we crossed a small stile and bridge and walked towards the sign above many walkers and dog walkers were using the Wolds Way path.

As you approach the village  you can see the lumps and bumps in the ground up the bank side.  Unfortunately a farmer was re-seeding the land up above for cattle feed so we couldn't go up and look down on the scene.  The photo above shows the remains 18th century 'improvement' farm built by landowner Sir Charles Buck.

  A few stone and brick cottages were built for the farm workers and the outlines of the remains of both the cottages and farm house can be seen alongside the remaining building which is the former byre and feed store.  These were turned into small cottages to house the archaeologists who worked on the extensive excavations of the medieval village which took place over 40 years from 1950 to 1990. 

The drawing above shows what the village may have looked like in the 13th century.  Contrary to general belief it wasn't the Black Death which wiped out the village although there were considerable population losses at that time.  The village survived until the late 15th century when much of the area was converted to sheep pasture.  The final four families were evicted during the years 1488 to 1508.  



The church of St Martin's was rebuilt in the 12th century, enlarged during the 13th and 14h centuries and then reduced in size during the late15th, early 16th century when the village was deserted. 

 The church continued to be used as a parish church by neighbouring villages.  The gravestones in the churchyard date from the 18th and 19th centuries.

The mist was rolling and the rain was settling in so after we'd had a look inside the ruined church we turned back along the path back to the car park.  I think I would like to visit again one day preferably on a guided visit so I can learn more and interpret what can be seen more easily because it is such a fascinating place.

 Wharram Percy is on of the most intensely researched deserted villages in England in one of the most tranquil of places.  It is hard to remember that this was once a busy and thriving community.  It was easy to imagine that amongst the sounds of the birdsong, the farmer's tractor and the planes passing overhead I could hear the distant echoes of people as they went about their daily lives here.

22 comments:

  1. What a lovely, interesting place! Ingtrigued by the monolith!x

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    1. Thanks, the monolith is fascinating, Kezzie.

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  2. I absolutely love this kind of place. Deserted, romantic, full of history. How fortunate we are to be able to visit these places! I agree Rosie, a guided tour can give further insight into a place. My ideal guide would be Michael Wood - he is excellent at bringing history to life:-)

    Jeanne
    x

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    1. Michael Wood would be the ideal guide wouldn't he? It is a very lovely place:)

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  3. It looks like a very interesting place to visit with a fascinating history. The megalith is pretty amazing, and would have indeed needed a massive hole if there was as much in the ground as it is high! xx

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    1. It would need a sizeable depth down for it not to topple over - I guess it must be over 15ft down at least:)

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  4. Very interesting and I enjoyed the photos. Wharram Percy is on my 'to visit one day' list!

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    1. You would love it Louise especially if you combined it with a walk on the Wolds Way, too:)

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  5. This is a great post for me because I used to live not too far from Rudston and was quite a regular visitor when I was young. (I've always been fascinated by such stuff.) And I visited Wharram Percy a few years ago and sat in the ruined church sketching that central window in your montage! I chose that subject because when we went it was a blazing hot day and it was one of the few places with any shelter from the sun!

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    1. Yes, there is very little shleter from both the sun and the rain. I wish I could draw and sketch like that - I thought the windows were amazing:)

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  6. The deserted village sounds fascinating. I do so wish I could go back in time just for a while to get a feeling for the sights, sounds and smells of yesteryear. (Although, not London during the plague!) x

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    1. Definitely not London during the plague or the fire for that matter or any battle sites either. It would be great to just see everyday life - how people used to live, work, cook and eat and hear their voices and music:)

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  7. The deserted villages are mysterious and enigmatic and the monolith contributes to the mistic atmosphere. In a rainy, misty day is easy to dream with other times, other people who were living, growing and dying there, and we ask: what happend to them? Why is a beautiful village abandoned?

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    1. I'm afraid that the village was deserted because of the land owner's commercialism and the changing landscape. It was a very mystical place that made you think about how people lived and worked hundreds of years ago:)

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  8. How fascinating it was a fair sized placed - I presume it was the enclosures act that did for it. I have never heard of Wharram Percy before but will certainly look it up now. Really enjoyed this post Rosie.

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    1. It was cleared many years before th enclosures but I expect the later settlements were affected by them. I hope you enjoy looking the village up as it has a fascinating history:)

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  9. I'm catching up on your posts, Rosie. You certainly have visited some fascinating places during your time away. Rudston rang a bell and I suddenly realised why - it's the birthplace of Winifred Holtby, the novelist isn't it? The walk to the deserted village of Wharram Percy must have been a memorable experience.

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    1. You are right, Linda! Winifred Holty is buried in the churchyard and there is a memorial in the church which we didn't see as it was closed at the time we were there. A reason to go back again perhaps?:)

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  10. I've never been here but it is on my list. My son went on a school trip here once and told me all about it when he got home - except I think he got the wrong end of the stick! When I asked what had made the villagers disappear, he said that they were all killed by the sheep!!!

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    1. You did make me laugh, Diane! He really did get hold of the wrong end of the stick didn't he? Although the consequences of losing hearth and home could have eventually led to the downfall and demise of a few of them perhaps? It is hard to imagine and quite sad really isn't it?:)

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  11. That monolith is huge! How interesting. I'd love to see the village one day.Mx

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    1. It was huge! We expected to find it in a field and were surprised to see it in a churchyard:)

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