Have you ever been told that many villages were deserted in the Medieval period due to the Black Death? Have you read that there are about 3000 deserted villages in England? The story is a little more complex –and involves wealthy landowners, changing environments, sheep, and in a number of cases villages which had never existed in the first place. This talk will consider what is a deserted village, why they became deserted, but will also dig into the history of the study of these interesting sites.
So if you have ever wandered to Wharram Percy – and thought why was a village built here, or spotted ‘site of a deserted medieval village’ on a map – this talk and discussion is for you! Many examples from East Yorkshire will be looked at, as well as venturing further afield.
Dr. Helen Fenwick is Senior Lecturer in Archaeology, and has leading roles in the Medieval Settlement Research Group and the Society for Medieval Archaeology.
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