" The quality of the landscape defies precise definition. It is open, not high-below 300 feet at its highest, and, although reasonably well provided with good buildings, lacking any architectural feature of the very first quality. It seems to me, nevertheless, to have the quality which one recognizes as Englishness. If I had to show a visitor from overseas a scene which epitomized England I should take him not to Buttermere or to the Avon at Stratford but to the church of Belchamp St Paul and point across the rolling, fertile fields to the distant line of the Stour. Here is a landscape busy with the business of producing food. Having no thought for beauty it contrives, by minding its own business, to be very beautiful. "

" This blog accompanies a web page dedicated to the study of Deserted Medieval Settlements. The website was made possible by a generous legacy bequeathed to the University of Hull by Professor Maurice Beresford.

The first launch of the website has concentrated on those settlements identified as being deserted in the seminal publication of 1971, edited by Maurice Beresford and John Hurst entitled ‘Deserted Medieval Villages’. This produced a consolidated list of what were then classed as Deserted Medieval Villages (DMV) in 1968, 2,263 in total. These are villages which appear in documentary sources such as the Domesday Book, medieval tax records and maps, but have since seen a dramatic decline in population to the extent that at some point they have been classed as deserted. The reasons for this desertion are varied, whether from land exhaustion, coastal erosion, a change in land use or the whim of wealthy landowners. Each of the settlements listed as known in 1968 has an individual page which explores a range of datasets for the settlement. In the near future it is hoped that all these sites will also contain a description of the site and links to further sources. For the time being this is only possible for a few counties. The future development of the website hopes to add all the settlements that have been identified since 1968 which will at least double the number of settlements listed. This blog will keep you informed of future developments and updates. The project is based in the Department of History, University of Hull. Project Directors are Dr Helen Fenwick and Professor Michael Turner. Contact dmv@hull.ac.uk Unfortunately the website is currently down (Jan 2023). It is hoped to have it re-instated in the future. Much of the general material from the website can be found on this site – but if you would like to access more detailed information please contact dmv@hull.ac.uk "

" Maurice Warwick Beresford, FBA (6 February 1920 – 15 December 2005) was an English economic historian and archaeologist specialising in the medieval period.
He was Professor of Economic History at the University of Leeds. "

" This is a complex place to understand. More usually referred to as Belchamp St Ethelbert this settlement was close to Belchamp Otten and Belchamp St Paul’s. At one time it was its own parish but all record of this has disappeared. Added confusion about this settlement has crept in with the church at Belchamp Otten being dedicated to St Ethelbert, and this site sometimes referred to as St Albrights. "

" Through the thirteenth and fourteenth century there are references to Belchamp St Ethelbert and Belchamp St Albrights. [1] Rodwell records the church as long ago demolished. [2] However the church is located at a distance (TL 8052 4326) from the grid reference in the 1968 Gazetteer (TL 770 420). As all records point to the former grid reference it has been adopted here. There are reports of pottery and stone work being seen in the area, and the field name on the Tithe Map of the area is Chapel Field. [3] "

" The VCH in its transcription of Domesday Book identified one of the Belchamp records in the lands of Count Eustace in Essex as Belchamp St Ethelbert. [4] However this has not been followed by either the Phillimore edition of the Domesday Book or the English Place-Name Society. [1, 5] "

" There is a lack of documentary evidence supporting a large settlement here and the best that can be suggested at the present time is a deserted hamlet. "

" Appears in the Gazetteer of Deserted Medieval Villages known in 1968. "

References

[1] Reaney, P.H. 1935. The Place-Names of Essex. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 448.
[2] Rodwell, W. 1997. Historic Churches: a Wasting Asset. London: Council for British Archaeology Research Report 19: 15.
[3] NMR Pastscape Record No. 382168.
[4] Round, J.H. 1903. ‘Text of the Essex Domesday’, in H.A. Doubleday and W. Page (eds) A History of the County of Essex. Volume 1: 427-578. London: Archibald Constable & Company.
[5] Rumble, A. 1983. Domesday Book Essex. Chichester: Phillimore.