04 April 2017

Godwick, the deserted Medieval village .....

Godwick is one of the best examples in this country of a deserted Medieval village.  Earthworks of the deserted village and a ruined church tower are still visible showing where the village, which was recorded in the Domesday Book once stood.  The ruined tower is part of All Saints - Godwick's parish church.  Documents suggest there was a church here by 1100.  By the late 16th century All Saints was in ruins and in 1603 it was described as 'decaid long since' (to those who point out my spelling is bad I will just refer them to the Olde English ways of spelling!), probably brought about by a series of bad harvests and wet weather (the ruins that is, not my spelling!).  Godwick parish existed until the early 19th century when it was united with Tittleshall.  Although the Sat Nav brought us straight to Tittleshall, the directions I obtained from the EADT were not quite as precise, and after following the wrong path ... er hum .... we returned to the car park and asked a resident who kindly showed us the path we should have been taking!









The village ran for about half a kilometer along a single street, which today is easy to spot, in sunken form, leading up to the brick and flint church, also earthworks of the boundaries of tofts can be seen.







The tower is not part of the original church, however, it is in the same position and thought to have been built of materials from the old church.....














..... but such a pity the information boards are in need of a good clean as they were difficult to read, although they hold a lot of helpful information.

2 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Your information board is as always clean and proper Cindy! Even with just half a tower remaining it is fascinating to see and you get an image of what it has been once upon a time. I read in Villages of Britain that the word "wick" comes from "dairy farm" and "God" derives from the owner Goda, so it wasn´t God´s farm then..
Thanks Cindy!

xxx Arne

4 April 2017 at 10:28:00 BST

 
Blogger Sage said...

very interesting, especially with Arne information. The tower looks to be spooky even though it isn't very large.

12 April 2017 at 15:47:00 BST

 

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