This archaeological evaluation was in the grounds of a house known as Parkfields,  in an area to the south of the early 17^th century house. 

The Parkfields property has been identified as being part of the early medieval churchyard component of Weobley, and there is some evidence to suggest that the lane that separates the property from the churchyard did not exist in the 16th century.  A strip of ground along the eastern edge of the property has been identified as the site of an eastern defensive bank around Weobley and was investigated by excavation in 1982.  This excavation, 45 metres north-east of the present site, produced some evidence of a bank to the west of the feature, which forms the eastern boundary of the property and was known as the ‘Town Ditch’ in the 16th century.  It also produced quantities of pottery of a later medieval date.  The report of this excavation, previously unpublished, forms an appendix to the report by Archenfield Archaeology. The area of the church, including Parkfields, seems to have formed the core of Weobley prior to the construction of the castle and the founding of the borough.  The lane to the north of the property seems to have originally been part of the road from the village of Dilwyn, to the north-east and is referred to as the ‘Queen’s Highway’ in 1698. 

Parkfields is a timber framed house of two bays aligned north to south, which has been dated to around 1625 and takes its name from the adjacent Parkfields, one of the open fields of Weobley.  The property is first identified as a separate unit in 1598 when Lancelot Kinsley, the first vicar of Weobley not appointed by Llanthony, sold it for £10 to Robert Davies of Weobley, Yeoman.  At the time it was described as pasture or arable land, bounded to the east by the Town Ditch and Parkfield, to the west by Weobley churchyard, to the south by land of Thomas Blyther, and to the north by the Queen’s highway.  The house seems to have been built shortly after the purchase, for in Robert Davies Will, dated 9^th July 1625, his bequests include that of ‘my house on the right hand side of the church with lands belonging’ to his wife, Anne.

In 1732 Joseph Rowlands, a shoemaker, owned the property.  In the late 1740s it became one of a large number of Weobley properties acquired by Mansell Powell, who was acting surreptitiously for the Thynne family, Viscounts Weymouth and subsequently Marquises of Bath.  It was part of a batch conveyance to Lord Bath in 1748/9 (Norman Haynes - pers comm) and was part of the process of turning Weobley into a pocket borough of the Thynnes.  In the 18^th century and in the 1839 tithe apportionment was in the occupancy of John Jones.  On 5^th August 1876 it was one of a number of the Marquis’s properties auctioned at the Salutation Inn in Weobley.  Described as a house, garden and paddock, it was in the occupancy of James Jones.

It was within this context that two 5.0 metre by 2.0 metre trenches were excavated to coincide with the centre of the site of the proposed dwelling and the associated garage.  The only feature discovered was a shallow gully running north-south across the cutting measuring 0.4 – 0.45m across and 0.1m deep. Other than 19th century pottery from the topsoil, no artefacts were recovered from either cutting. The gully, while not substantial, may just possibly be associated with a pre-Norman core of Weobley which is likely to have been in this area. To the east of the site, the feature known as the ‘Town Ditch’ may be associated with the Domesday park at Weobley rather than with any defensive system.

Reporting

Unpublished Report – Parkfields, Weobley, Herefordshire: an archaeological evaluation - Huw Sherlock and P J Pikes, 2001. 

This report is available at the Archaeological Data Service site

To view or download the report click here

A copy of this report is held in the reference section of Hereford City Library