Archenfield Archaeology conducted an archaeological evaluation in advance of an agricultural building development at Wharton Court Farm, Leominster, Herefordshire.  The area of the development was in a field immediately to the north of Wharton Court, an early 17^th century Grade II* listed building. Wharton Court Farm lies just off the A49, 2 miles south of Leominster and 10 miles north of Hereford.

The site lies on the flood plain of the River Lugg. Beneath the drift, the solid geology of area consists of beds of the Lower Old Red Sandstone including Downtonian (British Geological Survey Ten Mile Map, third edition (solid) 1979).  At the time of the field project, the area had most recently been used for potato growing. The mean height of the surface of the field was 68.3 OD.

Historical Background

Wharton was historically a township within the parish of Leominster.  It is within the Leominster civil parish but an ecclesiastic parish of Ivington was created in 1844 to encompass the local townships of Ivington, Brierley, Wharton and part of Cholstrey. 

Wharton is Wavertune in Domesday, Wavertuna in c.1160 and Warton in 1599.  The name appears to mean a ‘settlement by something wavering’ but the significance of this is unknown (Coplestone-Crow, 1989).

In Domesday Wavertune was part of the king’s lands and was held in chief by William of Ecuis.  It appears to have originally been part of the property of Leominster Abbey which had fallen to the crown, or more specifically Queen Edith, after the abbey had been dissolved in 1049 and had subsequently been held by Wulfward.

It had one hide in lordship with 2 ploughs, one cottar with ½ plough and four bordars.  Its value in 1066 and 1086 was 20s.

The original foundation of the abbey at Leominster was by Merewald, King of the Magonsaete in 660 AD.  Merewald endowed his new foundation with estates in the surrounding area and Wharton probably formed part of this endowment. 

The pre-Norman abbey at Leominster was dissolved following the scandal arising from seduction of the Abbess, Edgiva, by Earl Swein.  Swein was the eldest of the sons of Earl Godwine and the brother-in-Law of King Edward the Confessor.  The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle text C (the Abingdon Chronicle), which tends to place the worst interpretation on the deeds of the house of Godwine, says that ‘he ordered the abbess of Leominster to be brought to him and kept her as long as it suited him, and then he let her go home’.   There are other versions, and it is also recounted that Swein abandoned his earldom because he was not permitted to marry the woman.

The abbess herself seems to be pensioned off with one of the abbey’s other manors, Fencote, which she held of the king in 1086.  There is an irony in the properties of the abbey being in the hands of the Queen Edith as a result of misconduct by her brother but the dissolution of a religious house because of the behaviour of its head seems a somewhat severe reaction.

In 1123 Henry I re-founded Reading Abbey, and at this time Leominster too was re-established, this time as a priory and a daughter house to Reading.  Manors which had previously been confiscated were returned, and among them was Wharton - Wavertuna.

The manor seems to have remained with Leominster Priory until its dissolution in 1539 when John Glover, the last Prior, and the other monks, were turned out.

In 1799, the then landowner, George Capel Coningsby, Earl of Essex, leased Wharton-Court-ffarm to John and Edward Yeld.  The property at this time consisted of 267 acres (108.135 ha).  By 1838 the owner was John Arkwright who had acquired it, together with the Great Coningsby house at nearby Hampton Court.  The occupier was Edward Hodges who farmed a total of 230 acres (93.15 ha).

An extract from the 1849 tithe map.  The field investigated by the project was number 1206.  It was known as Great Orchard although it was described as being under grass rather than orchard.

In 1879, Thomas Meredith, farmer, was listed in the commercial section of Kelly’s Directory as the occupant of Wharton Court.  The 1895 directory lists, this time in the private resident’s section, the Misses Meredith at Wharton Court.  By 1905 the property had moved firmly back into the commercial area with the entry Partridge, Arthur, farmer and hop grower, Court Farm, Wharton.

Wharton Court itself is a Grade II* listed building.  The Royal Commission on Historic Monuments entry for Wharton Court records the house as being built in 1604 by Richard Whitehall, and also gives the date of the barns to the north west of the house as 17^th century.  This Jacobean house had a porch added in 1659 (Pevsner).  A moat lies some 70 yards to the east of the house and has a small rectangular island enclosed within it.

Archaeological Background

Leominster was archaeologically assessed in 1996 (Buteux).  This survey covered the area of the historic borough but not that of the outlying members, of which Wharton is one. Medieval pottery has been found at Wharton Court but this only amounted to two sherds of unglazed cooking pot.

The small rectangular water-filled feature to the south-west of the farm is identified as a moat on Ordnance Survey maps.  It has been suggested that this is a duck decoy (reported in Shoesmith, 1996).  It seems likely to be some sort of water-garden associated with the house.

In the field immediately south of the farm, and adjacent to the 'moat', an extensive complex of well defined earthworks were recorded in 1983 (Mills, 1983). These were fairly substantial features which included two definite and several probable house platforms, together with hollow-ways.  Probing with metal rods disclosed that the two definite house platforms had stone footings along their edges.  The whole cluster was strongly suggestive of a deserted medieval village.

To the west of Wharton Court the present small settlement of Wharton itself contains four 17^th century houses, three of which are Grade II listed buildings.

Neither archaeological structures nor artefacts were found during the excavation and cartographic evidence suggests the probability that the area was part of the open strip fields of Wharton until the early 19^th century.

The three trenches examined in 2001.

Conclusions

The lack of archaeological features or deposits and the absence of artefacts suggest that this area had always been fields.  The plan, which accompanied the transfer of lands between Brasenose College and Arkwright in the early 19^th century, supports the interpretation that this was still true at that time.

The sinuous plots shown on the plan indicate medieval field strips.  The boundaries shown on the tithe map (above) are superimposed upon this older pattern.  The road too, is post- medieval and seems to cut the later field boundaries, although less obviously than it does the medieval ones.

At the time of the tithe map the name of the field investigated by this project was Great Orchard.  This must indicate a previous use as the use is given as 'grass'.

In the early 1850s the Abergavenny, Hereford and Shrewsbury Railway bisected the early 19^th century field and it was reduced in size still further by the construction of the Leominster By-pass on the A49 which opened in 1989.

The field strips suggest arable use in the late medieval period.  Local produce in the post medieval period may have included flax.  This was such a notable crop that dubious etymology linked it to the place-name Leominster - linum - flax.  Leominster wheat too, was highly valued and the hamlet would certainly have grown that.  Above all, would have been the sheep.  The value of Leominster wool - Lemster Ore was the highest in England and sheep would certainly have been fed in the area.

This plan shows the property boundaries in early 19^th century.  The River Lugg is at the bottom.  Above, the sinuous strips are typical of medieval field systems.

The recorded earthworks to the south of the 17^th century Wharton Court must represent the likely location of the Domesday hamlet with its one cottar and four bordars.  The present hamlet of Wharton lies to the west on the old main road between Hereford and Leominster (now superseded by the new Leominster by-pass).  This small settlement, with its group of 17^th century cottages, may be the result of re-location of Wharton at the same time as the house was built.

The evidence taken together - the earthworks of the medieval hamlet, the field strips shown on the 18^th century map, illustrate at least some of the components of the local medieval landscape.

The area of the development was part of the open fields of the medieval township of Wharton, which was probably a manor of the religious house at Leominster for most of its history, the Domesday survey taking place in a relatively brief period when it was in other hands.

The area of the evaluation was to become a mushroom growing unit.  This is only the most recent evolution of a long process of agricultural usage of this piece of land.  The medieval strip fields became enclosed and re-allocated.  Then roads and railways bisected the enclosed fields.  The crops too changed – the last crop that had been grown on the field as it existed in February 2001 was potato.  This root would have been virtually unknown until comparatively recently.

Elements of the medieval hamlet of Wharton. The areas coloured green show the positions of the fields exchanged between Brasenose College and Richard Arkwright.  The blue dotted lines show the boundaries of fields shown on the tithe map. The plan of the medieval earthworks south of Wharton Court is taken from an unpublished survey (Mills, 1983).