Medieval Village & Deer Park of Childerley. Boxworth to Childerley Pipeline.

During the Autumn of 1991 an archaeological recording brief was undertaken by Cambridgeshire County Council Archaeology Section for Cambridge Water Company. The project involved the recording of a pipe-line running between High Barns in the parish of Boxworth and Grove Park in the parish of Childerley.

Two areas of disturbance were to be monitored; the deer park boundary on the parish border, and the ploughed site of Little Childerley, a deserted mediaeval village at Grove Park.

The pipe trenching at the parish boundary went unrecorded. As there are no upstanding remains in this area the impact on this field monument is unknown. Two cobbled surfaces were found at Little Childerley. These are likely to represent trackways connected with the mediaeval and post-mediaeval communications network. In an infilled ditch wood was found to survive suggesting high potential for preservation of water-logged remains within the sunken features of the village.

Historical information points towards a gradual reduction in the population of the Childerley villages prior to the abandonment of the settlements and the establishment of parkland. The deer park increased in size through the post-mediaeval period until it surrounded the hall and covered over 250 acres at its heights, prior to recent contractions.