Monument record 1715 - Bickley

There is a possible deserted medieval village at Bickley. A settlement is first mentioned in the Domesday Book, 1086. Soil marks are visible on vertical aerial photographs. Medieval and later villages were abandoned by their inhabitants for many reasons. The effects of disease and poor harvests made rural living difficult, and whole communities are thought to have relocated to urban settlements. Landowners sometimes relocated settlements for aesthetic reasons and for landscaping. Once abandoned the villages quickly became derelict and were not inhabited again surviving only as earthworks, often visible only from aerial photographs. They can also be identified by documentary evidence or the presence of a church where there is no settlement.