Monument record 1186 - Davenport

Davenport was first mentioned in the Domesday Book in 1086, the name meaning a 'market on the River Dane'. There is no town here now and the place was never a borough, but the placename infers a commercial centre. It may have been a market-place for a Danish settlement or possible early medieval trading settlement. It is listed as a possible deserted medieval village. 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.