Monument record 256/1 - Cholmondeston Village

The manor of Cholmondeston is recorded in Domesday which suggests the presence of a deserted medieval village as Cholmondeston is presently a parish of dispersed farmsteads. As well as landowners relocating settlements for aesthetic reasons and to enable landscaping, Medieval and later villages were abandoned by their inhabitants for many other reasons. The effects of disease and poor harvests made rural living difficult, and whole communities are thought to have relocated to urban settlements. Once abandoned the villages quickly became derelict and were not inhabited again surviving only as earthworks, visible only from aerial photographs. Deserted settlements are also be identified by documentary evidence or the presence of a church where there is no settlement.