Monument record 1655 - Twyford

The placemane of Twyford suggest a possible deserted medieval hamlet. It is first mentioned in 1280. It was probably a hamlet of Over Peover. A hamlet is a settlement smaller than a village and larger than a farm and its associated buildings. Hamlets do not usually have the public buildings found in a 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.