Medieval Settlement remains

 archaeological site, earthwork (archaeology), invisible, abandoned settlement, scheduled ancient monument

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The medieval settlement at Upton Cressett is situated in an area dominated by small hamlets and dispersed farmsteads set in intricate, anciently enclosed landscapes which still carry significant amounts of woodland. The Domesday Book reveals that the Wye-Teme area was already densely settled by the time of the Norman Conquest. The settlement at Upton Cressett probably dates back to the Saxon period, and the former Church of St Michael to the north-east may stand on the site of an earlier, Saxon, church. The place was known as Ultone in the Domesday Book; a name which comes from the Anglo-Saxon word 'Upton' meaning 'higher settlement'. In 1165, Upton formed part of the Barony of Fitz Alan, being held for some generations by the descendants of Alan de Upton. In the C13, the de Uptons were Verderers of the Royal Forest of Morfe. The Cressetts first appear as Lords of Upton towards the close of the C14, when the family succeeded to Upton through marriage and gave their name to the place. The life of the medieval settlement is largely undocumented and, although its date of desertion is unknown, this may have come shortly before, or have been a consequence of, emparkment. Upton Cressett Park is first mentioned in 1517 in Wolsey's Inquisition of Enclosures when it was alleged that Thomas Cressett had emparked 40 acres of arable land. It is most likely that the village was abandoned when the deer park was created since a map of Upton Cressett, dated 1647, indicates that the site of the settlement lay within the park by this date. The map does, however, depict a building within the field immediately to the south-west of the principal hollow way which runs through the village.

The site extends over an area of some 4.5ha close to Upton Cressett Hall which dates from the mid-C15 and probably occupies the site of an earlier house, attested by the close proximity of the C12 Church of St Michael to the north-east. Field notes on the medieval nucleated settlement at Upton Cressett were produced by the County Council's Historic Environment Service in 1978; it was also recorded by the Ordnance Survey in 1979. Aerial photography in 1989 also confirmed the survival of the earthworks and indicated that in some places they are overlain by narrow ridge and furrow, suggesting that the settlement may have contracted before its final abandonment. An archaeological excavation in the western part of the site in 2012 recovered evidence for C12/C13 occupation. These deposits were overlaid by later features including possible quarrying and brick-making activities associated with the encasing of Upton Cressett Hall in brick and the construction of the gatehouse in the late C16, as well as some later disturbance due to the clearance of an orchard.
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