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Description: | The settlement remains of Apley lie on a low plateau between two streams. The documentary history of the settlement is difficult to disentangle; after being separately recorded in Domesday Book and the Lindsey Survey, it became part of the core of the estates of Stainfield Priory. This suggests that it may once have been a relatively small hamlet which was subsequently converted to or run as a monastic grange. Such a status would explain its continuing small size. Evidence for former settlement exists both as earthworks and as surface pottery scatters. A main hollow way running east to west is flanked along its north side by rectangular closes. On its south side a different pattern of large rectangular ditched closes, full of ridge and furrow (except at their northern end which may overlie earlier occupation), resembles earthworks identified as monastic granges, demesne manors or farms within villages elsewhere in the area. The Tithe map of 1849 shows that in addition to the surviving north to south farm track, a further way ran up the east side of the churchyard. Since a spread of medieval and later pottery has been recorded around Apley High House along the north side of the present street, this may suggest an overall layout of two parallel streets running east to west linked by cross-lanes. This rectangular form may be an early feature and represent the hamlet of Apley to which the grange was later added. {3}
For a detailed description and history see Everson, Taylor and Dunn (1991). {3}
The medieval settlement of Apley was a hamlet established by the late 11th century. After the foundation of Stainfield Priory in the mid 12th century the settlement was granted to the nunnery and managed as a monastic manor or grange. Documentary references to a priest at Apley occur from the early 13th century onwards. The population of the settlement, which remained low throughout the medieval period, declined after the Dissolution when 'Apley Grange' was granted, with the rest of the Stainfield Priory estate, to Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, who enclosed large areas of land for sheep pasture. The medieval church at Apley remained standing until the beginning of the 18th century; the present St Andrew's church, which stands on an adjacent site and is not included in the scheduling, was constructed in 1871. The remains of the medieval settlement of Apley and the surviving parts of its open fields are visible as earthworks with associated buried remains and lie in two separate areas of protection. {9} | Subjects: | General Archaeology | Temporal: | 1066 - 1539 | Source: | Lincolnshire County Council | Identifier: | http://www.lincstothepast.com/Records/Re... | Go to resource |
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