Jack Hargreaves did a documentary on these villages in the 1970s. He dismissed the “plague villages” idea. He said that the valley floor was all forested, and you could not live there. So people lived on the chalk hills, which only had scrubby trees. But when the forested valleys were cleared, the farmland was much better down there. So entire villages moved down to the valley floor, leaving abandoned villages above. Ralph
Specifically he dismissed the idea that the plague killed all those villages entirely. The new labor shortage then drew the survivors off the chalk plains to the richer lands the Saxons had cleared.
This is interesting, having come to this video a year later so sorry for the necro. I have for a while been questioning why people live in waterlogged, difficult to maintain places like the Piddle Valley so tenaciously despite everything. Maintaining their way of life in that location requires a disproportionate amount of resources. But it's got that, as I say, tenacity of a settlement of humans - that it is their homes, and they would rather call on all the great technologies we have today than move. This wasn't the case for villagers of the past, especially when settlements were smaller and less physically embedded by their infrastructure.
I think the initial black death theories are correct for some of the villages, however the rest may well have been economic, the main things you keep on chalk are sheep, a drop in the prices of wool will have hit everyone in the area hard, without income the farmers don't spend money in subsidiary industries like the blacksmiths etc. Your culprit for the later abandonment here could be one industry villages. The medieval wool industry was in decline in the 16th century, the wool towns barely survived, the hamlets and villages on the chalk likely did not.
There was also soil exhaustion. Population decline is noted to have started around the start of the 14th Century. Many of the deserted medieval villages still had a population fircat least a century after the end of the Black Death.
Jack Hargreaves did a documentary on these villages in the 1970s. He dismissed the “plague villages” idea. He said that the valley floor was all forested, and you could not live there. So people lived on the chalk hills, which only had scrubby trees. But when the forested valleys were cleared, the farmland was much better down there. So entire villages moved down to the valley floor, leaving abandoned villages above. Jack Hargreaves is on video. Ralph
I would suspect that sheep were a significant driver of demographic change on the downs. The black death affected all villages in a similar manner of course some were worse hit than others, but overall extinction of lowland and upland villages should be about the same. Jack Hargreaves mentioned by others put forward the expansion of lowland agriculture by taming the lowland swampy areas being ideal for dairy farming as a driver. That might of been an attractor but I suspect many of the early abandonment's were from the landlord pushing people off their land to make way for sheep retaining only small numbers of shepherds. So a mix of improved lowland agriculture and sheep is my hypothesis for early abandonments.
@@philipwells2793 As I watched this I thought that it was likely 'landlords' took over larger scale farming and pushed the subsistence farmers off the land. Part of what made me think of this is that the larger manor houses seemed to have lasted there a lot longer.
that video by Jack showed up in my feed months ago because of watching your videos! this is a perfect companion to Jack’s video and something i’m sure he’d approve of as i believe he’d utilize the same things that you used from sources to technology if he had them 40 years ago
That little chapel with the ruins adjacent and earth works behind, is one of the most fascinating locations i've ever seen. Just WOW. Keep up the great work guys. Brilliant channel.
This is the best history/archeological documentary I’ve seen since the old time team. (Before they tried to sexy time team up and ruined it). You’ve done a brilliant job on this video. It’s superb quality and obvious you put a huge amount of time into it.
I appreciate ALL of the efforts you put into each of your presentations! Between travel, hiking miles on end, research, shooting, editing, plus any perils along the way, the quality shines every time.
Thank you for doing this video. I've watched all the Jack Hargreaves videos I could find, and his theories about the black death certainly looks like a good working hypothesis. I did feel that it was a bit too clear-cut, too "comfortable" as the "smoking gun" behind the lost villages, but not being a historian meant to me that I would probably never have to opportunity to suss this out. So, this video from you and Rebecca definitely points in the right direction from my perspective, and more importantly it raises fresh questions on what really happened. Cracking video, and I'm so glad to see that I'm not the only "Jack Hargreaves Groupie"! :-D
From someone who has recently published a YT video on this very topic, I really do appreciate the effort you've put into this. Certainly more informative than my offering. Well done! I arrived at a similar conclusion, yes, the Black Death was responsible for many lost villages, but not all disappeared at the same time directly due to the pandemic. Some took many more years to disappear. Another major factor was the collapse of the Feudal system as the result of the Black Death. Land Owners lost their serfs (peasants), and had no one to work their land. Large settlements dwindled as a result, as the serfs moved to more urban settlements. Hence, several villages disappeared more slowly over the following 2 centuries. Many thanks for taking the time and effort to create and share, thoroughly enjoyable 👍
This had me 'wow!' 'wow!' 'wow!' at every twist and turn. Much appreciated, on a few points. Opening up my eyes to one thing I find peculiar - the years of populace in England should have towns/villages all over the place and yet there are none. So you've solved that for me. The lovely appreciation of architecture over time - well worth the video watch alone. And the ohmygiddyaunt sneaky watching out for Rebecca in the back ground, whether it be by her shadow - filming, her wave in the window, her filming of you in the distance? Lovely editing, really lovely stuff. More of this wow, wow, wow, if you please Paul, just the way I like it!!
A most fascinating visit to the Dorset of the past. Pestilence in the cloak of the black plague wiped out entire villages. Families, livestock, and the like, but the stone constructions stood their ground. What a testament to those earlier times. The human race is resilient and shall never succumb in total to unforeseen anomalies that are hurled at us out of the blue. I know our future is secure. Thanks Paul!
I live in Dorset. My village church is surrounded by empty fields, and sits about a mile from the current village centre. The old village was abandoned during the plague, and the survivors resettled on the hill above the old village.
I hope this is a new series along the lines of abandoned railways and canals. I can't visit the places that you feature (yet) so your videos are the next best thing. Please keep em coming!
Excellent episode and a great modern addition to Jack's, your camera work is fabulous, stunning scenery. I spent a lot of time in Dorset before moving to Canada a few years ago and this brings back great memories as do most of your episodes. Great channel.
Outstanding Paul 👏🏻 Beyond TV worthy. I’ve shot Knowlton in just about every type of light, every weather, under stars and milky way - in the snow and spent many hours there alone. This video really brought those memories back and was so well put together. Excellent stuff my friend 👍🏻👍🏻
Excellent work, Paul. You would love the deserted village of Wharram Percy, complete with ruined church, duckpond, and abandoned railway line. It's in the Yorkshire Wolds.
@@ColinH1973 Chalk IS a type of oolitic limestone, and I'm pretty sure much of the eastern half of Yorkshire is on the chalk. It forms a swathe down the eastern side of the country before turning west across what was Wessex back in the day. Not looked at a geological map in a while though..... 🙂
I watched the Jack Hargreaves video a couple of months ago and it was an interesting viewpoint. On a completely different topic; when I read Pratchett's Tiffany Aching stories I always envisioned "The Chalk" looking like Dorset. It just fits.
Wow, superb presentation Paul, I really enjoyed that, the whole tale was fascinating. The reason I love your stuff is because it's not a detailed documentary, just a bloke with an interest, going for a walk and taking us along. Great stuff.
Every video is so informative, and you keep finding new things for me to say, “Wow, I never thought of / knew that”. Beautifully put together. Thank you for doing this, keeps me going during my post-op recovery!
Maybe someone else has said - but there's at least one time team on an abandoned village where all the theories are discussed. Speaking of which - I wish you had been their new presenter on the online episodes! Love your style mate. It's perfect.
Some of knowlton church resembles the castle ruins at ludgershall , which as the crow flies is not a million miles away. Also, I worked at a farm in Durrington which had the earthworks of the original village of durrington which was abandoned during the plague. Cheers Paul, subbed on your quality content that puts some historical tv to shame 👍
I cannot believe you are able to just travail over hills and dales ancient land and you don’t run into anyone else it’s my dream I’d love to do that..ah a leaf blower! It’s still magnificent Thankyou so much.
All in my local area and lovely photography. Lucky to live in this part of the world. Lyscombe is particularly special. Really pleased to see it's been rethatched as it was looking a bit sad this time last year.
Great video. It's a phenomenon you see in many English counties where the churches are not near the villages, for many many reasons. The most obvious being the rich man built the church to encourage people to come and live in his village. They soon left when he started taxing them.
Here's a synchronicity - just as you mentioned Jack Hargreaves I was opening an Amazon package containing the DVD boxset of Old Country with Jack Hargreaves! I think old Jack is smiling at you 😁
My neck of the woods. I live not far from Hanford. I also see you have Milton Abbas on your list which was raised after the land owner decided he didn't want the village within the boundary of the house when Capability Brown was designing the gardens.
its interesting. over here in sussex there were 100s of villages scattered around what is now the West Dean Estate. The last remains of these are a hamlet of 3 houses called Hooksway, and a house & cottage in an area marked as Monkton, of which a chapel still remains. All this area was wiped out by the plague as well. A lot of the ancient tracks are still used by logging vehicles.
A fantastic mini documentary! Excellently researched and presented. My theory is that the Black Death hastened the demise of these villages but there were a number of waves of the plague in the 14th and 15th century. Chalk is not great for arable farming and it could be that the surviving villagers moved to the valleys. I think others have commented about the fall in the value of wool as well would have contributed to the villages declining
Dear Paul & Rebecca. As I said in my comments on the Portland Video, we have spent several years researching the area, this is great stuff and certainly adds to the brilliant programme produced by Jack Hargreaves (still available on you tube). Dorset is packed with content. I will look through some of my stuff and send some additional Infor. Many Thanks.
I grew up near Knowlton, in Wimborne Minster. So many tales about Knowlton Church and Knowlton rings. Apparently it was built on pagan land and over the years it is said that the church burnt down at least 2 or 3 times every time it was rebuilt Also that the yew trees at one end of the ring marked what used to be an alter. Dorset has the most amazing history! Thanks for a great video.
I love your videos. Thank you for all the work you do. One note: A church and a chapel were different. That is, the old chapel near the farm may have been a “chapel of ease”, where the priest would hold a mass on Sundays although his church was elsewhere, to allow far-flung parishioners to attend services without making a long trek from their homes. Chapels of ease usually lacked a tower and bells and were much simpler in design and decoration.
A friend of mine mentioned plague villages of Dorset just a few weeks ago so the timing of this is interesting! I have lived in Dorset on and off for over 30 years. I’ve always thought Whitcombe just outside Dorchester must of been abandoned as only the Church remains…
Exactly the same village abandonment happened on the South Downs in Sussex. It's also the same chalk geology. When the Black Death impacted in the 14th century it meant that many villages in the lowlands were also abandoned or severely depleted. Possibly the upland villages were abandonded because the survivors were able to occupy the the spare lowland where the ground is better irrigated and more fertile?
It's a lot easier to farm when the soil is more then 2 inches deep! The problem with the fertile lowland was the trees which had to wait for better organised land owners.
Very informative,amazing how the plague altered the countryside,explains why some old buildings are situated as they are ,not so random as one imagines.
I have always been fascinated with Knowlton, a place of worship for over 4000 years, long before Christianity hit these shores. I remember Jack Hargreaves exploring historical West Country locations. Thanks for a fascinating overview.
Very good Paul, here in Kent we have a few Plague Villages (Stelling and Dode spring to mind), however it was the law that any new Village was to be established 1 Statutory Mile from the old location. I recently watch the Jack Hargreaves program (Out of Town/Old Country??) which dealt with this very subject. He came to the conclusion that only a handful were reliably attributed to the Black Death and the rest to the end of the Feudal System, The Enclosure Act and the very start of the Industrial Revolution. That all said I really enjoyed your film (as ever) and your insights into the Church Architecture. More please, I love the railways, canals and old roads but this is as good. Thank you for making and posting.
Watched a few of Jack Hargreaves' old programmes recently, including the one on the disappearance of the Dorset villages. He was the ultimate presenter of countryside matters. Countryfile does not come close to Old Country or Out of Town.
You should come to Swanage, a town of 5 villages. Herston, Newton, Durlston, Ulwell, and Swanage. Much of of the growth of Swanage came from the quarrying of Purbeck stone, shipped nationally and globally. A lot of the growth happened in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, absorbing most of the small hamlets and villages mentioned earlier, forming the tourist destination Swanage would become in the early-mid 20th century. Due to it's stone quarrying history, Swanage has a lot of unusual features, shipped all the way from London (as ballast for the stone barges return trip) including the frontage for the town hall, the Wellington Clock Tower (which sat at the entrance to London Bridge), as well as a multitude of other features from various parks around London. It's a great town with a very rich history, with a bit of interest for every history buff
This was a really very interesting video, you can learn so much from Landscape Archaeology, your research on this subject has certainly paid off. Look out for Roman or Medieval Monastic lumps and bumps. If you watched Time Team, you might notice that its always Stewart Ainsworth, the Landscape expert who saves the day!
As an American, these videos make me very jealous of the chance to just wander around a field and walk into a piece of millennium-old stonework. While civilization here in the US is essentially as old as in Europe, masonry wasn't a common practice and there's something special about knowing you're standing in a building where lives were lived over many generations. Thanks for sharing your slice of history!
"Civilisation here in the US is essentially as old as in Europe"...? Sherborne, in Dorset, where I live, is well over 1000 years old, and is not particularly exceptional.
They built with stone because their ancestors had cut down so many trees....they didn't do it for romantic notions of posterity. People for always and forever seek the most "efficient" methods. We in America & Canada had (& still have) a continent full of trees. We build with lumber to this day, much to the chagrin of chest thumping Brits and Germans who bellow on about cement blocks and brick. We will continue to build with wood until only national parks have any measurable amounts of wood. Then we'll use some other material.
Good to hear you mention jack Hargreaves...as said by another his feed appeared on faceslap.. I'm sure there is a story behind every village...well done
Splendid tour and interesting reinterpretation of abandoned settlements now sitting in splendid isolation. Theories can provide a useful guide, but as I think, you correctly point out, each site requires separate investigation to account for patterns of human settlement/resettlement over historical time. Much to reflect on here. Thank you.
The Black Plague is a very complicated part of history. The 1346 to 1353 version is a go-to version, but there are other occurrences before and after (even up to a few years ago). Usually tied to atmospheric changes to favour a mix of dry weather and famine (natural variations or volcanic weather events). If leading into the 1300's there was a general 'drying' then chalk lands may have become unsuitable for cropping. Farmers know where the money is, and it isn't in dead fields.
Great stuff Paul & Rebecca. I told you Dorset has lots of mysteries. Sometimes I just like to walk in the county and not investigate anything but just wonder and imagine the mysteries of how people lived hundreds of years ago. Sometimes I reckon less is more with this stuff.
Great video as usual Paul, you should take a trip to Imber Village in Wiltshire, that was abandoned during WW2 to practise for the D-Day landings. Its in the middle of Salisbury Plain Military training area, but you can catch a double decker bus from Warminster, on bank holiday weekends :)
The bus services are just one Saturday a year. And it's organised by enthusiasts such as Sir Peter Hendy. What I'd really like is to get a Routemaster to and from a parkrun on the day!
Brilliant video. I knew of Knowlton (great to see my drone work there) but I didn't know of the other villages. The plague hit that area particularly hard!
My late mum knew Jack Hargreaves as she was a journalist and TV sort o' person, between him and Enid Blyton raving about the place she fought furiously to get moved to Dorset and after Fleet St collapsed she was given a place at Bournemouth University where she studied film and tv screen/scriptwriting mentored by Ridley Scott's brother Tony and "Harold" aka Ian Smith from Neighbours.
Absolutely loved it, thanks so much. History is always great and we are never too old to learn. Thanks for taking me along. Please stay safe and take care
Jack Hargreaves did a documentary on these villages in the 1970s.
He dismissed the “plague villages” idea.
He said that the valley floor was all forested, and you could not live there. So people lived on the chalk hills, which only had scrubby trees. But when the forested valleys were cleared, the farmland was much better down there. So entire villages moved down to the valley floor, leaving abandoned villages above.
Ralph
Specifically he dismissed the idea that the plague killed all those villages entirely. The new labor shortage then drew the survivors off the chalk plains to the richer lands the Saxons had cleared.
@@andrewreynolds4949 If anyone's interested, here's Jack's film: th-cam.com/video/2tdzLpjMdFc/w-d-xo.html
This is interesting, having come to this video a year later so sorry for the necro. I have for a while been questioning why people live in waterlogged, difficult to maintain places like the Piddle Valley so tenaciously despite everything. Maintaining their way of life in that location requires a disproportionate amount of resources. But it's got that, as I say, tenacity of a settlement of humans - that it is their homes, and they would rather call on all the great technologies we have today than move. This wasn't the case for villagers of the past, especially when settlements were smaller and less physically embedded by their infrastructure.
@@OkenWS It's the goofy land owner ship issues in England.
I think the initial black death theories are correct for some of the villages, however the rest may well have been economic, the main things you keep on chalk are sheep, a drop in the prices of wool will have hit everyone in the area hard, without income the farmers don't spend money in subsidiary industries like the blacksmiths etc.
Your culprit for the later abandonment here could be one industry villages. The medieval wool industry was in decline in the 16th century, the wool towns barely survived, the hamlets and villages on the chalk likely did not.
There was also soil exhaustion. Population decline is noted to have started around the start of the 14th Century. Many of the deserted medieval villages still had a population fircat least a century after the end of the Black Death.
Jack Hargreaves did a documentary on these villages in the 1970s.
He dismissed the “plague villages” idea.
He said that the valley floor was all forested, and you could not live there. So people lived on the chalk hills, which only had scrubby trees. But when the forested valleys were cleared, the farmland was much better down there. So entire villages moved down to the valley floor, leaving abandoned villages above.
Jack Hargreaves is on video.
Ralph
@@RalphEllis
I was just about to mention the great Jack Hargreaves, the world needs TV presenters and programmes in the style he presented
I would suspect that sheep were a significant driver of demographic change on the downs. The black death affected all villages in a similar manner of course some were worse hit than others, but overall extinction of lowland and upland villages should be about the same. Jack Hargreaves mentioned by others put forward the expansion of lowland agriculture by taming the lowland swampy areas being ideal for dairy farming as a driver. That might of been an attractor but I suspect many of the early abandonment's were from the landlord pushing people off their land to make way for sheep retaining only small numbers of shepherds.
So a mix of improved lowland agriculture and sheep is my hypothesis for early abandonments.
@@philipwells2793 As I watched this I thought that it was likely 'landlords' took over larger scale farming and pushed the subsistence farmers off the land. Part of what made me think of this is that the larger manor houses seemed to have lasted there a lot longer.
I love the passion if not obsession with the historic area. I feel the same way. I love the feeling of connection to this long period of time.
that video by Jack showed up in my feed months ago because of watching your videos! this is a perfect companion to Jack’s video and something i’m sure he’d approve of as i believe he’d utilize the same things that you used from sources to technology if he had them 40 years ago
Ah thanks. I hope he would approve.
Paul, this show is magnificent. Really, really magnificent.
Thanks Joseph.
I can see why you enjoyed making this video, all the research, and on-the-ground exploring seem fascinating.
Thanks Andy. A real treat and a pleasure to make.
And no digging !!!
Great stuff- the time and effort you put into these videos is much appreciated ;)
That little chapel with the ruins adjacent and earth works behind, is one of the most fascinating locations i've ever seen. Just WOW. Keep up the great work guys. Brilliant channel.
This is the best history/archeological documentary I’ve seen since the old time team. (Before they tried to sexy time team up and ruined it). You’ve done a brilliant job on this video. It’s superb quality and obvious you put a huge amount of time into it.
Love your videos. Great to be able to see all these wonderful and historic places of old England.
The more I watch these excellent videos, the more I am convinced we live is a beautiful country. Thank you.
I appreciate ALL of the efforts you put into each of your presentations! Between travel, hiking miles on end, research, shooting, editing, plus any perils along the way, the quality shines every time.
Thank you for doing this video. I've watched all the Jack Hargreaves videos I could find, and his theories about the black death certainly looks like a good working hypothesis. I did feel that it was a bit too clear-cut, too "comfortable" as the "smoking gun" behind the lost villages, but not being a historian meant to me that I would probably never have to opportunity to suss this out. So, this video from you and Rebecca definitely points in the right direction from my perspective, and more importantly it raises fresh questions on what really happened. Cracking video, and I'm so glad to see that I'm not the only "Jack Hargreaves Groupie"! :-D
From someone who has recently published a YT video on this very topic, I really do appreciate the effort you've put into this. Certainly more informative than my offering. Well done! I arrived at a similar conclusion, yes, the Black Death was responsible for many lost villages, but not all disappeared at the same time directly due to the pandemic. Some took many more years to disappear. Another major factor was the collapse of the Feudal system as the result of the Black Death. Land Owners lost their serfs (peasants), and had no one to work their land. Large settlements dwindled as a result, as the serfs moved to more urban settlements. Hence, several villages disappeared more slowly over the following 2 centuries. Many thanks for taking the time and effort to create and share, thoroughly enjoyable 👍
This had me 'wow!' 'wow!' 'wow!' at every twist and turn. Much appreciated, on a few points. Opening up my eyes to one thing I find peculiar - the years of populace in England should have towns/villages all over the place and yet there are none. So you've solved that for me. The lovely appreciation of architecture over time - well worth the video watch alone. And the ohmygiddyaunt sneaky watching out for Rebecca in the back ground, whether it be by her shadow - filming, her wave in the window, her filming of you in the distance? Lovely editing, really lovely stuff. More of this wow, wow, wow, if you please Paul, just the way I like it!!
A most fascinating visit to the Dorset of the past. Pestilence in the cloak of the black plague wiped out entire villages. Families, livestock,
and the like, but the stone constructions stood their ground. What a testament to those earlier times. The human race is resilient and shall
never succumb in total to unforeseen anomalies that are hurled at us out of the blue. I know our future is secure. Thanks Paul!
Good Morning from Kansas!
I live in Dorset. My village church is surrounded by empty fields, and sits about a mile from the current village centre. The old village was abandoned during the plague, and the survivors resettled on the hill above the old village.
Oooh what village Bob?
@@pwhitewick Lytchett Matravers, the old church is St. Mary's
Thanks for picking up where Jack left off, great fun
I hope this is a new series along the lines of abandoned railways and canals. I can't visit the places that you feature (yet) so your videos are the next best thing.
Please keep em coming!
Excellent episode and a great modern addition to Jack's, your camera work is fabulous, stunning scenery. I spent a lot of time in Dorset before moving to Canada a few years ago and this brings back great memories as do most of your episodes. Great channel.
Great video Paul, Dorset is indeed a gem!
Outstanding Paul 👏🏻 Beyond TV worthy. I’ve shot Knowlton in just about every type of light, every weather, under stars and milky way - in the snow and spent many hours there alone.
This video really brought those memories back and was so well put together. Excellent stuff my friend 👍🏻👍🏻
Great video this week, thank you. I like Dorset. Shall show it to my sister who lives in Weymouth
Another interesting story and some wonderful pictures of the area of Dorset. Thank you for sharing it with us.
Fascinating. Totally what I am interested in. Thank you. Nice to see such a beautiful sunny day. Cheers
Excellent work, Paul. You would love the deserted village of Wharram Percy, complete with ruined church, duckpond, and abandoned railway line. It's in the Yorkshire Wolds.
Sounds idilic.
Another area of chalklands?
@@AnthonyIlstonJones limestone, I think, but I could be wrong.
@@ColinH1973 Chalk IS a type of oolitic limestone, and I'm pretty sure much of the eastern half of Yorkshire is on the chalk. It forms a swathe down the eastern side of the country before turning west across what was Wessex back in the day. Not looked at a geological map in a while though..... 🙂
Really great video. I liked the way you used aerial shots, maps and google earth along with your hiking commentary. Great editing too
It is really nice to see history related to my name, although my ancestors probably hailed from Kent. I really do want to visit Knowlton Church.
Cracking, as always.
Cheers, m'dear! 😊
So interesting. What a research you have done. Also you must have walked for miles. Thank you for showing us your explore. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Wow, some great scenery. And bit of a jaw drop when you say why...
I watched the Jack Hargreaves video a couple of months ago and it was an interesting viewpoint.
On a completely different topic; when I read Pratchett's Tiffany Aching stories I always envisioned "The Chalk" looking like Dorset. It just fits.
I believe Terry was bought up in the area, which is why he has such an affinity for it.
My ancestors came from Tyneham, a village lost within living memory, but for very different reasons.
Yup that appeared in our searches many times!
Wow, superb presentation Paul, I really enjoyed that, the whole tale was fascinating. The reason I love your stuff is because it's not a detailed documentary, just a bloke with an interest, going for a walk and taking us along. Great stuff.
Every video is so informative, and you keep finding new things for me to say, “Wow, I never thought of / knew that”. Beautifully put together. Thank you for doing this, keeps me going during my post-op recovery!
You dare challenge Jack 😮Of course all other theories are welcome, especially when so well presented. I look forward to the next.
I'm pretty certain that I've visited Knowlton.
You guys do a fantastic job. Love your work!
I noticed the hand waving figure in the chappel window🖐☺ I claim my prize😆
I am blessed! Thank you so much, Paul & Rebecca, for your Like.🙏
You Guys are awesome!
wow thats some awesome research paul
Maybe someone else has said - but there's at least one time team on an abandoned village where all the theories are discussed.
Speaking of which - I wish you had been their new presenter on the online episodes! Love your style mate. It's perfect.
Paul: "I've been looking at abandoned villages"
Rebecca: "in Dorset?"
Paul: "yes, I'd recommend it to anybody"
Absolutely fascinating i lived near Dorchester
Some of knowlton church resembles the castle ruins at ludgershall , which as the crow flies is not a million miles away.
Also, I worked at a farm in Durrington which had the earthworks of the original village of durrington which was abandoned during the plague.
Cheers Paul, subbed on your quality content that puts some historical tv to shame 👍
Thank you. Only really been to the castle once, despite living in Ludgershall for a decade!!
There is a Jack Hargreaves video about those lost villages "why 79 dorset villages vanished"
that’s linked in the description…
Yup as we mentioned three times me ole fruit, plus linked in the description.
I cannot believe you are able to just travail over hills and dales ancient land and you don’t run into anyone else it’s my dream I’d love to do that..ah a leaf blower! It’s still magnificent Thankyou so much.
All in my local area and lovely photography. Lucky to live in this part of the world. Lyscombe is particularly special. Really pleased to see it's been rethatched as it was looking a bit sad this time last year.
Great video. It's a phenomenon you see in many English counties where the churches are not near the villages, for many many reasons. The most obvious being the rich man built the church to encourage people to come and live in his village. They soon left when he started taxing them.
Here's a synchronicity - just as you mentioned Jack Hargreaves I was opening an Amazon package containing the DVD boxset of Old Country with Jack Hargreaves! I think old Jack is smiling at you 😁
My neck of the woods. I live not far from Hanford. I also see you have Milton Abbas on your list which was raised after the land owner decided he didn't want the village within the boundary of the house when Capability Brown was designing the gardens.
Yet another reason for disappearing villages, snooty landlords.
its interesting. over here in sussex there were 100s of villages scattered around what is now the West Dean Estate. The last remains of these are a hamlet of 3 houses called Hooksway, and a house & cottage in an area marked as Monkton, of which a chapel still remains. All this area was wiped out by the plague as well.
A lot of the ancient tracks are still used by logging vehicles.
Very enjoyable. Love the history. you and Rebecca do a great job.i am here in nh usa. Cannot wait for the next episode. Keep up the great work 👍
I have been watching Jack's old show so your show came up in my feed... finally the algorithm serves me :D
A fantastic mini documentary! Excellently researched and presented.
My theory is that the Black Death hastened the demise of these villages but there were a number of waves of the plague in the 14th and 15th century.
Chalk is not great for arable farming and it could be that the surviving villagers moved to the valleys. I think others have commented about the fall in the value of wool as well would have contributed to the villages declining
Dear Paul & Rebecca. As I said in my comments on the Portland Video, we have spent several years researching the area, this is great stuff and certainly adds to the brilliant programme produced by Jack Hargreaves (still available on you tube). Dorset is packed with content. I will look through some of my stuff and send some additional Infor. Many Thanks.
I grew up near Knowlton, in Wimborne Minster. So many tales about Knowlton Church and Knowlton rings. Apparently it was built on pagan land and over the years it is said that the church burnt down at least 2 or 3 times every time it was rebuilt Also that the yew trees at one end of the ring marked what used to be an alter. Dorset has the most amazing history! Thanks for a great video.
The yews would have been planted at the time of the church's construction or later - ie medieval.
I love your videos. Thank you for all the work you do.
One note: A church and a chapel were different. That is, the old chapel near the farm may have been a “chapel of ease”, where the priest would hold a mass on Sundays although his church was elsewhere, to allow far-flung parishioners to attend services without making a long trek from their homes. Chapels of ease usually lacked a tower and bells and were much simpler in design and decoration.
A friend of mine mentioned plague villages of Dorset just a few weeks ago so the timing of this is interesting! I have lived in Dorset on and off for over 30 years. I’ve always thought Whitcombe just outside Dorchester must of been abandoned as only the Church remains…
We visited the church (courtesy of Geocaching) and found the whole area fascinating
a really cool interesting video again paul and rebecca , well done and thank you again guys 😊
You're such a talented narrator Paul. Thank you
Exactly the same village abandonment happened on the South Downs in Sussex. It's also the same chalk geology. When the Black Death impacted in the 14th century it meant that many villages in the lowlands were also abandoned or severely depleted. Possibly the upland villages were abandonded because the survivors were able to occupy the the spare lowland where the ground is better irrigated and more fertile?
I was there today actually and did wonder.
It's a lot easier to farm when the soil is more then 2 inches deep! The problem with the fertile lowland was the trees which had to wait for better organised land owners.
@@thamesmud Better ploughs too.
That’s about what Jack Hargreaves claimed in his documentary from 1984
Very informative,amazing how the plague altered the countryside,explains why some old buildings are situated as they are ,not so random as one imagines.
Interesting video as always. Looks like you had some lovely walks to visit those churches.
Good to see that Jack Hargreaves has not been forgotten Paul, How used to be required viewing back in my childhood and later on Out of Town as well.
Interesting bit of history. I suppose we know well how they looked because so many others survived. Thanks for the Hargreaves link.
It's a beautiful video
I have always been fascinated with Knowlton, a place of worship for over 4000 years, long before Christianity hit these shores. I remember Jack Hargreaves exploring historical West Country locations. Thanks for a fascinating overview.
Very good Paul, here in Kent we have a few Plague Villages (Stelling and Dode spring to mind), however it was the law that any new Village was to be established 1 Statutory Mile from the old location. I recently watch the Jack Hargreaves program (Out of Town/Old Country??) which dealt with this very subject. He came to the conclusion that only a handful were reliably attributed to the Black Death and the rest to the end of the Feudal System, The Enclosure Act and the very start of the Industrial Revolution.
That all said I really enjoyed your film (as ever) and your insights into the Church Architecture. More please, I love the railways, canals and old roads but this is as good. Thank you for making and posting.
Watched a few of Jack Hargreaves' old programmes recently, including the one on the disappearance of the Dorset villages. He was the ultimate presenter of countryside matters. Countryfile does not come close to Old Country or Out of Town.
Hadn't thought about the Enclosures and their effect on the landscape (and society). Well worth P & R looking into.
Thanks Paul for a really fantastic video!
Love Rebecca's ghostly image in the window waiving
You should come to Swanage, a town of 5 villages. Herston, Newton, Durlston, Ulwell, and Swanage. Much of of the growth of Swanage came from the quarrying of Purbeck stone, shipped nationally and globally. A lot of the growth happened in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, absorbing most of the small hamlets and villages mentioned earlier, forming the tourist destination Swanage would become in the early-mid 20th century.
Due to it's stone quarrying history, Swanage has a lot of unusual features, shipped all the way from London (as ballast for the stone barges return trip) including the frontage for the town hall, the Wellington Clock Tower (which sat at the entrance to London Bridge), as well as a multitude of other features from various parks around London.
It's a great town with a very rich history, with a bit of interest for every history buff
Fantastic and very interesting content Paul great research much have took a lot time and effort. Thank you for sharing.
Excellent video again. Imagine living through the great famine and the a big whammy the plague. Enough to make everyone run away x
This was a really very interesting video, you can learn so much from Landscape Archaeology, your research on this subject has certainly paid off. Look out for Roman or Medieval Monastic lumps and bumps. If you watched Time Team, you might notice that its always Stewart Ainsworth, the Landscape expert who saves the day!
Thanks Paul really enjoyed this and your efforts are very much appreciated
As an American, these videos make me very jealous of the chance to just wander around a field and walk into a piece of millennium-old stonework. While civilization here in the US is essentially as old as in Europe, masonry wasn't a common practice and there's something special about knowing you're standing in a building where lives were lived over many generations. Thanks for sharing your slice of history!
"Civilisation here in the US is essentially as old as in Europe"...?
Sherborne, in Dorset, where I live, is well over 1000 years old, and is not particularly exceptional.
They built with stone because their ancestors had cut down so many trees....they didn't do it for romantic notions of posterity.
People for always and forever seek the most "efficient" methods.
We in America & Canada had (& still have) a continent full of trees. We build with lumber to this day, much to the chagrin of chest thumping Brits and Germans who bellow on about cement blocks and brick.
We will continue to build with wood until only national parks have any measurable amounts of wood. Then we'll use some other material.
Good to hear you mention jack Hargreaves...as said by another his feed appeared on faceslap..
I'm sure there is a story behind every village...well done
Splendid tour and interesting reinterpretation of abandoned settlements now sitting in splendid isolation. Theories can provide a useful guide, but as I think, you correctly point out, each site requires separate investigation to account for patterns of human settlement/resettlement over historical time. Much to reflect on here. Thank you.
The Black Plague is a very complicated part of history. The 1346 to 1353 version is a go-to version, but there are other occurrences before and after (even up to a few years ago). Usually tied to atmospheric changes to favour a mix of dry weather and famine (natural variations or volcanic weather events). If leading into the 1300's there was a general 'drying' then chalk lands may have become unsuitable for cropping. Farmers know where the money is, and it isn't in dead fields.
Great stuff Paul & Rebecca. I told you Dorset has lots of mysteries. Sometimes I just like to walk in the county and not investigate anything but just wonder and imagine the mysteries of how people lived hundreds of years ago. Sometimes I reckon less is more with this stuff.
It's a great subject ! Dear old Jack Hargreaves did a programme on the subject in the 1980s I think - love our local history 👍
Yup. Mention a few times I think, plus the link in the description
Great video as usual Paul, you should take a trip to Imber Village in Wiltshire, that was abandoned during WW2 to practise for the D-Day landings. Its in the middle of Salisbury Plain Military training area, but you can catch a double decker bus from Warminster, on bank holiday weekends :)
We did go a few years ago actually. But didn't take the camera. One day soon.
Not so much "abandoned" as 'cleared', IDD: The military evicted everyone from the village a week before Christmas 1943.
🍌🙂
The bus services are just one Saturday a year. And it's organised by enthusiasts such as Sir Peter Hendy. What I'd really like is to get a Routemaster to and from a parkrun on the day!
Beautiful videography Paul!
Your channel is so so good and your passion comes through so well. Please keep up the brilliant work!
Nice video Paul and interesting, hard work there too with all the research well done and thank you.
I love walking those sunken ways, great video.
Fantastic. Beautiful. Speechless.
Lovely and fascinating video. Thank you.
Brilliant video. I knew of Knowlton (great to see my drone work there) but I didn't know of the other villages. The plague hit that area particularly hard!
a brilliant informative video as always of my favourite county. thank you so much 👍👍
My late mum knew Jack Hargreaves as she was a journalist and TV sort o' person, between him and Enid Blyton raving about the place she fought furiously to get moved to Dorset and after Fleet St collapsed she was given a place at Bournemouth University where she studied film and tv screen/scriptwriting mentored by Ridley Scott's brother Tony and "Harold" aka Ian Smith from Neighbours.
A similar thing happened to villages in Norfolk, there are a couple of churches where the village have been relocated.
Once again, you have given the exiled anglophile his weekly dose of great joy. I've started to love Monday mornings!
Most interesting Paul ! Sunday nights are a bit special since I stumbled across your channel. Thanks
Brilliant video - loved the in-depth investigation of places that are unknown to many, and the various shots and clips were stunning.
The work and effort you put into these video's is amazing!! Thank you 👍
Local leaf blowing society, that blew my mind! Nice interesting video and some lovely old churches.
amazing 👏 More of these please!! DMVs are fascinating
Very professional and informative. Thank you.
Interesting change from the railways Paul nice one
Lovely....greting from Poland.😀
Absolutely loved it, thanks so much. History is always great and we are never too old to learn. Thanks for taking me along. Please stay safe and take care