Lutton

34 LUTTON

(OS 1:10000 ^a TL 08 NE, ^b TL 18 NW)

The parish occupies a roughly rectangular area (Fig. 10), covering some 580 hectares, against the former Huntingdonshire boundary, sloping generally N.E. between 225 ft. and 150 ft. above OD. It is mainly on Boulder Clay except in the N.E. where the headwaters of Billing Brook have exposed underlying Oxford Clay.

To the S.E. of the village are extensive earthwork remains which were formerly part of it (1).

Prehistoric

A British K (South Feriby type) Coritanian gold stater, recorded by D. F. Allen as from 'Peterborough?' was actually discovered at Lutton (PM; S. S. Frere (ed.), Problems of the Iron Age in Southern Britain, (1958), 183).

Medieval and Later

^b(1) Settlement remains (TL 114876; Fig. 74; Plate 19), formerly part of Lutton village, lie immediately S.E. of the Manor House on Boulder Clay at 200 ft. above OD. Although claimed to be the remains of a homestead moat (VCH Northants., II (1906), 412) the site, partly shown on OS large-scale maps and plans, in fact comprises a number of hollow-ways and ditches which are the survivals of old roads, closes and house sites. The largest feature is the deeply-cut and rutted hollowway, known in the 19th century as 'Blind Lane', to the S.E. of the Manor House ('a'-'b' on Fig. 74). At its N.E. end it joins another hollow-way running N.W., and at its S.W. end it meets the existing road. N.W. of the hollow-way are the remains of two rectangular paddocks, bounded by ditches up to 2 m. deep. Elsewhere there are slight ditches and banks of former closes, and a number of probable building-sites.

The whole area was already abandoned by the late 17th century (NRO, map of Lutton, 1690) but the hollow-ways remained in use as roads until the 19th century (NRO, map of 1802 and Tithe Map of 1843).

^b(2) Coin hoard (TL 11258765) was found in 1960 in the field immediately S. of the Manor House. It consisted of 183 silver coins dating from 1557 to 1644 (PM; Brit. Num. J., XXXIII (1964), 154–5).

(3) Cultivation remains. The common fields of the parish were finally enclosed by an Act of Parliament of 1864 (NRO, Enclosure Map, 1864) but by that date only the W. part of the parish, then divided into three large fields, remained open. The rest had certainly been enclosed by the late 17th century and probably much earlier (NRO, map of Lutton, 1690). Ridge-and-furrow of the common fields, as they existed in the 19th century, survives, or can be traced on air photographs, in two places. N.W. of the village (TL 107878) are the remains of two interlocked furlongs, and further W. (TL 097882) are traces of five more interlocked furlongs. All these lay in Oundle Field in 1864, and the individual strips on the pre-enclosure map of the same date and on the Tithe Map of 1843 (both in NRO), can be correlated with the traceable ridge-and-furrow. Further ridge-and-furrow of the same form can be seen S.E. of the village (TL 112875 and 115874). This area was already enclosed in 1690. (RAF VAP CPE/UK 2109, 3398–9)