Eydon

23 EYDON

(OS 1:10000 ^a SP 54 NW, ^b SP 54 NE, ^c SP 55 SW, ^d SP 55 SE)

The roughly oval parish, covering about 650 hectares, occupies a wide spur between the R. Cherwell, here flowing S. on the W. boundary, and a S.W.-flowing stream on the S. boundary. The central part of the parish, rising to 180 m. above OD, is capped by Northampton Sand and the land falls away gently across Lias clays and a narrow band of Marlstone Rock to the streams flowing at about 120 m. above OD.

Medieval and Later

^c(1) Settlement Remains (SP 541502; Fig. 12), formerly part of Eydon village, lie along the W. side of the W. street of the village, on Northampton Sand at 165 m. above OD. Eydon has an unusual plan, based on two almost parallel streets orientated roughly N.-S., with the church in a rather isolated position to the S. It now appears to be a single-street village with a back lane but earthworks suggest that there were once dwellings on both sides of both streets and that the apparent back lane was once of similar importance to the present main street. This indicates that the village may have been deliberately planned with this layout. The area around the church where traces of settlement might be expected is devoid of remains apart from some banks, which do not appear to be old, in the copse W. of the church. The remains along the W. street are now confined to the single field which remains open following modern housing development; a few low scarps and uneven ground are all that is visible, but on air photographs taken before the recent building further scarps and banks suggesting former house-sites are visible to the S. (RAF VAP CPE/UK/1926, 1061–3, 3061–3).

^c(2) Quarries (SP 538505), lie N.W. of the village, on Northampton Sand at 174 m. above OD. An area of some 8 hectares is occupied by numerous interlocked pits and spoil heaps resulting from shallow surface quarrying, probably of medieval date. The W. part has been damaged by modern cultivation, but on the E. edge some isolated quarry pits have been cut into earlier ridge-and-furrow which in turn appears to end at the edge of the main area of quarrying. No date can be assigned to these quarries. (RAF VAP CPE/UK/1926, 3062–4)

(3) Cultivation Remains. The common fields of the parish were enclosed following an Act of Parliament of 1760. Ridge-and-furrow of these fields exists on the ground or can be traced on air photographs over much of the parish, except on the Northampton Sand deposits where modern cultivation has apparently removed nearly all trace. It is arranged mainly in interlocked and end-on furlongs, often of reversed-S form. A notable feature occurs on landslips in the N.W. of the parish (around SP 533510) where Upper Lias Clay has slumped N.W. into the valley of the Cherwell. Most of the ridge-and-furrow avoids or stops short of the lower edge of the landslips but at one point on Eydon Hill (SP 535512) one block of ridge-and-furrow rides over them. A field in the N. of the parish (SP 540511) is exceptional for the extreme narrowness of the ridges. In places these are less than 2 m. wide but they otherwise appear to be of normal common-field form. (RAF VAP CPE/UK/1926, 1061–6, 3060–6; CPE/UK/1994, 2095–8, 4098–102; 106G/UK/721, 4000–2)