An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Northamptonshire, Volume 2, Archaeological Sites in Central Northamptonshire. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1979.
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'Middleton', in An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in the County of Northamptonshire, Volume 2, Archaeological Sites in Central Northamptonshire, (London, 1979) pp. 109-110. British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/rchme/northants/vol2/pp109-110 [accessed 24 April 2024]
In this section
41 MIDDLETON
(OS 1:10000 a SP 89 SW, b SP 88 NW, c SP 88 NE)
The parish was once part of Cottingham, and covers 640 hectares of land immediately W. of Corby. It extends S.E. in a long, narrow strip, from the R. Welland which forms its N. boundary. Some two-thirds of the parish, in the S.E., consists of undulating land between 110 m. and 137 m. above OD, covered by Boulder Clay. To the N.W. the land falls steeply across outcrops of limestones and clays to the R. Welland, here flowing at just over 60 m. above OD. In the extreme S.E. of the parish there is an area of land which was known as Beanfield Lawn (Plate 19) and was formerly a detached part of Benefield parish. It extended into the present parish of Corby, in which the moated site associated with this land is situated (Corby (17)).
Roman
For Roman Road 57a, see p. 186.
Medieval and Later
(1) Cultivation Remains. The common fields of the parish were enclosed, together with those of Cottingham, by Act of Parliament of 1815 (NRO, Enclosure Map, 1825). Immediately prior to that date there appear to have been four open fields.
Ridge-and-furrow of these fields exists on the ground or can be traced on air photographs over a wide area. N.W. of the village, in the former Meadow and Gaulsborough Fields, there are impressive blocks of end-on furlongs of reversed-S shape, arranged in a radiating pattern around the sides of an almost isolated hill (SP 830904). To the S. of the village, blocks of end-on furlongs on almost level ground are traceable on air photographs in the former Wood Field (around SP 845890). Further S.E., to the N. and E. of Upper Middleton Lodge (at SP 855886 and 860886) more ridge-and-furrow is visible on land which was certainly forested in 1580 (NRO, Map of Beanfield Lawn), while S. again, within the boundaries of Beanfield Lawn itself (at SP 858879), more ridge-and-furrow exists (RAF VAP CPE/UK/2109, 4268–72; F21 58/RAF/ 1210, 0014–6, 0022–5; F22 58/RAF/1210, 0022–5; F21 82/RAF/865, 0235–40; F21 540/RAF/1312, 0096–7, 0100–4).
Undated
(2) Mound (unlocated, but perhaps around SP 840895), recorded in the late 19th century as somewhat ill-defined and planted with trees 'on the side of the road above Middleton' (Northants. N. and Q., 2 (1888), No. 368). The modern road has been re-aligned and cuts through the former hilltop, perhaps destroying the mound. It is probably the mound described in the 18th century as being in Cottingham.