Stainsby medieval village

The Tees Valley local region is a rich agricultural lowland, with varied soils on glacial and alluvial deposits once supporting dense concentrations of market towns and villages. Depopulation has thinned the numbers of villages, while enclosure in the 17th and 18th centuries has brought scatters of isolated farmsteads to landscapes once dominated by great expanses of open, communally organised townfields.

The deserted medieval village at Stainsby is well preserved and retains significant archaeological deposits. The village shows evidence of more than one phase of development and, taken together with the remains of its open field system, it will add greatly to our knowledge and understanding of the development of medieval settlement in the region.

The monument includes the deserted remains of the medieval village of Stainsby and part of its surviving open field system, situated on the east bank of the Stainsby Beck.

The earliest known reference to a settlement in the area is contained in the Doomsday Book of 1086 when it is recorded as `three carucates at Steinesbi'. The manor was held at the end of the 13th century by Walter de Stainsby and its descent over the following 700 years is well recorded in documents. In 1302 nine inhabitants of `Staynesby' are recorded as being eligible to pay taxes. By 1757 all but one of the farms in the village had been dispersed to other parts of the estate; only Stainsby Grange Farm remained in the village.

The village survives as a series of earthworks and buried remains in the fields south and east of Stainsby Grange Farm. The western side of the village is visible as a line of three rectangular enclosures or tofts, oriented north to south, bounded by low earthen banks standing to an average height of 0.5m. The remains of a fourth toft lie at the north end of this row.

A World War II Type 22 pillbox also included in the scheduling is situated on the edge of one of these tofts; this was one of several perimeter defence works placed on the monument associated with Thornaby Airfield. The rectangular enclosures measure up to 35m wide and 50m long and are separated from each other by shallow ditches 0.3m to 0.5m deep. Abutting this row of tofts at the east is a second line of rectangular enclosures of a similar size to the first; this row is well defined at its southern end where two enclosures are clearly visible; the remainder of this row has been partly obscured by a post medieval boundary bank.

At the eastern end of some of the tofts, traces of slight rectangular platforms indicate the foundations of rectangular long houses. The western limit of the tofts is marked by a linear, hollow feature interpreted as a back lane with a prominent headland to its rear. At the south end of the monument, east of the two rows of rectangular tofts, there are the slight earthwork remains of further rectangular enclosures, oriented north west to south east, and a hollow way. These features were first revealed on aerial photographs as earthworks in 1946 and as soil marks during an episode of ploughing in 1978. There is a line of at least three small enclosures measuring 27m by 22m, and one large rectangular enclosure at its southern end measuring 45 by 30m fronting onto a broad hollow way to the east.

These tofts are enclosed on the east by a linear ditch interpreted as a former back lane. This is thought to represent the eastern side of the village but the two sides are not parallel with each other and are thought to represent different phases in the development of the village. To the north of these features there are the remains of prominent earthworks including the continuation of the hollow way northwards and the remains of at least one further toft, visible as an oval platform at its northern end.

A large circular depression at the northern end of the hollow way is interpreted as a pond and several linear channels between it and the stream are interpreted as drainage channels. A linear platform adjacent to the stream is thought to represent the site of a mill or a fishery referred to in a document at the end of the 13th century. To the west and east of the village, beyond the two back lanes which mark the rear of the tofts on both sides, there are the well preserved remains of part of the open field system which once surrounded the village on all sides. The surviving remains are visible as parts of three large medieval furlongs, or fields, with intact headlands. Each furlong contains rig and furrow cultivation which survives well and stands to a maximum height of 0.5m.