Daily Tours – The Lost Medieval Village of Sudeley
There are lost, deserted, and abandoned medieval villages scattered all over Britain. What happened? And where did all the people go? Each village has its own story to tell, and Sudeley’s is just waiting to be told.
This October, archaeologists from DigVentures will be using new evidence from LiDAR imagery to investigate the ruins of a lost Medieval village on the grounds of Sudeley Castle. Join the team for daily tours to discover secrets revealed within the soil.
Will the lost village of Sudeley be finally located?
Join the DigVentures team for a behind-the-scenes tour of the dig where fascinating history is unearthed for the first time. The dig is sure to turn up all manner of surprising discoveries. What did the people of the past leave behind? And what clues will the archaeologists find?
Enjoy a rare chance to witness archaeologists at work, and get a close-up look at their latest discoveries.
Tours run at 2pm on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
This event is suitable for adults and families of all ages. If you love history, are curious about archaeology, or would simply love to explore this stunning Tudor castle and its history, then come along to discover what Dig Ventures will unearth!
The lost medieval village of Sudeley
Recorded in the Domesday Book, and occupied for 400 years, the settlement included 40 households, making it one of the largest in the region. But in the 15th century, the settlement vanished.
Since then, the original location of this ruined village has never been rediscovered. The story of who lived there, and what happened to them, has been lost. But now, new evidence from LiDAR imagery has revealed the village’s possible location, including ghostly imprints of a row of medieval housing plots.
Daily Tours
Daily 12pm - 12:45pm
Meeting Point: Ha Ha
Tours are included with admission and are led by the Dig Ventures team
The lost medieval village of Sudeley
Sudeley was a settlement recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086 with a ‘population of 40 households, including 18 villagers, 8 smallholders, 7 slaves, and 7 female slaves’. Owned by Harold son of Lord Ralph, it also had 4 lord’s plough teams, and 13 men’s plough teams.
It’s thought that the village was occupied for some 400 years, before it disappeared. Was this because it was cleared to make way for the castle, whose construction began in 1443?
Today, there is no town of Sudeley and its location has been lost to time. Our goal is to find out whether the images on LiDAR have finally revealed its location, and whether we can find any tangible traces of the people who lived there.
What the dig is looking for
Imagine exploring a deserted medieval village. You wander down an ancient hollow way, pass a deserted fishpond, and step into an abandoned house. Inside, you find all sorts of clues about medieval village life. But where, oh where, did everyone go?
This will be our sixth excavation at Sudeley Castle, and this year our focus will be on finding out what was here before the castle. Most importantly, we’ll be looking for evidence that can help us determine whether the housing plots we can see on LiDAR represent the lost medieval village of Sudeley.
Whether it’s personal artefacts, the footprints of buildings, charred seeds or plant remains, animal bones, or the stratigraphic layers that can unlock the sequence and chronology of events, we’ll be looking for any archaeological evidence that can determine the age of the remains, and add to the story.
Our hope is that the evidence from this site can finally locate the missing village of Sudeley, and contribute to research being done by Gloucestershire County History Trust and Victoria County History project for Gloucestershire into the history of Winchcombe and the surrounding area over the next few years.
Over the last few years, Dig Ventures have revealed traces of a temporary Tudor palace, the destruction of Winchcombe Abbey, and a Tudor-garden-makeover given by Thomas Seymour as a wedding gift to his new wife Katherine Parr.
Now, it’s time to look for evidence that takes the story further back in time – to before the castle was built, and to unearth the evidence of the medieval village it was built upon.
Explore more
There is always something going on at Sudeley…