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Sevenhampton, Gloucestershire

Coordinates: 51°53′30″N 1°57′00″W / 51.891667°N 1.95°W / 51.891667; -1.95
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Sevenhampton
St Andrew's Church
Sevenhampton is located in Gloucestershire
Sevenhampton
Sevenhampton
Location within Gloucestershire
OS grid referenceSP034215
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townCHELTENHAM
Postcode districtGL54
Dialling code01242
PoliceGloucestershire
FireGloucestershire
AmbulanceSouth Western
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Gloucestershire
51°53′30″N 1°57′00″W / 51.891667°N 1.95°W / 51.891667; -1.95

Sevenhampton is a village and civil parish in Cotswold District, Gloucestershire, 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Cheltenham. The parish is located in the Cotswolds in an area designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Most of the parish population reside in the two main settlements of Sevenhampton village and Brockhampton village, both are located in the valley of the River Coln.

The Church of St Andrew was built in the 12th century. It is a grade I listed building.[1][2]

Demographics

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Year 2001 census 2011 census 2021 census
Population 349.[3] 333.[3] 300.[3]

Name

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The name was recorded as " SEVEN..hā..TONE " in the Domesday Book of 1086 A.D.[4] The Survey of English Place-names documents its history as SEVEN..hā..TONE (1086), Seuehamton (1221), Sevehampton (1241), Seueshampton (1327), Sevezhampton (1327), and Senhampton or Sen(n)yngton (1575).[5]

The parish is now known by the village name of Sevenhampton, but during the 16th century it was variously known as Senhampton and Sennington.[a] A house near Brockhampton was known as Sennington,[b] and an old village now deserted was known as Old Sennington.[c]

The name element seve (13th–14th century) is from English dialect seave (sedge or rush).[d][e] The springs and streams that feed the River Coln in its early stages provide an ideal habitat for sedges and rushes to grow. During the medieval period sedges and rushes were known as "seaves".[f] The name element Seven arose from a common mistake whereby Anglo-Saxons confused Old Norse sef for Old English seofon (seven).[g][h]

The name element hampton is from Old English hām and tūn.[i][j] The toponym for Sevenhampton might therefore be village where seeves grow (or "overgrown with seeves").

History

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The Domesday Book entry for Sevenhampton also included Prestbury in the land and resources totals, which were 5 lord's plough teams and 29 men's plough teams of ploughland, 20 acres (8.1 hectares) of meadow, and 1 by 0.5 leagues[k] of woodland.[4]

A rabbit warren was established in the woods in the 13th century,[7] however the warren was later destroyed in the 17th century.[8]

During the Middle Ages the woods were of economic importance for the supply of timber and firewood;[9] also for sheep grazing in the wood-pasture's.[10] Parts of the woods were available to local people as common land for the grazing of horses and cattle.[11]

Sennington DMV

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Old Sennington is a deserted medieval village (DMV) about 0.5 miles (0.8 km) north-west of Sevenhampton village.[12][13] The site is listed as a Scheduled Monument.[14]

Geography and ecology

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The landscape is mostly of high limestone plateau that has been bisected by the north – south aligned valley of the River Coln. The river rises from springs to the north of Brockhampton and is fed by more springs along the way.[l] The springs and streams that feed the River Coln in its early stages provide an ideal habitat for sedges and rushes to grow. During the medieval period sedges and rushes were known as "seeves", hence the origin of the name Seven..hampton.[m]

Puckham Woods is a large area of ancient woodland in a deep valley on the western fringe of the parish. It is designated as a biological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI). The woodland consists of a mix of original and managed ancient woodland.[15] At the time of the Domesday Book (1086), part of the woods were within the bishop of Hereford's Prestbury estate, which presumably included the Queen's Wood area to the west of Cleeve Common.[n]

There are fragmented areas designated as ' Woodpasture and Parkland – BAP Priority Habitat ' in and around Brockhampton Park.[16][o]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ British History Online. . . " The parish name, first recorded in 1086 and with later variants including Senhampton and Sennington. . . "[6]
  2. ^ British History Online. . . " The south-western corner of Brockhampton Park stands on the site of the house begun by Paul Peart in or soon after 1639. . .In the late 18th century and the early 19th, when it was known as Sennington or Sevenhampton Park. . . "[6]
  3. ^ See (Contents) > History > Sennington DMV > . . .Old Sennington is a deserted medieval village. . .
  4. ^ WiKtionary : English dialect < seave > From Old Norse sef, whence also Danish siv, Icelandic sef and Swedish säv (“club-rush”).
  5. ^ WiKtionary : Old Norse < sef > " sedge, rush ".
  6. ^ See Rushbearing > Dialect names for rush
  7. ^ WiKtionary : Old Norse < sef > " sedge, rush ".
  8. ^ WiKtionary : Old English < seofon > " seven ".
  9. ^ WiKtionary : Old English < hām
  10. ^ WiKtionary : Old English < tūn
  11. ^ Woodland 3.0 miles (4.8 km) * 1.5 miles (2.4 km)
  12. ^ British History Online. . . " The river Coln, rising at springs in Sevenhampton and Charlton Abbots, to the north. . . "[6]
  13. ^ See (Contents) > Name
  14. ^ British History Online . . . " Puckham woods (or wood), which were partly in Prestbury parish, were presumably represented in 1086 by woodland recorded on the bishop of Hereford's Prestbury estate. . . "[6]
  15. ^ See United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan > Priority habitats

Citations

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  1. ^ Historic England. "Church of St. Andrew (1341334)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  2. ^ *"St Andrew's Church, Sevenhampton". Coln River Group of Parishes. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  3. ^ a b c *"Sevenhampton". CITY POPULATION. Retrieved 2 July 2023.
  4. ^ a b *"SEVENHAMPTON". Open Domesday. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  5. ^ "Survey of English Place-Names: Sevenhampton, Gloucestershire". University of Nottingham. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d Cragoe, Jurica & Williamson 2001, pp. 166–187.
  7. ^ Cragoe, Jurica & Williamson 2001, pp. 166–187 "The Bishop [of Hereford] had established a warren in the woods by the 1270s..."
  8. ^ Cragoe, Jurica & Williamson 2001, pp. 166–187 "under an agreement of 1657... the warren was destroyed... the lady of Prestbury had liberty to dispose of the coneys in that part of the woods belonging to her manor..."
  9. ^ Cragoe, Jurica & Williamson 2001, pp. 166–187: "the episcopal estate derived an income from sales of wood and undergrowth in the later Middle Ages..."
  10. ^ Cragoe, Jurica & Williamson 2001, pp. 166–187 "In the later 14th century, when the bishop of Hereford wintered sheep at Puckham... Llanthony Priory kept a flock in Sevenhampton for at least part of the year... The priory reserved the hay from its meadows and tithes as fodder for its sheep..."
  11. ^ Cragoe, Jurica & Williamson 2001, pp. 166–187: "Puckham woods, which were partly in Prestbury... had been used as a common in the 1270s. . .and the tenants of Sevenhampton manor had a customary right to graze horses and cattle but not sheep throughout the year in them in 1503..."
  12. ^ Cragoe, Jurica & Williamson 2001, pp. 166–187: " East of the road 12th- and 13th-century pottery has been recovered at the site of a deserted settlement high above the Coln valley in a place, near the head of a dry side valley. . .known by the mid 16th century as Old Sennington. . . "
  13. ^ "Deserted Villages in Gloucestershire". University of Hull. Retrieved 2 July 2023. The earthwork remains of a settlement known as Old Sennington can still be seen from the air. These include at least two north-south hollow ways, and a number of indistinct croft boundaries. . .A report of coins having been discovered was published in 1889 which also suggested that the original chapel of Sevenhampton may have been located at the settlement (Hall 1889-90) . . .Unpublished excavations at the site in 1936 revealed stone walls as well as twelfth and thirteenth-century pottery (Baldwyn and O'Neil 1958, Dunning 1949). . .
  14. ^ Historic England. "Sennington ancient village. (1003335)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  15. ^ "MAGiC MaP : Puckham Woods SSSI". Natural England – Magic in the Cloud.
  16. ^ "MAGiC MaP : Brockhampton Park – Wood-pasture and parkland". Natural England – Magic in the Cloud.


Sources

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Media related to Sevenhampton, Gloucestershire at Wikimedia Commons