In South Oxfordshire there is the remains of a settlement in the parish
of Bix, about 5 miles to the north of Henley. In a somewhat remote
valley you can see the walls of a medieval church but very little else
to show that this was once a village. Local anecdote suggests that it
was abandoned in the 18th century because of plague or some other
epidemic. I suspect the real reason may be a poor water supply as
Chiltern valleys are often quite dry so I suppose a series of severe
droughts could lead to total abandonment.
Brian Read
On 5 Nov 2007, at 08:03, Rodney Gunner wrote:
> Hi i am researching the lost village of Parham in West Sussex, i have
> a lot
> of information, date of removal etc, but looking for the real reasons
> of
> the removal of villages from estates, such as Parham , it is stated
> that the
> village was removed and the inhabitants moved to Rackham, a few miles
> way,
> for hygiene reasons, this was in the 1750s, what sort of hygiene
> reasons
> would a village have to be moved !!!,?.Or did the owner of the estate
> just
> not want a village of peasants in view of his grand house etc.
>
> An interesting debate for Monday !.
> Rodney Gunner W.A.S.
>
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