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| The Origins of the English Village |
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When did the typical English village begin? That is, when did the outlying farms join together to become a nucleated village? Shapwick is a good place to start.
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Shapwick
Shapwick, in Somerset, is in many ways a typical English village, but it it has been laid out on a very distinctive 'ladder pattern'.This air photo shows the pattern, with two parallel roads running top to bottom, and a series of rungs of the ladder running between them. Most of the houses are set along the 'rungs' of the ladder. Note the church at the centre, and the Manor house at the top.
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Plan
The plan (right) shows that the pattern can be traced back at least to the 17th century. Note the brook running down the centre, and the two streets, one to either side of it. It was clearly a deliberate planned layout: but when did this layout take place?
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