Quarrendon or Quarrendon Leas is a medieval English village near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire, England, which has been depopulated since the 16th century and is now a scheduled monument.
Description
Quarrendon's site is now a large area of fields and riverside meadows that provide green space between Meadowcroft and Central on the outskirts of the town of Aylesbury. Visible in these fields and meadows are the remains of a medieval village, a church, a manor house and its moat and a Tudor water garden. These historic features are now nationally-protected as a scheduled monument. The area also has wildlife value with a mixture of habitats and the River Thame forming the southern boundary of the site.
The deserted village
The layout of the village of Quarrendon in the late middle ages is preserved among the earthworks which can be seen in the area today. At this time the village consisted of farmsteads which were clustered around irregularly shaped greens, linked to each other, to their fields and to Aylesbury by sunken roadways. This village had developed over a long period, centuries, during which time the layout and social structure may have changed. The earthworks which form the visible remains are important but below these there are probably more remnants and artefacts which could be excavated by archaeologists in the future. There are also areas that were significant to the village which are outside the boundaries of the scheduled monument, these areas should also be under appropriate management. An example is that of a field containing ridge-and-furrow, which is an indicator of a medieval open field system of farming situated between the scheduled monument and Quarrendon House Farm.