Are deserted villages common?
Its estimated there are 200 such villages in Norfolk alone, although traces of most have been destroyed by ploughing. Godwick is a particularly good example because the land was never disturbed, except by sheep. Examples near Fakenham include the evocatively-named Pudding Norton and Little Bittering, mentioned in Domesday but gone by 1500. In Suffolk, West Stowe, near Bury St Edmunds, was a Saxon settlement mysteriously abandoned. The Yorkshire village of Wharrham Percy, one of many deserted villages in that county, is today much studied by historians who lay the blame squarely on sheep farmers. Enclosure of common land for pasture was among the grievances that led to Robert Ketts 1549 uprising in Norfolk; like all such resistance it was savagely and utterly crushed.
