Lost and Found

Nicola here. I was woken in the night by the sound of a downpour of rain, which was very welcome as the UK has been enduring a summer of drought. One of the consequences of this is that river and lake levels have fallen dramatically over the past few months and fields and gardens have dried out. This has led to ancient buildings and structures being revealed that have been lost for centuries, giving us a glimpse into the past that we wouldn’t usually have. It's not the way you would choose to discover more about history but it is an opportunity to learn more about what lies beneath our feet - or in some cases, rivers and reservoirs.

At Lydiard Park where I am a trustee of the Friends charity, we arranged for some drone photography to see if we could see any detail of the seventeenth century gardens that we knew had been swept away when the grounds were landscaped by Capability Brown in the Georgian era. (Photo credit Phil Jefferies and copyright Friends of Lydiard Park). The results were even more exciting than we had imagined! We knew from early maps that the previous Elizabethan-style manor house had had extensive gardens leading down to a canal and lake. From the air these were clearly visible in a grid pattern that would originally have contained a gravel forecourt, formal flowerbeds, topiary, paths and terraces. It’s been a fascinating insight. A similar thing happened at Chatsworth where the drought revealed the outline of the Great Parterre which was designed in 1699.

There’s something about “lost” things whether they are villages, landscapes or other buildings that really appeals to me. Perhaps it’s the secrets you imagine they might be hiding, that will be revealed when thy come back into the light. Or perhaps it’s that all of these places has a story to tell; they’ve been lost and now we get an unexpected and tantalising glimpse into the past.

The British Isles are rich in lost villages and landscapes. When I was a child in Yorkshire, I was fascinated by the story of Semerwater, about which a poem had been written that began:

Deep asleep, deep asleep,
Deep asleep it lies,
The still lake of Semerwater
Under the still skies.

And many a fathom, many a fathom,
Many a fathom below,
In a king's tower and a queen's bower
The fishes come and go.

(The picture above, copyright The Tate, shows a painting of Semer Water by Turner.) This painting and the evocative rhyme enough to completely entrance my child’s imagination, especially the reference to the Queen’s bower. Who was she – and why had her bower been drowned? When I looked into the story it turned out that there was a legend of an angel who had visited the city at Semer Water a thousand years ago, disguised as a poor beggar. When no one would give him food and shelter he cursed the city, all but the house of one poor couple who had taken him in. As a consequence the waters rose and the city was lost.

It's a great story but there is no evidence to suggest that there is a lost city beneath the lake. However there are plenty of drowned villages about the country, including Derwent and Ashopton that were lost in 1945 when Ladybower Reservoir was created in Derbyshire. In Rutland, Nether Hambleton was demolished to make way for Rutland Water. There are examples all over the British Isles and some are revealing their secrets now that water levels are so low.

Villages have been lost for lots of other reasons too. Dunwich in Suffolk disappeared into the sea in the 13^th century. It’s said that you can still hear the church bells
pealing beneath the water. Imber in Wiltshire and Tyneham in Dorset were commandeered during the Second World War for target practice and manoeuvres. And centuries ago, of course, as many as 3000 villages were lost during the Black Death.

If we look at the Georgian and Regency period, there did seem to be a penchant for noblemen sweeping aside old villages in order to improve the look of their country estates. At Wimpole Hall, the 2^nd Earl of Harwicke commissioned Capability Brown to redesign his parkland to improve the views from the mansion in 1767. Sadly this involved sweeping aside various small villages! In Yorkshire the village of Henderskelfe was destroyed in 1699 to enable the building of Castle Howard and its grounds. In some cases, landowners built new villages for their displaced tenants – but some didn’t, merely tossing them out of their homes.

In 1780, Joseph Damer, Lord Milton, decided that the market town of Middleton, adjacent to his home at Milton Abbey, was spoiling his rural peace and quiet. Her commissioned an architect called William Chambers plus the ubiquitous Capability Brown to design a new village, Milton Abbas, in a wooded valley away from the Abbey.

Most of the townspeople were relocated there and Middleton was demolished and the site landscaped. Thirty six identical thatched cottages were built with the intention of each housing 2 families. Each house was fronted with a lawn and planted with a horse chestnut tree. No doubt  Lord Milton felt he was being very generous and perhaps plenty of people were grateful for a new house. To us these days, however, does it feel like generosity or breathtaking arrogance? There is no doubt, however, that it is a great plot idea for a book!

Do lost settlements capture your imagination? Have you read any good books that draw on this idea for their story? Both Kath McGurl (The Drowned Village) and Lorna Cook (The Forgotten Village) have written great books inspired by places that have been lost and I’m sure there are many more.

Comments

[Donna S.]

Oh Nicola, this was just a fascinating post and I enjoyed it so Much! Here in Canada, within living memory, they widened the great St.Lawrence river and there were towns and farms and villages all lost under water. I have read a book written by a woman who lived in one and toldabout it but for the life of me, cannot remember her name or the title of the book.
Two of my favourite authors have written books with drought uncovering villages and murder mysteries: Peter Robinson's "In a Dry Season" and Reginald Hill's "On Beulah Heights". Wonderfully atmospheric, both.

[SUSAN WARD]

Here in Wales the drowned village of Dryweryn ,flooded to provide water to Liverpool is still very much remembered. They tried so hard to save their homes. There was a documentary on about it not so long ago. Quite a number of people who had lived there took part. Their whole community was displaced and every one sent to areas where they'd knew no one as they were sent to different towns and community.

[Nicola Cornick]

I'm very glad you enjoyed the post, Donna. Thank you. The widening of the St Lawrence sounds very similar to projects over her to create reservoirs, thereby losing various towns and villages to the water. I haven't read either of those books so will look out for them.

[Nicola Cornick]

Susan, these schemes do have a high price attached don't they, in terms of human displacement and suffering. It's not just the bricks and mortar that count although our homes are precious enough, but the community and the memories as well.

[Teresa Broderick]

A fascinating post! I don't know of any drowned villages here in Ireland though. We have had the same weather as ye have had Nicola. Today though it's wild and wet.
I was always fascinated with the village of Tyneham. I thought it was so sad the people had to leave. And worse that it was to be used for target practice.
I do think it was complete arrogance on the parts of the gentry who displaced people because their houses were in the way!!
I have The Drowned Village on my bookshelf. Must get to it and must look up The Forgotten Village too. I do love stories like these.

[Kareni]

What a fascinating and poignant post, Nicola. But how neat to use a drone to see glimpses of the past!

[Nicola Cornick]

The drought does seem to have vanished into a wet and windy autumn, doesn't it, Teresa!

I hpoe you enjoy The Drowned Village. It's one of my favourites of Kath's books.

[Nicola Cornick]

Thanks, Kareni! We were very lucky to have such a talented drone photographer as Phil available to help us see what was beneath the surface. It was amazing!

[Karin]

It's amazing what is uncovered which lakes and rivers recede. In my area, people find Native American arrowheads when the lakes dry up. There are also many lost farms and settlements under the manmade reservoirs of New York and New Jersey. Most are not so ancient, since many of the reservoirs were built in the 1920's and 30's.

[Nicola Cornick]

How fascinating about the arrowheads, Karin. It would be so exciting to find something like that!

[Annette N]

Thank you for the wonderful post and the pictures and the sense of history.

Y'all have a drought and find lost villages and beautiful gardens.

We have a drought and there are bodies under the water. It is evident you are much more refined.

Hope everyone is well.

[Jeanne Behnke]

So interesting & intriguing Nicola. The stuff great stories are made of. I just love the stories of Brigadoon & Atlantis which are kind of in this same vein. I remember another fairy tale story along these same lines when I was younger. The village wasn't Brigadoon but it was basically the same story. I was trying to find it with Google but nothing came up that seemed quite right. I'm in California and we're in the middle of a major drought but so far no lost villages have turned up.

[Constance]

So interesting, Nicola - and how lovely to get some good out of the drought - the photo of the garden layout is wonderful!

We live 40 miles east of the Quabbin Reservoir, which was formed in the 1930s to provide a watershed and water source for Boston and other towns in Massachusetts, USA. Quabbin is a Nipmuc Indian word meaning “place of many waters” and today it is a beautiful spot, with an average depth of over 50 feet and much wildlife. But 4 towns were flooded to create it, along with a ridge of hills still known for its beauty, and there was much consternation at the time about relocating the area’s inhabitants. It must have been very difficult for those displaced families.

[Vicki L]

In the southeast there are tons of reservoirs that were made by flooding farms, towns, churches and cemeteries. TVA - Tennessee Valley Authority.

Cades Cove in the Smokies was made into a federal park by kicking out entire villages and communities as well as individual farming families. Whole communities were torn apart and dispersed.

I've seen various photos of the old gardens and towns that have been "re-discovered" when droughts come in. Drone footage has really made some remarkable finds and observations.

Definitely the way it was done in the 30's and 40's would be considered arrogant and rude. But then again, the way highways/interstates were put in through communities in cities in the 60's and 70's wasn't much better.

[Nicola Cornick]

LOL, Annette!!! Yes, I had read about some of those discoveries...

[Nicola Cornick]

Atlantis is the "big daddy" of disappearing landscapes, isn't it! And of course there was Lyonesse, supposedly somewhere under the sea off Cornwall. I guess there is an element of truth in these stories as we know quite a few places did indeed disappear into the sea at one time or another.
And I love Brigadoon! A magical story.

[Nicola Cornick]

Hi Constance. That's such a poignant story about the Quabbin Reservoir. The human cost of creating these lakes is very high and no matter how beautiful they seem afterwards their past isn't peaceful, is it.

[Nicola Cornick]

Good point, Vicki! Not much has changed, has it. The way that the HS2 railway is being put through rural communities here is very similar and causes a lot of heartbreak.