Waterden medieval settlement remains

Waterden is a deserted medieval village in Norfolk, east of England. It lies about five kilometres west of Walsingham. The site is a Scheduled Monument, protected by law. Traces of the village appear in records from the 11th century. It was still a small community in the 14th century, when 24 people paid taxes. The village’s earthworks show where houses, streets and a green once stood. A map from 1714 marks the main street running down a shallow valley. A 16th-century hall once stood nearby but was pulled down in the 18th century. Aerial photographs reveal outlines of homesteads and lanes that have vanished from view. Visitors walk along a modern track that follows part of the old main street. A shallow stream runs beside it. On either side, low banks and hollows mark where homes once stood. The remains of a green stretch for more than thirty metres. To the east, a low bank rises two metres above the ground. Further earthworks show where enclosures and ponds were once kept.