The King’s Settlement
In September 2025, Congerstone became the focus of the final phase of the Bosworth Links project. Over a single weekend, volunteers worked alongside village residents and archaeologists from the University of Leicester to excavate twenty-two archaeological test pits in gardens, orchards, and open green spaces across the village. Though modest – each measuring just one metre square – these excavations produced a remarkable archive of more than 6,400 artefacts, ranging from prehistoric pottery to modern debris. Together, these finds tell a long-term story: of prehistoric settlers, Roman farmers and a settlement that began as a small medieval community focused on its church, expanded and contracted over time, and ultimately took on the form visible today.
From Hunter Steps to Roman Fields
Long before Congerstone emerged as a recognisable settlement, the surrounding landscape was already being used by people. The excavations recovered a small number of worked flints and a single sherd of Bronze Age pottery, dating broadly between c. 4200 and 2800 years ago. These finds represent the earliest evidence for human activity in the area, but they are widely dispersed and best interpreted as background traces; evidence of people moving through the River Sence valley, perhaps for hunting or seasonal resource use, rather than permanent settlement.
A similar pattern characterises the Roman period. Occasional fragments of Romano-British pottery and a possible late Roman coin (c. late 3rd–early 4th century AD) were recovered from several test pits. These objects are generally small and worn, indicating that they were not deposited in place but introduced through agricultural processes such as manuring. Rather than pointing to a Roman settlement at Congerstone itself, the evidence suggests that the area lay within a wider rural landscape of farms and fields linked to the regional centre at Mancetter (Manduessedum). The traces visible here reflect cultivation and movement rather than concentrated occupation.
Congerstone in the Saxon and Norman World
Congerstone first appears clearly in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Cuningestone, meaning “the king’s settlement.” This name hints at an early association with royal administration. In the Anglo-Saxon period, the village may have formed part of a royal estate centred on Market Bosworth, possibly serving as the residence of a reeve responsible for managing land, collecting dues, and overseeing agricultural production. In this context, Congerstone may have had administrative as well as agricultural functions.
By 1086, the village was divided between two landholdings, each supporting its own tenants, plough teams, and resources. This division likely influenced the layout of the settlement in subsequent centuries. Archaeologically, however, this early phase remains elusive. Only a handful of Saxo-Norman pottery sherds found near the church indicate activity during the 10th and 11th centuries. Their scarcity suggests a small, largely timber-built settlement, leaving limited durable traces.
Both archaeological and documentary sources indicate that early Congerstone was focused on its church. St Mary the Virgin, first recorded in the early 13th century but probably of earlier origin, formed the settlement’s focal point. Around it, a small nucleated village developed on slightly higher ground above the River Sence. Over time, this core began to expand. The presence of two manors may have encouraged the growth of separate clusters of settlement, laying the foundations for the more dispersed medieval layout revealed by later evidence.
The Medieval Village
By the 12th century, Congerstone had developed into a more complex settlement with multiple centres of activity. Early medieval expansion spread southwards along modern Shadows Lane and eastwards towards Barton Road. Pottery recovered from across the village indicates widespread activity from at least the 12th century onwards. Much of this pottery originated from regional production centres such as Potters Marston and Chilvers Coton, demonstrating integration into local trade networks. In some locations, larger, less worn fragments found in some areas suggest that pottery was deposited close to where it was used, pointing to nearby occupation rather than distant manuring alone.
By the 13th century, activity became more concentrated along Shackerstone Road, north of the church, forming a more linear arrangement of properties. Archaeological work has identified ditches, pits, and metalled surfaces marking the rear boundaries of rectangular tofts – plots typical of medieval settlement, combining domestic space at the front with gardens and working areas behind. This evolving layout reflects both population growth and increasing organisation. Documentary evidence records a rise from eighteen households in 1086 to thirty-eight by 1379. At the same time, the dual manorial structure – associated with the Motons of Peckleton and the Shepeys of Shackerstone – likely contributed to the village’s dispersed form. Rather than a single centre, Congerstone developed as a network of related but distinct zones of activity.
Earthworks in the fields north of the church reveal medieval ridge and furrow as well as other rectangular enclosure which mark the platforms of former buildings
Beyond the modern village, earthworks preserve traces of this more extensive medieval settlement. In fields north of the church, low banks and platforms mark former buildings and boundaries, whilst features interpreted as fishponds and landscaped areas may indicate a high-status manorial complex, although this remains uncertain.
Decline and Reorganisation
By the early 14th century, Congerstone was a mature village, but this period of growth was followed by significant contraction. Archaeological evidence from the later 14th and 15th centuries is comparatively sparse, with fewer pottery finds and a more uneven distribution. This pattern reflects broader national trends following the Black Death of 1348–49, when repeated outbreaks of plague and wider economic changes led to sustained rural population decline.
At Congerstone, the effects appear marked. Areas previously active, particularly around the church and along Shackerstone Road, show reduced occupation and possible abandonment. At the same time, the settlement did not disappear but reorganised itself. Activity shifted towards the south, especially along Shadows Lane and Main Street, where late medieval pottery is more consistently found. This redistribution reflects wider processes of consolidation, in which some plots were abandoned while others were intensified.
The surrounding landscape also bears witness to these changes. Ridge and furrow earthworks, still visible in fields around the village, represent the open-field system that sustained medieval agriculture. In some areas, their preservation is particularly clear because land was taken out of cultivation in the 15th and 16th centuries and converted to pasture, a common response to shrinking populations and changing economic conditions.
Recovery and Reinvention
The transition into the post-medieval period is marked by a relative gap in the archaeological record. Pottery from the 16th and early 17th centuries is scarce, suggesting that recovery from late medieval decline was gradual. Documentary sources help fill this picture. In 1563, the village contained just eleven households, but by 1670 this had risen to forty, indicating a return to its former size after nearly three centuries of contraction. By the late 17th century, Congerstone was described as containing a “very good manor-house, and several other good houses,” reflecting renewed prosperity. By this stage, the two medieval manors had been consolidated into a single estate.
From the later 17th century onwards, the archaeological record becomes much richer. Pottery, building materials, and everyday objects appear in increasing quantities, indicating more stable and widespread occupation. Importantly, the settlement pattern visible in this material closely matches that shown on later maps, including development along the southern end of Main Street, expansion on Bosworth Road, continued occupation along Shadows Lane, and the re-establishment of settlement at the northern ends of Main Street and Shackerstone Road. This suggests that the basic framework of the modern village was established between the 15th and late 17th centuries.
One question remains unresolved: the location of the “very good manor-house” mentioned in 1696. Church Field has been proposed as a possible site, but test pits there produced little post-medieval pottery, offering no clear evidence for occupation at that time. It is therefore more likely that this area remained agricultural rather than serving as a residential focus.
An Estate Village
By the 18th and 19th centuries, Congerstone had taken on the character of an estate village. In the early 19th century, it was acquired by Lord Howe of Gopsall Hall, who undertook improvements to both buildings and landscape. The opening of the Ashby Canal in 1804 brought new connections and opportunities, while the enclosure of the open fields in 1823 reshaped agricultural patterns.
Archaeologically, this period is well represented. Test pits produced large quantities of pottery, brick, tile, glass, and metalwork, along with numerous everyday objects, including clay tobacco pipes, coins, domestic wares, buttons, toys, and tools. These finds reflect a stable and materially prosperous community.
Many pits also revealed more recent features such as gravel paths, cobbled yards, and drainage systems, showing continued adaptation and investment in the built environment. Together, these layers illustrate ongoing processes of rebuilding and landscaping, as Congerstone developed into the orderly settlement depicted on 19th-century maps, an appearance largely preserved today.
A Village Through Time
The archaeology of Congerstone reveals a settlement shaped by continuity and change. From scattered prehistoric activity to a modest Saxon settlement, from a complex and dispersed medieval village to a reorganised post-medieval community, its form has continually evolved in response to shifting social, economic, and environmental conditions.
The Bosworth Links project demonstrates how even small-scale excavations can transform our understanding of such places. By investigating the ground beneath gardens and green spaces, it has been possible to trace patterns of expansion, contraction, and renewal across centuries. Congerstone’s past emerges not as a simple sequence, but as a dynamic and resilient history, embedded in the everyday landscape of the village today.