Wharram Percy
Information
Wharram Percy in the Yorkshire Wolds is one of hundreds of long-lost villages buried throughout our green and pleasant land. It is distinguished among archeologists for an extensive and careful excavation of the site which was carried out between 1952 and 1992. Because of this work, Wharram Percy has told us much about medieval life in England.
And what dark times they were! Records tell that the village withstood “The Harrying of the North”, the devastation wreaked upon these parts by William the Conqueror, and that it survived the horror of the Black Death in 1348.
It seems likely that the village met its demise when the land was given over to sheep-farming. The last four families were evicted in 1517 and their houses demolished by the evidently ruthless Baron Hilton.
Today only ground plans of the village can be detected, however regular use of the church, St Marys, continued into 1870, after which the villagers of Thixendale built their own church. Unfortunately, today the church is a roofless ruin.
The site is now owned by English Heritage, and its ruins and secrets are open all year round: the village is lost, but not forgotten.
Location
Wharram Percy can be found on the map below.