Nucleated village
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A nucleated village is one of the main types of settlement pattern found in England and it is one of the terms used by landscape historians to clasify settlements.[1] An idealised village, in which the houses cluster around a central church which is often close to the village green is a nucleated village. One example of a nucleated village is Shapwick in Somerset, which has been extensively investigated by Professor Mick Aston. A nucleated village contrasts with a dispersed settlement.
Nucleated settlements are often found in the central region of England where open field farming predominated.[2] In this case, the village was surrounded by two (or three) large fields in which villagers had individual strips - see open field system.
One particular sub-category of nucleated villages is a planned village. These were deliberately established by land owners at various times, but particularly during the late medieval period. They often consist of two rows of houses set on equal sized plots of land - burgage plots. This gives the original village a regular layout which can often still be seen today. Planned villages were usually associated with markets, from which the landowner expected to make profits.
In some cases two adjacent nucleated villages may expand and merge to form a polyfocal settlement. This settlement category was identified and studied by Christopher Taylor.
Many nucleated villages originated in the Saxon period, but W. G. Hoskins discredits a previously held view that uniquely associated nucleated villages with the Saxons [3].
