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Lost village

Wharram Percy

Yorkshire Wolds, North Yorkshire

A deserted medieval village where the dead were burned and broken to stop them rising.

Wharram Percy was a thriving village for hundreds of years before being abandoned around 1500, as farmers turned the fields over to sheep. It is one of the most studied deserted villages in Europe.

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When
Deserted c.1500
Where
54.0670, -0.6880
Group
Lost & drowned villages

Visiting

English Heritage, free. A walk of about 0.75 miles from the car park.

Cover of The Ledger of Lost Britain by Cale Mills
Read the full story in the book

The Ledger of Lost Britain

The Romans arrived in AD 43. For most people that is where the history of Britain begins. But by the time the legions landed, people had already been living on these islands for thousands of years. They had hunted, farmed, mined flint, dragged stones across the country, raised a hill by hand, and buried their dead in great tombs. They left no written words. What they left was the ground itself. Every place in this book can be visited, or has been dug up, or is in a museum.

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