Disappeared village of Hylton

The image here shows the busy riverside settlement of South Hylton. By the time photography captured this scene, Hylton's original centre of settlement, near the castle on the north side of the river, had long disappeared.Hylton's medieval village fell from use when the manor's farmland was inclosed. Two farmsteads survived on its site, though in time they too were swept away, by limestone quarrying.Our new research, investigating maps and placenames alongside extensive fieldwork, reveals for the first time the exact location of Hylton's village centre, and the reasons why it disappeared.The plan included here reconstructs medieval Hylton, and locates the scattered farms established at the time of inclosure, early in the 18th century.