The secrets of Britain's abandoned villages

BBC ^ | November 18, 2010 | Tom Geoghegan

[decimon]

The ghosts of thousands of long-forgotten villages haunt Britain, inhabitations suddenly deserted and left to ruin. As a new campaign begins to shed further light on these forgotten histories, the Magazine asks - what happened and why?

Albert Nash, blacksmith for 44 years in the village of Imber, Wiltshire, was found by his wife Martha slumped over the anvil in his forge.

He was, in her words, crying like a baby.

It was the beginning of November 1943, a day or two after Mr Nash and the rest of the villagers had been told by the War Office they had 47 days to pack their bags and leave, to make way for US forces.

Within weeks Mr Nash had died. Folklore had it that the death certificate said the cause was a broken heart.

Imber, once a Saxon settlement, is one of thousands of British ex-villages - once thriving communities that succumbed to natural or human forces, like disease, coastal erosion, industrial decline, reservoirs or war.

[decimon]

Time and tide ping.

Maybe it has always been so. And maybe these would be good sites for some archeological exploration.

[Dumpster Baby]

This is a sure sign of a vampire pandemic.

;^)

[gorush]

I recommend Ken Follett’s “The Fall of Giants”, the first book of an intended “century trilogy”. It is an historical novel about WWI and the Russian Revolution...and much more.

[La Lydia]

There are “thousands” of these ghost villages, but the one the BBC uses to illustrate its story disappeared because of the mean, old Americans who barged in, broke that old man’s heart and killed him. The Americans carried out this heartless act because they were there to SAVE GREAT BRITAIN FROM THE GERMANS for the second time in 20 years, for crying out loud. I am surprised they didn’t claim it was Bush’s fault.

[yarddog]

I remember when I lived in Western Kansas, there were a lot of small towns which while not yet ghost towns were barely hanging on.

For some reason people are migrating to the larger cities. Maybe sometime the trend will reverse, I sure hope so.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Phantasm IV!

[jmacusa]

That’s ok. In time the Muzzies will re-populate them.

[teancumspirit]

There in lays the conservitive problem. We as a group will not suport anyone who does not beleive just as we do. Should we (as a Group) make up our mind not to support someone if they win the primary, then who do you think the other side is going to try to manipulate into the winners spot? This is why we got McCain last time. If you dont think the left did not have a hand in that your nuts. I do not want Romney, he is a true politician, will say most anything. His stance on abortion makes me ill. There are many people who are better than him, but I WILL NOT STAY HOME if he is the canidate. I refuse to concede the next election to Obama!

[MeganC]

George H. W. Bush was alive at the time so perhaps it was his fault. I mean, when he wasn’t busy trying to avoid being beheaded and eaten by the Japanese, of course.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

My hometown in southern Iowa once had several thousand residents including immigrants from all over Europe. It's down to about 350 today.
Coal and the railroad were what propelled it. When the RR switched to diesel, that was the beginning of the end.

[decimon]

Wrong thread?

[BunnySlippers]

They are called “ghost towns” here in the US.

[yarddog]

Most of the towns in Western Kansas also grew up along the railroads. I think modern farming methods have a lot to do with it.

At one time, most of the farms were operated by a single family and were usually smaller than 640 acres. Today’s farms are far more efficient but they only take a few people to produce a huge amount of produce.

[SunkenCiv]

· GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach · · join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
	Antiquity Journal  & archive  Archaeologica  Archaeology  Archaeology Channel  BAR  Bronze Age Forum  Discover  Dogpile  Eurekalert  Google  LiveScience  Mirabilis.ca  Nat Geographic  PhysOrg  Science Daily  Science News  Texas AM  Yahoo  Excerpt, or Link only?	Thanks decimon. World War II has become the midpoint of all history; in the case of these abandoned villages, it had to do with the economics and gubmint budgets of the war effort basically pulling the plug on that slower-moving (and probably non-economic) ways of life. When Margaret Thatcher was PM, she pulled the plug on a good many subsidized activities, such as Welsh mining. One Welshman complained that his town was going to vanish, because once the Pit was gone, there was no reason for the town to exist. OTOH, there are plenty of placenames in the Domesday Book which still exist (probably the overwhelming majority, btw), including some pretty small places which were even smaller in the 11th century. A good number of British towns have been continuously occupied since their Roman foundations, while other Roman settlements were abandoned and forgotten, even in local folklore. And there are some British towns which have been continuously occupied since Pre-Roman times, whereas most (maybe all) of the hillfort towns reduced by Vespasian's artillery (in Roman times, that was catapaults and such) had been around for a long while before those events, but ceased to exist thereafter. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
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[LibFreeOrDie]

In the 1930's several towns in Massachusetts were destroyed to create the Quabbin Reservoir.

Enfield, MA, in 1927:

After being cleared:

Reservoir in 1987:

[LasVegasMac]

disappeared because of the mean, old Americans who barged in, broke that old man’s heart and killed him. The Americans carried out this heartless act because they were there to SAVE GREAT BRITAIN FROM THE GERMANS for the second time in 20 years,

Oops......time to send Barry on another bowing mission....

[LasVegasMac]

disappeared because of the mean, old Americans who barged in, broke that old man’s heart and killed him. The Americans carried out this heartless act because they were there to SAVE GREAT BRITAIN FROM THE GERMANS for the second time in 20 years,

Oops......time to send Barry on another bowing mission....

[SunkenCiv]

· GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach · · join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
	Antiquity Journal  & archive  Archaeologica  Archaeology  Archaeology Channel  BAR  Bronze Age Forum  Discover  Dogpile  Eurekalert  Google  LiveScience  Mirabilis.ca  Nat Geographic  PhysOrg  Science Daily  Science News  Texas AM  Yahoo  Excerpt, or Link only?	Thanks decimon. It was ever thus. :') I had written a nice big two paragraph response that was just wonderful, deserved a Pulitzer, then managed to click the close box after clicking "post", and it closed too quickly and was lost. That's a break for all of you. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.
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[blam]

"The Americans carried out this heartless act because they were there to SAVE GREAT BRITAIN FROM THE GERMANS for the second time in 20 years, for crying out loud. I am surprised they didn’t claim it was Bush’s fault."

I swear, it never ends!