abandoned village

An abandoned village is a village which has for some reason been deserted, in many countries many thousands of villages were deserted at several periods in history, for a variety of causes. Often related to plague, famine, war, climate change and environmental destruction or deliberate clearances.

United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom several phases of village abandonment have occurred.

Climate change

In the early centuries of the middle ages, the population of Britain increased rapidly, this meant that farmland was in short supply, and so many villages were established upon less fertile lands. However from around 1200 onwards the climate began to become harsher (see little ice age) and villages situated upon exposed uplands or upon clay vales where the soil became waterlogged, bore the brunt of the changes. Eventually crop failures forced many such villages to be abandoned.

Black Death

In 1348 the Black Death arrived, and in the years which followed between 30-50% of the British population was killed. Many village abandonments have been attributed to the Black Death, although in fact relatively few were directly caused by it. Although many villages lost a large proportion or even all of their population, many villages were soon re-settled and re-populated, especially ones which had productive lands. The indirect effects of the Black Death however proved fatal to many villages.

Enclosures

Throughout most of the middle ages labour was plentiful and cheap, however following the Black Death labour became in short supply. This improved the bargaining position of labourers who demanded better pay and conditions from landowners. In response, many landowners discovered that the rearing of sheep for wool, was far more profitable than rent from tenants. Common land was then enclosed - A flock of Sheep only needed a handful of shepherds to look after them, and villagers who were no longer required were evicted from the lands. The process of enclosures flourished throughout the 15th and 16th centuries, and lead to many thousands of villages being deserted. The process lead to poverty and homelessness, amongst rural dwellers, and lead to mass revolts in 1536, 1569 and 1607. Most notoriously the Highland Clearances in northern Scotland lead to significant depopulation.

Other clearances

Many villages were deliberately cleared throughout history. In the 12th and 13th centuries., many villages were removed to make way for Monastaries. Later on, in the 18th century it became increasingly fashionable for land-owning Aristocrats to live in large Mansion houses, set in large landscaped parklands. Villages which obstructed the view were removed. By the early 19th century it had become common for replacements villages to be provided, although in many cases, communities were turned out into the road. In modern times, a few villages have been abandoned due to reservoirs being built, and the village being flooded, or the village lands being converted to military training areas.

Cyprus

Villages have been abandoned as a result of the Cyprus dispute. Some of these are reported to be landmined http://www.icbl.org/lm/1999/cyprus.html#fn2939..

Romania

Many Saxon villages in Transylvania became de-populated or abandoned when their German-speaking inhabitants emigrated to Germany in the 1990s.