The Middle Ages

Belton, Browston and Gapton all belonged to the King. Then in 1170 Henry II gave Gapton Hall to one of his supporters, Baluri de Bosco. Bosco could lease or rent the land in return for money, produce and labour. He could also sell the manor on to someone else. Over the years Gapton passed from owner to owner.

In medieval England the manor was an important part of village life. There were meetings called courts baron, which regulated the letting and sale of manorial lands, rights of access for livestock, hunting and fishing. They enforced boundaries and appointed local officials. A wealthy person might own several manors and leave the running of them to a bailiff who lived on site. The courts were presided over by a steward who travelled from manor to manor.

From Baluri de Bosco, Gapton Hall passed to Osbert de Gladeson and Ralph Gerum. Gerum founded the Priory of St. John the Evangelist at Leighs in Essex. Then in about 1280 Osbert de Gladeson gave the Manor of Gapton Hall to the Priory. At that time wealthy people often gave money to churches and monasteries. In return the priests and monks would pray for their souls. It was a kind of after-life insurance policy. No doubt this is why Osbert de Gladeson gave Gapton Hall to Leighs Priory. For most people in Belton work was on the land. Then farms were quite different from today. Land was divided into strips, 220 yards long by 22 yards wide (one acre) or less. Strips were separated by grass pathways called balks. A group of strips running in the same direction made up a furlong. A field was a large, open piece of land containing dozens of furlongs of different shapes and sizes, and maybe hundreds of individual strips.

In Saxon times many villages had only 2 such fields, but over the centuries these increased as more land was cleared and cultivated. The fields were separated from each other by ditches and earth banks. The patchwork landscape of fields bounded by hedges that we know today did not exist then. A typical peasant farmer would have many strips to work, not grouped conveniently together but scattered about the open fields. In the winter, after the harvest, livestock were grazed on these fields.

In 1327 there were 39 taxpayers in the parish of Belton. Each taxpayer represented a household of some means so that the total population may have been around 250. How this was divided up between Browston and Belton is hard to say. Today Browston is just a hamlet, but it may have been bigger 700 years ago. Aerial photography has shown signs of a 'deserted village'. These are not uncommon in East Anglia , but if Browston became depopulated, with most of its dwellings abandoned, what caused it?

There are two main reasons for deserted villages. One is that the Black Death, the plague epidemic which devastated England in 1349. Estimates of the deaths caused range from one third to two thirds of the population of the country. In some areas whole villages were effectively wiped out. Any survivors were too few to keep the community going. The second possibility is that it was cleared to make way for sheep grazing. The medieval wool trade was of great importance to East Anglia. Of course, it could be a combination of the two.

Gapton village also disappeared, perhaps at this time.