The 18th Century 'Improvement Farm'

Wharram Percy ceased to be a village in the late 15th or early 16th century, when the landholders evicted the villagers to make way for sheep pasture. However, occupation of the site did not end here. In the valley stood a farmstead, the vicarage and the church.

The labourer’s cottages today © English Heritage In the 1770s the farm at Wharram Percy was 'improved' by the landlord, Sir Charles Buck. Agriculture in east Yorkshire was changing dramatically, as sheep-farming reverted to arable farming and new fields were created, separated by hedges and ditches. This 'Improvement' also involved the building of new stone and brick houses for the tenant farmers, larger barns and a granary. These buildings were demolished in the 19th century, replaced by a farmhouse one mile distant, but the byre and feed-store, have survived, incorporated into the present cottages for labourers.

In the 20th century, the cottages enjoyed a new lease of life as a hostel and headquarters for the archaeologists involved in the excavations from 1950 to 1990.