NHER 4464 (Monument record) - Site of St Michael's Church, Roxham (Ryston, poorly located)

St Michael's Church, Roxham (now part of Ryston parish).

Lost church associated with the now deserted village of Roxham. This settlement is mentioned in Domesday and disputes over enclosures are recorded in 1653. Roxham is marked on Faden's map of 1797 (S1) as being around Roxham Farm (TL 638 997) and it is therefore likely that cropmark features identified in this area were associated with this settlement (NHER 16534).

As noted in (S2) the church appears to have been abandoned by the 16th century and its location is now unclear. According to notes made by R. R. Clarke (S3) the site of the church was "known to Colonel Pratt of Roxham Hall". This information has probably been taken from (S4), which states that "the ancient site [of the church] was discovered in 1921 from a map now owned by Lt.-Col. E.R. Pratt M.C.". This may be a reference to a map of 1566 (S5) which is recorded on (S6) as showing the location of the church. A copy was seen by the NAU but unfortunately the symbolic nature of the map and the lack of a scale mean that it is impossible to locate the church other than in the general area of Roxham Farm (S7).

According to (S8) traces of the church were visible not far from the school, but this is disputed by (S6), which states that there is "…no trace or local knowledge of church remains in the vicinity of the old Fordham/Roxham school…at TL 6235 9983". The tithe map also apparently shows nothing of relevance at this location.
E. Rose (NAU), 17 December 1984. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 20 September 2017.