[3] A prolonged period of global cooling meant that the village was no longer suitable for year-round occupation, and by 1000 BCE all residents had likely left, just using the land for summer pasture.

[4] By 1242, his son, also named Richard, had taken over and there were around 20–30 villagers farming around 10 acres (4.0 hectares) of land with terraced strips of arable planting.

1315 saw the start of three years of abnormally high rainfall, leading to widespread crop failures as well as the inability to evaporate brine for salt meaning meat preservation was not possible,[7] and this caused the Great Famine of 1315–1317.

[8] Outlying marginally viable settlements like Hundatorra were particularly badly affected,[4] and effects may have been compounded by the Great Bovine Pestilence which came in 1319–20, killing nearly two-thirds of all bovine animals (cows and oxen) in England,[9] affecting meat, dairy, and also arable because of the reliance on oxen as ploughing animals.

[4] Pollen evidence indicates that farming had stopped at Hundatorra by 1350, but recent analysis of pottery suggests that the village was probably occupied until the late 14th or early 15th century.