Keenley was a member of the regality of Hexham and was described as a hamlet in a survey of 1536. By 1546 no village existed there and only two tenements were recorded in 1608 and 1628. Although the exact site of the medieval village is not known, it may lie near the tithe barn. Here the ground is irregular but there are no clear signs of village earthworks, such as house platforms. An alternative site lies further east, between Hollybush and Keenley Wesleyan Chapel where a number of small paddock-like enclosures and banks are scattered over an irregular-shaped area bounded by ridged cultivation, with a possible hollow way to the west.