YORKSHIRE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
JOURNAL
VOLUME 4 6
1974
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
CLAREMONT, CLARENDON ROAD
Founded LEEDS, LS2 9NZ Incorporated
1863 Telephone 27910 1893
Patrons
The Most Reverend the LORD ARCHBISHOP OF YORK The EARL OF ROSSE, m.b.e., ll.d., f.s.a.
The Right Rev. the LORD BISHOP OF RIPON The EARL OF SCARBROUGH
President
G. C. F. FORSTER, b.a., f.s.a., f.r.hist.soc.
Honorary Vice-Presidents
R. J. A. BUNNETT, f.a.a. E. A. GEE, m.a., d.phil., f.s.a., f.r.hist.soc.
Sir CHARLES CLAY, c.b., hon.litt.d., f.s.a., f.b.a. Professor JOHN LE PATOUREL, m.a., d.phil., d. de l’univ .
F. W. BROOKS, m.a., f.s.a.,
Vice-Presidents
f.r.hist.soc. HARTLEY THWAITE, j.p., m.phil., f.s.a.
P. O. WALKER, M.A., LL.B.
ADDYMAN, P. V., m.a., f.s.a. {York) ALLISON, K. J., b.a. , ph.d. ( Cottingham ) BERESFORD, Professor M. W., m.a. (Leeds) BLACK, D. W., b.a. , f.s.a. ( Appleton Roebuck) BREARS, P. C. D., d.a.d. ( Wakefield ) BROWN, T. H., l.d.s. (. Middlesbrough ) BUTLER, L. A. S., m.a., ph.d., f.s.a. (Leeds) COLLIS, J., b.a. (Sheffield)
DAVISON, P. D., (Marion)
FOSTER, Miss A. G., b.a., a.l.a. (Leeds) FRENCH, T. W., m.a., f.s.a. (York) GOODALL, I. H., b.a., (York)
Council
JENNINGS, B., m.a. (Leeds)
KING, A., b.sc. , m.a. (Settle)
LA PAGE, J., f.s.a., f.r.g.s., f.r.hist.soc. ( Baildoti ) MANBY, T. G., m.a. ( Doncaster )
MAYES, P., b.a., f.s.a. (Leeds)
MELLARS, P. A., m.a., ph.d. (Sheffield) NUTTALL, Mrs B. H„ b.sc. (Leeds)
OGDEN, J. H. (Hipperholme)
RAMM, H. G., o.b.e., m.a., f.s.a. (York) SLATCHER, W. N., b.a., m.sc., ph.d. (Wakefield) SPEAK, H„ f.r.g.s., (Wakefield)
SPRATT, D. A., m.a., ph.d. (Middlesbrough) WORDINGHAM, Miss L., b.sc. (Leeds)
HARTLEY, B. R., m.a., f.s.a. (York)
All Honorary Officers, Hon. Secretaries of Committees and of Sections, Representatives of Groups and Affiliated
Societies, and the Librarian, are ex officio members of the Council.
Honorary Secretary: F. A. ABERG, b.a., Elmsett, Forest Lane, Kirkleavington, Yarm, TS16 9NE.
Honorary Treasurer: T. D. MALLINSON, O.b.e., Claremont, Clarendon Road, Leeds LS2 9NZ.
Honorary Editor: R. M. BUTLER, m.a., ph.d., f.s.a., Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, The White House, Clifton, York.
Hon. Secretary for the Record Series: Mrs P. STANLEY PRICE, m.a., Church Hill, Great Ouseburn, York YO5 9RH.
Hon. Secretary, Parish Register Section: D. J. H. MICHELMORE, b.a., Claremont, Clarendon Road, Leeds LS2 9NZ.
Hon. Lectures Secretary: Mrs D. PAYNE, 4 Woodland Croft, Horsforth, Leeds LS18 5NE.
Hon. Secretary, Ancient Monuments: Mrs R. HARTLEY, 6 Margaret Road, Harrogate HG2 oJZ.
Hon. Secretaries, Historic Buildings: B. DONAGHEY, b.a., (W. Riding), B. J. D. HARRISON, m.a., (N. Riding), D. NEAVE, b.a., (E. Riding).
Hon. Excursions Secretary: MissJ. E. EXWOOD, 16 Heathfield Walk, Leeds LS16 7QQ.
Hon. Publicity Secretary: J. K. SAUNDERS, m.a., 18 Nunroyd Road, Leeds LS17 6PF.
Hon. Secretaries of Sections etc.
Prehistory Research Section — Mrs R. HARTLEY, 6 Margaret Road, Harrogate HG2 oJZ.
Roman Antiquities Section — Miss I. M. TINGLE, 76 St Annes Road, Leeds LS6 3PA.
Medieval Section — B. S. DONAGHEY, b.a., Dept, of English Language, The University, Sheffield Sio 2TN.
Local History Study Section — G. HINCHCLIFFE, 8 Gledhow Park Road, Leeds, LS7 4JX.
Industrial History Section — Mrs N. M. COOPER, 307 Spen Lane, Leeds LS16 5BD.
Family History and Population Studies Section — Mrs M. MORTON, 21 Bedford Garth, Leeds LS16 6DW.
Wakefield Court Rolls Section — K. EMSLEY, 34 Nab Wood Drive, Shipley.
Representative ofi the Harrogate Group — Mrs M. D. SIMPSON.
Representative ofi the Doncaster Group — C. HOWARTH, a.l.a.
Representative ofi the Barnsley Group — Miss H. L. DEARNLEY.
Representative ofi the Forest ofi Galtres Society — G. R. DRAKE.
Representative of the Pontefract and District Archaeological Society — E. HOULDER.
Hon. Secretary, Huddersfield and District Archaeological Society — W. E. CROSLAND, 9 Elmfield Terrace, Savile Park, Halifax HXi 3EB.
Representative ofi the Olicana Museum and Historical Society — Mrs F. M. LLOYD.
Representative of the Helmsley Archaeological Society — J. McDONNELL, m.a., b.litt.
Representative ofi the Yorkshire Architectural and York Archaeological Society — R. J. MALDEN, f.s.a. (Scot).
Librarian and Archivist: D. J. H. MICHELMORE, b.a.
Deputy Librarian: Mrs J. FRIEZE, a.l.a.
THE
YORKSHIRE
ARCHAEOLOGICAL
JOURNAL
PUBLISHED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF THE COUNCIL
OF THE
YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY
VOLUME 46
FOR THE YEAR
1974
© THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SOCIETY 1 974
PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY BY TITUS WILSON & SON LIMITED, KENDAL
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Yorkshire Archaeological & Historical Society
h ttps ://a rc h i ve . o rg/d eta i I s/YA J 0461 974
CONTENTS OF VOLUME 46
page
EXCAVATIONS OF THREE ROUND BARROWS ON ETTON WOLD, EAST RIDING OF
YORKSHIRE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i
D. Coombs
THE PREHISTORY OF THE VALE OF YORK . . . . . . . . . . . . io
The Late J. Radley
ECOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT A ROMANO-BRITISH EARTHWORK IN THE
YORKSHIRE PENNINES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
H. M. Tinsley and R. T. Smith
LOW CAYTHORPE, EAST YORKSHIRE - THE MANOR SITE . . . . . . . . 34
Glyn Coppack
ANIMAL REMAINS FROM WHARRAM PERCY . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
M. L. Ryder, J. G. Hurst and H. E. Jean Le Patourel
BOOTHTOWN HALL, A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE IN THE PARISH OF HALIFAX . . 53
J. A. Gilks
CHEESECAKE HALL, OULTON, WEST RIDING . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
K. Hutton
THE UNIONS OF PARISHES AT YORK, 1547-86 .. .. .. .. .. 87
D. M. Palliser
THE COUNTY SQUIREARCHY AND THE FIGHT FOR PLACE IN THE EARLY EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
P. Roebuck
COMMON FIELD AND ENCLOSURE IN THE LOWER DEARNE VALLEY .. .. no
J. C. Harvey
THE BIRSTALL TEMPERANCE SOCIETY . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Lilian L. Shim an
OBITUARY: C. E. HARTLEY .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. 140
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL REGISTER: 1973 .. .. .. .. .. 141
ARCHIVAL AND BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTES: BOOK REVIEWS .. .. .. 158
The Editor has been asked to point out that in Volume 45 of the Journal the second sub- heading on p. 29 should read ‘Frecken Bellarmine Medallions’.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Intending contributors are reminded that much time can be saved if they will obtain from the Editor a copy of the conventions used in the Journal, well before their material is ready for submission.
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
The Society wishes it to be understood that responsibility for opinions and material contained in articles, notes and reviews is that of their authors alone, to whom any resulting correspondence should be addressed.
EXCAVATIONS OF THREE ROUND BARROWS ON ETTON WOLD, EAST RIDING
OF YORKSHIRE
By David Coombs
Summary Three of a group of four Early Bronze Age barrows were excavated on Etton Wold. Of the three, two had been excavated by Greenwell, the third by a person unknown. Each barrow showed different construc- tional details: a was a ditched bowl barrow, c a ditchless turf stack barrow with the central area encircled by a low bank of chalk and flint, and d was a turf stack bell barrow. The only notable finds came from the backfill of Greenwell’s trench in barrow c and consisted of two sherds from the same collared vessel; the complete collared vessel found by Greenwell is in the British Museum; the copper/bronze awl from the barrow is lost.
Three round barrows on Etton Wold (SE 935438) were excavated in 1969 and 1970 on behalf of the then Ministry of Public Building and Works and with the kind permission of the owners, Messrs. Nesfield and Sons of Wallis Grange, Market Weighton.1 Before excavation the barrows had been much flattened by ploughing and only appeared as slight mounds in the field.
The barrow group lies some 4 miles north-east of Market Weighton, situated between the road from Market Weighton to Etton, and the railway line that once ran from Selby to Kingston-upon-Hull (Fig. 1). The area is just on the western edge of the chalk and the
Fig. 1. Location of Etton barrows. (Based on 0.5. map. Crown copyright reserved.)
1 I would like to thank the Assistant Director, Mr Ian Kinnes, and Supervisors Miss M. Dale and Miss S. Grealey, and the volunteers who helped on the excavation; Mr Paul Middleton who helped in the final preparation of the plans; the Trustees of the British Museum for allowing the publication of the urn in their possession; Dr Ian Longworth for his note on the pottery; and the Institute of Geological Sciences, Leeds, for supplying the geological information.
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
O
O
Q
Fig. 2. Barrow a.
THREE ROUND BARROWS ON ETTON WOLD
3
barrows lie in a small valley between the 150-foot contour on superficial deposits covering the floor of the Market Weighton spillway of glacial origin. The deposits are mainly flinty sand and gravel with a few sandstone pebbles. The underlying chalk is of Middle Chalk age. To the north-west of this barrow group there is another concentration on Goodman- ham Wold and to the south-west a group near Market Weighton.
Excavations were carried out on barrows a, c and d; barrow b is much larger than the rest but the threat from ploughing was not so immediate. The latter can be identified as Greenwell’s barrow LXXX.2 This had contained a central deposit of burnt bones placed in a small circular hollow but buried without any grave goods. The finding of an 1863 penny in mint condition on top of this barrow in 1969 might date Green well’s activity in the area.
Barrow a (Fig. 2)
Barrows a and b are at a slightly lower level than c and d, and the immediate vicinity has been subjected to winter flooding. Barrow a had suffered the most thorough ploughing and was only just visible. Upon excavation it was found that most of the original mound had been ploughed away and there was no trace of an old ground surface (Fig. 5).
Excavation suggested that a small, natural chalk knoll had been utilised and formed into a barrow by encircling it with a ditch and constructing a small mound. The ditch was c. 62 feet in diameter, of width varying from 2 to 4 feet, 1 foot 6 inches in depth, with sloping sides and a round bottom. In the north-west quadrant the ditch was slight, being c. 9 inches deep. The original mound was made up of earth, chalk and flints, and the ditch sections showed the natural weathering process, with bands of flints separated by layers of fairly flint-free brown earth (Fig. 5). A slight depression 7 feet by 5 feet and 1 foot deep, near the centre, can be interpreted as the original grave pit, though much enlarged by Greenwell’s excavation.
This barrow can be identified as Greenwell LXXXI3 and his trench was clearly visible around the central area. Greenwell remarked that ‘At the centre was a hollow, excavated in the chalk gravel 14 in. in diameter and i| ft. deep, in which was a deposit of the burnt bones of a child, not above three years old, resting upon a layer, 2 in. thick, of black- coloured sand full of pieces of charcoal, and having another layer 8 in. thick, of similarly- coloured sand over the bones. The body had not been burnt on the spot’.
The only finds made during the excavations were a small sherd of possible prehistoric pottery, a sherd of Romano-British grey ware, and a sherd of medieval pottery, all from high up in the post-barrow layers and all in a derived context.
Barrow c (Fig. 3)
Barrow c is situated c. 210 yards east of barrow a and on slightly higher ground, its highest point being 124-75 feet O.D. It appeared as a low mound falling away more steeply on the southern side than on the north. The northern trench was excavated for a length of 50 feet from the centre and failed to produce any evidence of a ditch, and there was no indication of a ditch from the surface.
Excavation revealed a mound built of horizontally-laid turves, its dimensions being c. 52 feet north-south, 55 feet east-west, with a maximum surviving thickness of 2 feet 9 inches over the grave pit and 1 foot over the old ground surface, which was clearly visible in the section (Fig. 5).
Beneath the mound were found traces of a rough ring of chalk and flint, c. 25 feet in diameter, 4 feet in maximum width and 7 inches high, encircling the grave pit, and built
2 Greenwell, W. and Rolleston, G., British Barrows (Oxford, 1877), p. 284
3 Ibid.
4
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
"O
c
z>
o
E
M—
o
0)
cn
TD
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cn c c 0)
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Fig. 3. Barrow c.
on the old ground surface. In two places, on the alignment of the ring (F4) and beneath it (F5), were found charcoal patches on the old ground surface.
The central area consisted of a depression c. 15 feet in diameter and 1 foot 3 inches deep, into the floor of which had been excavated the central grave, F3. The burial pit
THREE ROUND BARROWS ON ETTON WOLD
5
was a bucket-shaped hole, 15 inches in diameter at the tip and 1 foot 3 inches deep.4 Although the fill was exactly the same as that of Greenwell’s trench, the pit had burnt soil with flecks of charcoal at the bottom and the sides, presumably part of the original fill not removed by Greenwell. Adjacent to this feature and at the base of Greenwell’s back-fill were fragments of calcined human bones including a humerus head, rib and cranial pieces. The burnt nature of the surrounding chalk supports Greenwell’s conclusions that the body had been burnt in situ. Part of the side of the pit had been dislodged during
Etton
Barrow d
ir ir
11
= Edge of mound - - Disturbed
4 0 4 8 12 16 20 Ft
1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 M
DGC
Fig. 4. Barrow d.
construction and here the side had been packed with stiff clay to preserve the regularity of the outline. A second pit, Fi, to the south of F3, was probably natural.
Greenwell’s trench was clearly visible in plan and section, and within his back-fill two
4 These dimensions vary considerably from Greenwell’s (see below) but there was evidence that part of the top of the pit, especially on the southern side, had been removed. The central position of this pit and other evidence (see above) suggest that this was the site of the original grave.
Barrow
6
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
Fig. 5. Barrow sections
THREE ROUND BARROWS ON ETTON WOLD
7
sherds of a collared urn were found (Fig. 6). His trench had also cut through F 2 , a pit cut into the turf stack of the barrow. The fill of this feature was clean clayey sand and it does not appear to have been a secondary burial.
This barrow is Green well LXXIX.5 Greenwell reported: ‘At a distance of 14 ft. south- west-by-south from the centre and laid upon the natural surface, were a few burnt bones of an adult, with some burnt chalk close to them. At what had no doubt originally been the centre, though now 8| ft. west-by-south of the present centre, were the remains of a burnt body, placed in a hollow about 2\ ft. in diameter, and excavated to a depth of 10 in. below the natural surface. The body, probably of a male adult, had been burnt on the spot, and the bones had never been removed from the place where the body had been laid on the wood of the funeral pile, abundant remains of which, in the shape of charcoal, were found beneath the bones. The body had been placed in the usual contracted position, on the right side, with the head to north-east-by-east, and behind the hips was found a vessel of pottery [Plate 1] whilst close to the bones of the chest was a small piece of bronze, apparently the remains of a drill or awl, which had been burnt with the body. With the human bones were found the burnt scapula, radius, and ulna of a young pig .... There appeared to be something like a circular wall of flints and chalk but very irregularly formed, enclosing the place of burning, its diameter being about 11 ft. Amongst the material of the mound was a fragment of a “food vessel”, and another of a cinerary urn’.
Barrow d (Fig. 4)
Barrow d was situated slightly to the south-east of c. The highest point on the barrow was 126-25 ft. O.D. Upon excavation the barrow was found to have been encircled by an irregular ditch c. 72 ft. in diameter, 4 ft. wide and 2 ft. deep. Separating the ditch from the mound was a berm c. 11 ft. wide. The old ground surface and the edge of the mound could be clearly seen in the section (Fig. 5) and the original mound had a diameter of 52 ft. The mound itself had been constructed from horizontally-laid turves and at present its highest point was 1 ft. above the old ground surface.
The central area had been disturbed down to the natural and the central grave had been completely robbed. The grave was an irregularly shaped pit 8 ft. long by 6 ft. wide and 2 ft. deep from the chalk surface. This barrow is not mentioned by Greenwell and so presumably he was not responsible for excavating it.
Fig. 6. Sherds of collared vessel from Barrow c, Etton.
On the southern side of the barrow its ditch had been cut and removed by the large ditch of a linear earthwork which ran along the field. Part of the earthwork is shown on the i-inch O.S. map (Sheet 98) and Mortimer makes a brief mention of it,6 although its date is unknown.
The only finds that were made during the excavation of this barrow all came from the
6 Greenwell and Rolleston, British Barrows (1877), p. 283.
8 Mortimer, J. R., Forty Years’ Researches in British and Saxon Burial Mounds of East Yorkshire (1905), p. 376.
8
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
topsoil and amounted to three sherds of hard fabric, with buff/ red exterior and black exterior, that are probably of prehistoric date.
Finds
The only pottery worthy of comment are the complete collared vessel and collared vessel fragments from barrow c. The two sherds (Fig. 6), although they do not fit, are undoubtedly from the same vessel; presumably these are the fragments referred to y
Plate i. Collared vessel from Barrow c, Etton, Yorkshire. (By courtesy of the Trustees of the British Museum.)
THREE ROUND BARROWS ON ETTON WOLD
9
Greenwell. They are from a collared vessel of no mm mouth diameter; the pot has a black core and red/buff exterior and interior. The maximum thickness of the collar is 13 mm, the thickness of the body of the pot is 8 mm, and the depth of the collar is 3 1 mm. The collar is roughly decorated with impressed herringbone decoration, and this is repeated below the collar. The impressions were probably made with the end of a bone, from their shape probably a rib. Sherd (a) was found above Fi and (b) near the centre of the barrow, both in Greenwell’s back-fill.
The complete collared vessel found by Greenwell (B.M. 79, 12-9, 1151) is 127 mm in diameter at the mouth and 76*2 mm at the bottom and 175-3 mm high. Two horizontal twisted cord lines are present on the internal rim bevel. On the collar is a twisted cord line above twisted cord filled triangles (Plate I).
The Pottery (Dr. I. H. Long worth)
The sherds (Fig. 6) recovered during the 1970 excavations belong to a vessel of the Primary Series7 carrying a minimum of two primary traits, a simple rim and repetitive herringbone on the collar and neck. Typologically this vessel would appear to be earlier than the complete vessel recovered by Greenwell, a tripartite form (BII) typical of the South-Eastern style of the Secondary series. This vessel belongs to a small series of collared vessels in the Secondary Series which are not employed as urns but accompany as accessory vessels inhumation or cremation burials. Since urned burial is typical of the Secondary Series, it is normally assumed that these aberrant usages are likely to be early. It is possible, however, that their significance may prove to be social rather than strictly chronological, a suggestion which can only be tested satisfactorily when a comprehensive series of dates become available for the Collared Urn series as a whole, divorced from typological theory.
The Council of the Society wishes to thank the Department of the Environment for a grant towards the cost of publishing this article.
7 Longworth, I. H., ‘The Origins and Development of the Primary Series in the Collared Urn Tradition in England and Wales’, Procs. Prehist. Soc., XXVII (1961), pp. 263-306.
10
THE PREHISTORY OF THE VALE OF YORK
By the late J. Radley
Summary Distribution maps of Neolithic and Bronze Age tools and weapons from the Vale of York show the importance for settlement of areas of well-drained soil. The slight evidence for Iron Age occupation of the site of York is also considered.
The site of York has been a nodal point of transport and settlement since prehistoric times, and the factors producing and maintaining this position are well known. York is at the centre of the largest river valley in Northern England, at a point where it is 25 miles wide. To the east, the rich Chalk Wolds supported one of Britain’s most significant prehistoric centres. To the west, the Vale is separated from the sandstone foothills of the Pennines by the north-south belt of Magnesian Limestone which has always been a major line of communication. Northwards, the Vale narrows and passes into the Northallerton gap, while 40 miles to the south it opens into the Humber estuary and the Vale of Trent.
Within this framework, the Vale lies in the outcrop of red sandstone exposed on its fringes but masked elsewhere by Late- and Post-Glacial deposits. The main halt-stage in the retreat of the last ice sheet produced the York and Escrick Moraines, a ridge of gravel- capped clay which spans the Vale. Subsequently, the Vale was occupied by an ice-dammed lake, which over much of its area left a cover of clays, sands, and gravels with a high water-table. Reworking of these sands and gravels by wind and river, the tidal flooding of the southern part of the Vale, and flooding from the dendritic system of sluggish rivers which wound across the post-glacial surface, combined to produce a landscape of sandy heath, forest, and peaty carr land which prevailed in places into historic times.
York is situated at the point where the well-drained moraine is cut by the River Ouse at its tidal head, giving the city access to the sea, and to the areas beyond the Vale by the east-west land link and by river. Here the moraine is perhaps a mile wide and 25-5. ft. above the highest flood levels; this provides an agriculturally attractive environment of well-drained sandy and loamy soils in the midst of a relatively hostile Vale.
Within the city there are several significant small chorographic features. Approaching York from the west, the moraine is divided by Askham Bog and Holgate Beck into two ridges. The depositional humps and hollows of the northern ridge are very clear around Severus Hills, while the better defined southern ridge was favoured for the Roman road from Tadcaster through Dringhouses. The abruptness with which this ridge terminates at the Ouse can be seen by descending Micklegate, but has been obscured where the ground was levelled for the station.
The continuation of the moraine, which is considerably narrower on the east side of the Ouse, by Heslington Hill towards Stamford Bridge, suggests an original crossing point on a morainic routeway at or below the confluence of the Ouse and Foss, a trans-vale routeway which was more direct than that provided by the Escrick Moraine.
The remaining area within the city is the block of elevated moraine which is isolated between the Ouse and Foss. This was selected by the Romans for their legionary fortress for tactical reasons, and continuity of settlement around the Minster, established within the fortified area, has moved the road pattern slightly north of its natural line, bringing with it the problems of congestion and of bridging two rivers which are still evident today. Significantly, the Roman civil settlement remained on the south-west side of the river.
The distribution maps (Figs. 1-3) of selected tools emphasise the role of the moraine and
THE PREHISTORY OF THE VALE OF YORK
II
rivers through the prehistoric period. The principal surviving evidence in the Vale is stone and bronze tools, pottery, and a few barrows and unmarked burials. No Palaeolithic tools are known from the Vale. Few Mesolithic sites have been found in an area which must have been attractive to hunters and fishermen.
The Neolithic period is represented by axes and concentrations of struck flints. The map (Fig. i) shows numerous axes from the sandstone and chalk fringes of the Vale, less numerous axes along the moraines and rivers, and large empty lowland areas. Within York itself at least 23 axes have been found but those with a detailed provenance are confined to the south-west side of the Ouse. At least 20 flint sites, yielding leaf-shaped arrowheads, scrapers, etc. are known in the Vale, the nearest sites to York being Fulford and Overton.
Fig. 1. Distribution map of polished axes.
A unique hoard of flints was discovered in September 1868, when the North-Eastern Railway Gasworks (SE 582527) were being erected at York. The hoard was 6-7 ft. deep
12
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
in the gravel terrace near the junction of Holgate Beck and the River Ouse, occupying a space ‘that could be covered by a man’s hat’. At least 43 implements were found, including at least 7 axes of which one is of greenstone. Watson1 illustrates 35 items, comprising 5 large and 2 small axes, 2 leaf arrowheads, 2 trimmed blades, 3 scrapers, 9 ovoid knives or spearheads, 11 flakes and blades and one barb and tang arrowhead. The contents and their appearance suggest a merchant’s hoard rather than a homesteader’s possessions. Of special interest is the barb and tang arrowhead which might place the hoard in a late Neolithic-Early Bronze Age context.2
The Bronze Age occupation of the Vale is again found on the dry ridges and river banks. There are several round barrows or burials from the west of York at Newton Kyme, Clifford, Wetherby and the Little Ribston area, and from the east of York at Bugthorpe, Skirpenbeck and Gowthorpe Common, Bishop Wilton. No barrow remains are proven from York, although two mounds at The Mount are called barrows on the First Edition of the 6-inch OS map, but three finds suggest Early Bronze Age burials within the city. A very fine ‘C’ Beaker, probably derived from a burial, was first described as a British urn from near Bootham, and later as a fine drinking cup found in Bootham in 1840. 3 Two sherds of ‘B’ Beaker from West Lodge Gate probably come from Acomb Road, Holgate.4 A contracted burial in a stone cist from below the Roman level comes from under Clifford’s Tower, and is unlikely to be later than the Early Bronze Age.5 No Food Vessels or later Bronze Age cinerary urns are known from the city.
Bronzes from York are badly provenanced, although there is a marked concentration of finds from the city (see map); finds include: 5 socketed axes, 2 palstaves, 1 flat axe, and 1 looped spearhead; from ‘near York’ there are 2 socketed axes, 2 palstaves, 2 winged axes; a looped spearhead from Heslington, and a palstave from Bishopthorpe. A hoard of bronzes was found in 1847 during the making of a railway cutting, but only one socketed axe survives.6 Provenanced bronzes are from The Mount, Knavesmire and Fulford- Heslington area. Curiously, there is an almost complete absence of bronze weapons, so frequently found on the Trent (although a leaf-shaped sword was found near Whenby in 1946). This, together with the absence of burials, suggests that York had less importance as a centre in the later Bronze Age.
During the Bronze Age, the moraine was probably part of a well defined east-west trade route from Irish metal sources to East Yorkshire and the Continent, as demonstrated by the presence of Irish gold ornaments in East Yorkshire and the numerous bronze hoards in the Vale, but this appears to have had little impact on the settlement at York.
Stone axe hammers, usually attributed to the Bronze Age, are less frequent than polished axes (Fig. 3) but there are four from the city (one provenanced from Scarcroft Road) and one from Poppleton; 35 others have been found in the Vale.
The same factors presumably influenced settlement during the Iron Age but there is extremely little surviving evidence from the York area. Roman York had a Celtic name Eburacum (‘the place of the yew trees’ or ‘the field of Eburos’).7 This certainly implies Celtic knowledge of the area and if the second meaning is correct Celtic ownership. Two finds suggest that the site of any Celtic settlement may lie under the present railway
1 Yorks. Phil. Soc. Reports 1905, plates 3, 4.
2 Y.A.J. XLII (1969), pp. 131-2; Y.M. FW.100, 1-18; Y.M. 446-7, 1948.
3 C. Wellbeloved, Eburacum (1842), 122, pi. 15, no. 15; Yorks. Mus. Handbook (1854), 52 and (1881), 59; Y.M. 1000, 1947. This beaker was found in railway excavations during 1840 and must therefore have come not from the York to Scarborough line, started in 1845, nor from Bootham, but rather from the Old Station or near the city walls.
4 B.M. 1853, pp. 11-15, 18.
5 Yorks. Phil. Soc. Reports 1902, pp. 70-2.
6 Liverpool Museum M6996.
7 R.C.H.M., City of York I (1962), xxx.
THE PREHISTORY OF THE VALE OF YORK
13
station. Contracted inhumations are recorded from the north of the roofed-in area of the present station.8 It is true that contracted burial continued during the Roman period among the less Romanised natives and indeed isolated examples do occur on major Roman sites including York.9 But although the number of burials is unspecified, Raine’s notes imply that there were several and that they lay beneath Roman burials. We are not therefore dealing with an occasional non-conformist in a contemporary Roman cemetery, but with a group of early burials of uniform rite. The probability is that they are not only native but pre-Roman. This probability is strengthened by another find also said to come from the railway excavations - the well-known enamelled bronze belt plate in the York- shire Museum,10 dating according to Fox from the decade centering on a.d. 70.
The evidence is consistent with a small agricultural settlement, whose leaders, as the belt plate suggests, had some share in the wealth that accrued to the Brigantes as a result of their pro-Roman policy.11 The site is the natural one for such a settlement on the rising ground levelled between 1870 and 1877 to make way for the railway station, where the morainic ridge south-west of the river broadens and provides the maximum area of well drained soil capable of easy cultivation. The paucity of finds is readily explained by the circumstances of the clearance of the site. With all the wealth of small finds and whole pots relating to the Roman cemetery it is easy to understand that over such a wide area the sherds and debris of Iron Age settlement should have been overlooked, since they were more squalid and to Victorian eyes less interesting than the better preserved Roman material, and indeed had probably been already disturbed by Roman burials.
A third fragment of evidence for this period is preserved in the name Green Dykes Lane which runs from Hull Road to Heslington Road, athwart the morainic ridge on the north-east side of the river. In the late Middle Ages the dykes were a grass-grown feature, double (i.e. two banks with a medial ditch, or two ditches with external and/or medial banks), 35-50 ft. wide, extending from Thief Lane to Heslington Road, across a marked ridge with relatively steep sides. They were then used as boundary markers, as a drove way, and produced tithes (presumably of hay), but these were secondary uses of a pre- existing feature. The dykes were not co-extensive either with the boundaries or with the drove way. They are best explained as an attempt to control traffic using the natural ridge route across the Vale of York at a point where it begins to widen out after crossing the Ouse, south of the confluence with the Foss. They belong then to a period before the siting of the Roman legionary fortress within the confluence of the Ouse and Foss had deflected the Roman and later road systems away from the natural crossing point of the river, and are to be assigned to a well-known type of Iron Age earthwork - the cross-ridge dyke.12
It has been suggested that in the first century a.d. York may have been Queen Carti- mandua’s capital,13 but the few finds provide no support for this idea. In the light of present knowledge, recently summarised by Dr. Stead,14 the emphasis of Iron Age settle- ment is on the northern part of the chalk Wolds. There the numerous dykes originated as Iron Age boundaries and aerial photography has revealed scores of levelled cemeteries of square barrows at such places as Burton Fleming, Fimber and Huggate to add to the known
8 R.C.H.M., op. cit., 85b; area f, (VI), based on notes by J. Raine in York City Library, p. 4.
9 R.C.H.M., op. cit., 105a, b; area o (XIII).
10 Y.M. 845.48; E. T. Leeds, Celtic Ornament (1933), p. 129; C. Fox, Pattern and Purpose (1958), p. 119, pi. 52- The find spot is based on an incomplete label reading ‘. . . Excav. 1873’ which, by analogy with other Yorkshire Museum labels and those excavations known to have been in progress during 1873 must refer to the Railway site.
XLIV (1954), P-49-
12 Y.A.J. XLI (1966), pp. 587-90.
13 G. Simpson, Britons and the Roman Army (1964), pp. 11-12.
14 I. M. Stead, The La Tene Cultures of Eastern Yorkshire (1965) and in R. M. Butler (ed.). Soldier and Civilian in Roman Yorkshire (1971), pp. 21-43.
14
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
earthworks at Scorborough near Leconfield, or Danes Graves near Driffield. Many of the settlements which air photographs also disclose to have existed in numbers throughout nearly every parish between the Wold edge and the sea and which, like Garton Slack or Rudston continued into the Roman period, must have had Iron Age origins. Of these settlements the hill-fort of Grimthorpe on the edge of the escarpment 13 miles east of York with warriors’ burials there and at Bugthorpe, is the nearest to the Vale, although barrow cemeteries are known in Skipwith parish within the area studied in this paper, 8 miles south-east of York.
The following lists of finds from the Vale, based on research carried out by the author and by Mr. D. P. Dymond for the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England), were originally intended for inclusion in the Commission’s inventory of monuments in the City of York. It was felt that since the scope of the inventory has only permitted the lists of finds from York itself to be included, the rest of the collected material deserved publication.15 Details of bronze spearheads for the whole of Yorkshire have already been published.16 Of these 20 come from the Vale of York, including one looped example from the city. Table 4 lists the few gold ornaments from the rest of Yorkshire, as well as the five examples from the Vale. These lists can only be provisional in view of constant discoveries but may serve as a basis for future work.
Arch. J.
Benson
B.M.
Coll.
Elgee
Evans
Evans (1881)
M.
PSA. Newcastle
PYGS
VCH
YAJ
Y.M.
YMH.
ABBREVIATIONS The Archaeological Journal
Benson, G. York: I, From its origin to the end of the nth century (1911)
British Museum
Collection
Elgee, F. Early Man in North-East Yorkshire (1930)
Evans, J. The Ancient Stone Implements of Great Britain (1897)
Evans,). The Ancient Bronze Implements of Great Britain (1881) Museum
Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle-on-Tyne
Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society
Victoria County History
Yorkshire Archaeological Journal
Yorkshire Museum, York
Yorkshire Museum Handbook
LISTS OF RECORDED FINDS17
1 . Acklam
2. Aldborough
3. Aldborough
4. Aldborough
5. Aldwark Moor
6. Ampleforth
7. Arthington
8. Askham Richard
9. Baldersby
10. Baldersby
11. Barmby Moor
12. Barmby Moor
13. Barmby Moor
14. Barmby Moor
15. Barton le Willows
16. Barton le Willows
17. Barwick in Elmet
18. Bedale Grange
1.
Neolithic Polished Axes from the Vale of York (all stone unless otherwise stated)
Evans, 140, 415 368, 1948 328, 1948
YAJ XX (1909), 256 Unpolished flint. Elgee, 36 Adze. D125, 1964 SE 55804705
With bronze hoard. 383, 1948 With 9 and ? bronze hoard Feather Coll.
Found i960 274.48
W. W. Rees, History of Barmby Moor (1911), 5 Flint. 381, 1948
373, 1948 33G 1948
Y.M.
Y.M.
National M., Edinburgh Private coll.
Leeds M.
Easing wold Sch.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Hull M.
Private coll.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Malton M. Y.M.
Y.M.
15 It has been edited, with some additions, by R. M. Butler. For detailed list of York finds with distribution map see R.C.H.M., City of York III (1972), xxxix.
16 Y.A.J. XLII (1967), pp. 15-19.
1 7 Material discovered since 1970 has been added by Mrs Elizabeth Hartley and is identified by the year of discovery.
THE PREHISTORY OF THE VALE OF YORK
15
|
19. Bedale Grange |
Sturge Coll. |
B.M. |
|
20. Birdsall |
94 |
Hull M. |
|
21. Bishop Wilton |
336, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
22. Bishop Wilton, Garrowby Wold |
268 |
Hull M. |
|
23-32. Boltby |
Elgee, 37 |
Leeds M. |
|
33. Boltby 34. Boroughbridge, Minskip |
Tot Lord Coll. Settle |
|
|
35. Brackenthwaite |
Harrogate M. |
|
|
36. Brandsby |
382, 1948 = ?I96i.i |
Y.M. |
|
37. Broughton |
329, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
38. Buhner |
384, 1948. SE 44694673 |
Y.M. |
|
39. Bulnier |
Bradford Arch. Bull. V, 66 |
|
|
40. Byland |
768.38 |
Scarborough M. |
|
41. Camblesforth Common |
1960.6 |
Y.M. |
|
42. Castle Howard |
250 |
Hull M. |
|
43. Church Fenton |
Yorks. Evening Press, 4.11.1958 |
Private coll. |
|
44. Coulton Moor |
300.42.134 |
Hull M. |
|
45. Coulton Moor |
300.42.315 |
Hull M. |
|
46. Crambe |
Sturge Coll. Evans, 125. |
B.M. |
|
47. Crambe |
Sturge Coll. |
B.M. |
|
48 . Crambe |
Greenwell Coll. Evans, 125, 345 |
B.M. |
|
49. Crambe |
Adze. Sturge Coll. |
B.M. |
|
50. Crambe |
Adze. Sturge Coll. |
B.M. |
|
5 1 . Crayke |
SE 549705 |
Easing wold Sch. |
|
52. Crayke |
340, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
53. Crayke |
385, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
54. Crayke |
SE 559725 |
|
|
55. Crayke |
Nr. Mosswood Lane |
|
|
56. Dalton |
Flint. 51/24 |
Y.M. |
|
57. Dunnington |
Benson, York I, 8. |
|
|
58. East Cottingwith |
Unpolished flint. 1960.2 SE 707428 |
Y.M. |
|
59. Elvington |
25.1942 |
Y.M. |
|
60. Escrick |
1953-8 |
Y.M. |
|
61. Escrick |
1955.3: SE 628425 |
Y.M. |
|
62. Follifoot |
Harrogate M. |
|
|
63. Fulford |
Flint. 1953. 1 |
Y.M. |
|
6 4. Garforth |
D171.1964 |
Leeds M. |
|
65. Garthorpe |
Greenwell Coll. Evans, 180-1 |
B.M. |
|
66. Gilling |
Evans, 119 |
|
|
67. Gilling |
Elgee, 37-8 |
|
|
68. Gilling |
Found 1936 |
|
|
69. Goole |
Flint found 1949: SE 74562473 |
|
|
70. Great Ribston |
325, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
71. Harrogate, The Stray |
Unpolished |
Harrogate M. |
|
72. Harrogate, Harlow Carr |
SE 279542 |
Harrogate M. |
|
73. Harrogate, Harlow Carr |
SE 279542 |
Harrogate M. |
|
74. Harrogate, Duchy Rd ./ |
SE 29455565 |
Harrogate M. |
|
Clarence Drive |
Flint |
|
|
75. Haxby |
Y.P.S.R. 1905, 50 |
|
|
76. Heslington |
Flint. 1953. 1 |
Y.M. |
|
77. Holme on Spalding Moor |
Flint. 1951.47 |
Y.M. |
|
78. Holme on Spalding Moor |
Flint. 1951. 47. 17 |
Y.M. |
|
79. Holme on Spalding Moor |
Flint. 1951. 13 |
Y.M. |
|
80. Holme on Spalding Moor |
Flint. Sturge Coll. |
B.M. |
|
81. Holme on Spalding Moor |
Evans, 100 |
|
|
82. Hotham |
Flint adze. 26.62.2 |
Hull M. |
|
83. Huttons Ambo |
Malt on M. |
|
|
84. Hutton Conyers |
Ripon M. |
|
|
85. Hutton Moor |
Ripon M. |
|
|
86. Huby |
Flint. YAJ 1969 |
|
|
87. Kilburn |
Elgee, fig. 7 |
|
|
88. Kilburn |
Elgee, fig. 7 |
|
|
89. Kilburn |
Elgee, fig. 7 |
|
|
90. Killinghall |
Flint |
Harrogate M. |
|
91. Kirby Overblow |
Harrogate M. |
|
|
92. Kirby Underdale |
2 66, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
93. a Kirby Underdale |
267, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
b Kirby Underdale |
268, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
c Kirby Underdale |
Evans, 91 |
1 6
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
|
94. Kirby Wharfe |
Flint. Speight, 178 |
Tadcaster M. |
|
95. Kirby Wharfe |
Flint. Speight, 200 SE 50741 1 |
|
|
96. Kirkham |
35G 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
97. Kirklington |
Flint. 1875.4.3.151 |
B.M. |
|
98. Knaresborough |
Hull M. |
|
|
99. Leavening |
1523, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
100. Leavening |
1634, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
101. Leeds, Storegate Rd. |
D130 |
Leeds M. |
|
102. Leeds, Neville St. |
D131 |
Leeds M. |
|
103. Leeds, Roundhay |
D132 |
Leeds M. |
|
104. Leeds, Roundhay, golf links |
D133: SE 335385 |
Leeds M. |
|
105. Leeds, Scarcroft, Kentmere |
Di34:SE 344366 |
Leeds M. |
|
Approach |
||
|
106. Leeds, Low Towthorpe |
Di35 |
Leeds M. |
|
197. Leeds, E. of Shadwell |
PYGS IX, 431 |
|
|
Reformatory |
||
|
108. Leeds, Woodburn |
Found 1884 |
|
|
109. Leeds, Alwoodley Crescent |
Leeds M. |
|
|
no. Linton on Ouse |
Mortimer Coll. |
Hull M. |
|
in. Londesborough |
Featherstone Coll. |
Hull M. |
|
1 12. Malton |
1524, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
1 13. Malton |
1527, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
1 14. Malton |
1658, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
1 15. Malton |
1669, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
1 16. Malton |
1670, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
1 17. Malton |
Malton M. |
|
|
1 18. Marton cum Grafton |
Adze. 1021, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
1 19. Melmerby |
Lucas Coll. 754-3.153 |
B.M. |
|
120. Melmerby |
Lucas Coll. |
B.M. |
|
121. Melmerby |
Sturge Coll. |
B.M. |
|
122. My ton on Swale |
Adze. 1959.10 |
Y.M. |
|
123. Naburn |
Flint |
Y.M. |
|
124. Nether Poppleton |
Y.M. |
|
|
125. Newton Kyme |
SE 462447 |
|
|
126. Newton on Ouse |
339, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
127. Newton on Ouse |
398, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
128. North Cliffe |
YAJ 1965 |
Y.M. |
|
129. Norton (E.R.) |
Evans, 102 |
|
|
130. Osgodby |
Evans, 122 |
|
|
13 1. Pickhill (N.R.) |
1875.4.3.1860 |
B.M. |
|
132. Pilmoor (N.R.) |
Flint. 372, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
133. Pilmoor |
Sturge Coll. 3^ in. long |
B.M. |
|
134. Pilmoor |
Sturge Coll. 7 in. long |
B.M. |
|
135. Pilmoor |
Sturge Coll. 9.7 in. long |
B.M. |
|
136. Pocklington |
Found 1958: SE 808467 |
Woldgate Sch. |
|
137. Pocklington |
Flint |
Buxton M. |
|
138. Pocklington |
300.42.193 |
Hull M. |
|
139. Pocklington |
YAJ 1964: SE 799485 |
Y.M. |
|
140. Raskelf |
1606, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
1 41. Raskelf |
Flint. Found 1952: SE 49627030 |
|
|
142. Raskelf |
Flint. Found 1945-50: SE 487711 |
|
|
143. Raskelf |
Yellow flint |
Private coll. |
|
144. Raskelf |
Unpolished flint: SE 496702 |
Private coll. |
|
145. Raskelf |
Unpolished flint |
Private coll. |
|
146. Raskelf |
Sturge Coll. |
B.M. |
|
147. Rillington |
P16.1 |
|
|
148. Rillington |
P16.2 |
|
|
149. Rillington |
P16.3 |
|
|
150. Rillington |
335, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
151. Ripon |
374, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
152. Ripon |
Ripon M. |
|
|
153. Sand Hutton (nr. Thirsk) |
Middlesbrough M |
|
|
154. Sand Hutton (nr. York) |
Flint. 1953.5: SE 67985790 |
Y.M. |
|
155. Saxton |
Y.M. |
|
|
156. Scagglethorpe |
Ancuba Farm |
Scarborough M. |
|
157. Scampston |
Evans, 126 |
|
|
158. Scampston |
449, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
159. Scawton |
Flint |
Y.M. |
|
160. Scriven |
THE PREHISTORY OF THE VALE OF YORK
17
161. Scriven
162. Sessay
163. Shipton (E.R.)
164. Shipton
165. Shipton
166. Skelton on Ure
167. Skipton on Swale
168. Skipwith
169. Skipwith
170. South Cave
1 71. South Cave
172. Sowerby
173. Sowerby
174. Stanley
175. Stanley
176. Stanley
177. Strensall
178. Tadcaster
179. Terrington
180. Thirkleby
1 8 1 . Thirsk
182. Tholthorp
183. Thornbrough 183a. Thorner
184. Thornton le Clay
185. Topcliffe
186. Topcliffe
187. Topcliffe
188. Wakefield, Avondale St.
189. Wakefield, Roman Camp Farm
190. Walton 190a. Walton
191. Wath
192. West Tanfield
193. Westow
194. Wheldrake, opp. church
195. Wheldrake, W. end of village
196. Whit well
197. Whitwell
198. Wilber foss
199. Wilberfoss
200. Yearsley
201. York, Viking Road
202. York, Micklegate Bar
203. York, railway excavations
204. York, Dringhouses
205. York, Holgate
206. York, The Mount
207. York, Dringhouses
208. York, Dringhouses 208a. York, Dringhouses
209. York, Gale Lane
210. York, Gale Lane
211. York
212. York
213. York
214. York 214a. York
215-21. York. Hoard 222. York, High Ousegate
Found 1939: SE 447750 N.FT. Naturalist XV (1940-1), 52 N.W. Naturalist XV (1940-1), 52 N. W. Naturalist XV (1940-1), 52 YAJ XXXVI (1918), 130-1: SE 362679 Flint. 1953-3 265, 1948 268, 1948
Flint adze. 300.42.69 300.42.70
Found 1957. Flint - only edge polished: SE 44267926
1952.5
Walker, History of Wakefield , fig. 8 A Walker, History of Wakefield, fig. 8B Walker, History of Wakefield, fig. 8D 300.42.177
420, 1948 Evans, 122 1954
Flint. 1951. 39; SE 461672 YAJ 1963, 14 Found 1972 Flint. 1954. 5 SE 41967941 75.4.3.161
75-4-3-I54 SE 330201
YAJ XLIV (1971), 1 Found 1971
75.4.3.155
1877 1-25. 1 Flint axe/pick Flint: SE 68334495 Flint: SE 67604465 330, 1948
Chisel. Sturge Coll.
300.42.257
300.42.261
YAJ XXXVII (1952-5), 359 SE 572520
1952. 19. 1. 2: SE 598515
Cook MS. 1872, PI. 1, no. 1: SE 596520
Ibid., no. 7: SE 588499
Benson, York I, 5: SE 592512
Ibid.: SE 593 51 1
443, 1948: SE 597497
444, 1948: SE 597497
445, 1948: SE 597497
10, 1948: SE 573507
11, 1948: SE 573507 B 1951.2594
477, 1948 1022, 1948 1565, 1948 1972.7
6 flint, 1 stone with 25 other flint tools. 446-7, 1948: SE 582527 SE 60355170
Y.M. Y.M. Y.M. Hull M Hull M
Y.M.
Hull M.
Easingwold Sch. Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Harrogate M. Private coll. Y.M.
Priva e coll. B.M.
B.M.
Wakefield M. Wakefield M.
Private coll. B.M.
B.M.
York Castle M. Wheldrake Sch. Wheldrake Sch. Y.M.
B.M.
Hull M.
Hull M.
Private coll. Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Hunterian M. Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
A . Flat Axes
1. Dalton, nr. Thirsk
2. Goole
3. Scackleton
4. Wakefield
5. York
2. Bronze Implements from the Vale of York
YAJ XXIX, 359 Mortimer M., M2
Hull M. Wakefield M.
1033, 1948 Y.M.
i8
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
|
Fig. 2. |
Distribution map of bronze implements. |
|
|
6. York |
1183, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
7. York, Knavesmire |
Stukeley’s Letters III, 348: SE 591502 |
|
|
8. Vale of York |
1242, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
9. York (nr.) B. Winged Axes |
Arch.J. XIX, 363. With chevron decora- tion, lost |
B.M. |
|
i. Baldersby |
See below, hoards |
Y.M. |
|
2. Brompton |
WG. 1827 |
B.M. |
|
3. Bulmer |
WG. 1834 |
B.M. |
|
4. Dalton, nr. Thirsk |
51/23 |
Y.M. |
|
5. Gilberdyke |
1123, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
6. Healaugh |
Wood, Archaeology of Nidderdale, 25-6 |
Private coll. |
|
7. Holme on Spalding Moor |
Mortimer M . , 1 8 1 1 |
Hull M. |
|
8. Kirby Wiske |
819.38 |
Scarborough M. |
|
9. Marton le Moor |
1122, 1948 |
Y.M. |
|
10. Northallerton |
Greenwell Coll. 75.4.3.167: SE 361941 |
B.M. |
|
1 1 . Rainton cum Newby |
Ripon M. |
|
|
12. Ripon |
1955-51 |
Y.M. |
BRONZE IMPLEMENTS
in the Vale of York
X - hoards i i 5 miles
THE PREHISTORY OF THE VALE OF YORK
*9
13. Sand Hutton (nr. Thirsk)
14. Sessay
15. Snape
16. Stanley
17. Staveley
18. Stillington
19. Sutton on Derwent
20. York (nr.)
21. York (nr.)
C. Socketed Axes
1 . Acklam
2. Baldersby
3. Barmby Moor
4. Barmby Moor
5 . Everthorpe
6. Hovingham
7. Hovingham
8. Leeds
9. Leeds, Roundhay Park
10. Leeds
1 1 . Millington
12. Myton
13. Newbald
14. North Cave
1 5 . Ripley
16. Ripon
17. Skipton on Swale
18. Stanwick
19. Tadcaster
20. Tanfield
21. Thirsk
22. Thorner
23. Topcliffe
24. Wakefield
25. York, The Mount
26. York, Cemetery
27. York, Cemetery
28. York
29. York
30. York (at or nr.)
31. York (at or nr.)
D. Palstaves
1. Baldersby
2. Bishopthorpe
3. Bolton Percy
4. Clifton Without
5. Cundall
6. Everingham
7. Everthorpe
8. Howden
9. Long Marston
10. Morley
11. Ripon
12. Ripon
13. Sessay
14. Tadcaster
15. Tadcaster
16. Thirsk
17. Thornton le Clay
18. Wakefield
19. York
20. York
21. York, Fulford
E. Other Bronzes
1 . Broomfleet
2. Elloughton
3. Goodmanham
Mortimer M., 106: SE 448754 Mortimer M., 168
117, 1948
53.11-15, 10 53.11-15, 11
Middlesbrough M.
Y.M. Hull M Hull M B.M. B.M.
See below, hoards
W. D. W. Rees, History of Barmby Moor (1911), 7
Found 1956: SE 795485 Mortimer M., 92
15, 1948
16, 1948 D252. 1964 PYGS 9 (1887), 431
YAJ XXIX, 359 Mortimer M., 147
Marked on Elgee’s map PSA Newcastle, 3rd s. I, 64
1937.12- 17.1 Mortimer M.
SL 238
1879 WG.2002
1146, 1948: SE 593511 WG.2010: SE 610508 WG.2011 J-93-507
YMH (1891), 205
53.12- 24, 1. Waste metal in socket Henderson gift
Hull M Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Leeds M.
Sheffield M.
B.M.
B.M.
Cast in Harrogate M. Y.M.
Middlesbrough M.
B.M.
Hull M.
B.M.
B.M.
Wakefield M.
Y.M.
B.M.
B.M.
Sheffield M.
B.M.
B.M.
See below, hoards Y.M.
1319, 1948 Y.M.
73. 12-9. 172 B.M.
YAJ XU (1966), 556
Evans (1881), 86
Found 1949: SE 81064107
PYGS 7 (1881), 406
1955.5. 1 1955-5-2 Found 1939
1945. 1
1954.10: SE 49074363
WG.1824
1132, 1948 YMH (1891), 204 J. 93. 488: SE 610490
Private coll.
St. Albans M. Otley Mechs. Inst.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Hull M.
B.M.
Wakefield M. Y.M.
Sheffield M.
Socketed gouge. Mortimer M., 72
Dagger, WG.2019 B.M.
Ear-ring. Evans (1881), 392
20
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
4. Leeds
5. Leeds, Chapel Allerton
6. Norinanton
7. Ripon
8. Whenby
F. Hoards
1 . Acklam
2. Baldersby
3. Barwick
4. Bilton
5 . Elloughton
6. Everthorpe
7. Hotham
Shield. R. Thoresby, Ducatus Leodensis,
565
Dagger Leeds M.
Dagger. Walker, History of Wakefield, 15:
SE 392243
Sword. ? Iron Age, on Elgee’s map
Sword. Found 1945 Y.M.
Found i860
Found 1881. 1 socketed axe, 1 palstave, 3 Y.M.
flanged axes, 1 ring, 2 stone axes
Found c. 1675. 5-6 socketed axes
Found 1848. 6 socketed axes, 7 spears, 2
swords: SE 489502
Found 1719. A bushel of socketed axes
Found 1842. 16 socketed axes, 1 gouge, FIull M.
waste fragments: SE 907320
9+ palstaves, 1 palstave mould.
Fig. 3. Distribution map of axe-hammers.
THE PREHISTORY OF THE VALE OF YORK
21
8. Leeds, Roundhay
9. Leeds, Roundhay
10. Leeds, Churwell
11. Leeds, Hunslett
12. Kirk Deighton
13. Pocklington
14. Scrayingham
15. Sheriff Hutton
16. Stanley
17. Ulleskelf
18. Westow
19. Yearsley
20. York, Cemetery
21. York, railway
Found 1905. 6 palstaves, 3 survive - D231, 0232a, b. 1964
Found 1846. 3 spears, 5 palstaves 1 socketed axe, 9 palstaves Found 1955. 1 socketed axe, 3 spearheads: SE 400510
Found 1958-9. 3 socketed axes 1972.9 7 socketed axes Found 1823. 16 socketed axes Found pre 1841. 6 socketed axes, 2 pal- staves. SE 355231
Found 1849. 2 socketed axes, 1 palstave Found 1846. 47 socketed axes, 6 gouges, 3 chisels, 1 palstave, 1 knife, 1 dagger, waste bronze: SE 759661
Found 1735. Nearly 100 socketed axes, waste bronze WG.2010-11: SE 610508 Many socketed axes found 1847. Now lost: SE 594517
Leeds M.
Y.M.
Harrogate M. Y.M.
Leeds M.
Salisbury M. Y.M.
B.M.
Liverpool M.
3. Axe Hammers from the Vale of York
1. Bardsey-cum-Rigton. W.R.
2. Carthorpe. N.R.
3. Catton. E.R.
4. Dishforth. W.R.
5. Elvington. E.R.
6. Gate Helmsley. E.R.
7. Harrogate. W.R.
8. Holme-on-Spalding Moor. E.R.
9. Hotham. E.R.
10. Kirklington. N.R.
11. Knaresborough. W.R.
12. Leeds. W.R.
13. Markington. W.R.
14. Marton-cum-Grafton. W.R.
15. Morley. W.R.
16. Newton-on-Derwent. E.R.
17. Normanton. W.R.
18. North Rigton. W.R.
19. Norton-le-Clay. N.R.
20. Pilmoor. N.R.
21. Poppleton. W.R.
22. Raskelf. N.R.
23. Raskelf. N.R.
24. Ripon area. W.R.
25. Saxton. W.R.
26. Scackleton. N.R.
27. Sheriff Hutton. N.R.
28. Sheriff Hutton. N.R.
29. Sheriff Hutton. N.R.
29a. Sherburn in Elmet 29b. South Milford
29c. Strensall
30. Thorpe-le-Willows. N.R.
31. Wakefield. W.R.
32. Wilberfoss. E.R.
33. Skelton. ? which
34. Spofforth. W.R.
35. Stanley
36. Strensall
37. York
38. York
39. York
40. York
from Wike: SE 338421
Breace House Farm
from High Catton
Beaker type. BM. 754. 3.161
S. of Manor Farm. c. SE. 698468
500' S.W. of Railway Bridge. YM. 1957.4
Haverah Park
Beacon Hill. Beaker type. 1922.3. 1 The Carrs. 300.42.299 Basalt. Evans. Fig. 137 Blind Lane Farm.
VCH. 1.411, PYGS. 1887. p- 430. fd. 1879 ? macehead. Lukis Coll.
1041.1948
SE 26652585; D. 140. 1964
1041.1948
from Altofts. D. 139. 1964
1023.1948 Evans, p. 191
1052.1948
1029.1948
Peep o’Day Farm 5 axe-hammers; no detail Hourglass perforation Evans, p. 190-1 Beaker type
Waisted type. 1019.1948 Destroyed
Milford Hagg Farm. YAJ. XLIV (1971) 2
1972.8
1972.12
from Thorpe Grange. SE 579770- Y.A.J. 1965
Denby Dale Road from Caddon Park 1876.4.10, 39
Roman Camp Farm
Y.P.S. Rept. 1905. p. 50 (same as Benson 1.5, 1911?)
Scarcroft Road. 1020.1948
1022.1948
1032.1948
1067.1948
Leeds M.
Ripon M.
Castle M., York B.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Harrogate M. B.M.
Hull M.
Harrogate M.
Ripon M.
Y.M.
Leeds M.
Y.M.
Leeds M. Harrogate M. Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
? Leeds M. Ripon M. Harrogate M.
Preston M. Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Wakefield M. Castle M., York B.M.
Harrogate M. Wakefield M.
? Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
Y.M.
22
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
From the Vale of York
1 . Aireborough
2. Boroughbridge
3. Cawood
4. Ripon (nr.)
5. Studley Hall From the rest of Yorkshire
6. Arras
7. Boltby Scar
8. Bowes
9. Cottingham
10. Embsay
11. Greta Bridge
12. High Hunsley
13. Kelley thorpe
14. Rawden
15. Scalby
16. Swinton
17. Yeadon
4. Gold Ornaments
Torque. Found 1781. Loidis and Elmete
(1816), 211-12
Torque
Ring. Elgee, 173
2 rings. Camden, 1780. ed., IV, 231 Torque. Found 1818
Ring. ? Iron Age. Mortimer 374, Stead, 102, 117: SE 930513 Basket ear-rings
6 rings. Found 1850. YAf 22, 409
4 armlets
Torque
Ring
Bracelet. Found 1967: SE 956356
Rivets in wristguard. Mortimer, 274.
TA 01705668
Torque. Found 1781
Torque. Found 1843
Bracelet. Found 1815
Torque. Elgee, 175
Y.M. B.M. B.M. Hull M
Scarborough M.
23
ECOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT A ROMANO-BRITISH EARTHWORK IN THE YORKSHIRE PENNINES
By Heather M. Tinsley and Richard T. Smith
Summary An earthwork of Romano-British affinity is described from the West Riding of Yorkshire^ Pollen analyses have been carried out in order to identify vegetation and land use changes occurring both before and after construction of the earthwork. Soil analyses have permitted an explanation of stratification within the inner mound, of ancient buried soil characteristics and of subsequent soil evolution in the area. Treated together with the remaining structures a possible function for the site is discussed. Evidence so far assembled suggests that use of the earthwork continued until the Anglian period.
I
Introduction
Fortress Dike Camp is sited on the gently sloping eastern margins of Carle Moor (SE 179732), at an altitude of 259 m, 4‘8 km west of the village of Laverton in the West Riding of Yorkshire. The site lies within heather moorland, at the side of a stream known as Fortress Dike, with the upward limit of improved pasture some 300 metres from the
24
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
earthwork (Fig. i). It was considered that an examination of this site and the analysis of soil and peat layers associated with it, might reveal information about its age, the nature of activities associated with its construction, and the course of vegetation and soil develop- ment in the immediate vicinity.1
Fig. 2. Plan of earthwork.
The earthwork is sub-rectangular, enclosing an area of about three quarters of a hectare, or just over one and a half acres (Fig. 2). It is surrounded on three sides by an inner and outer bank with an intervening ditch. The maximum height of the banks above the ditch level (in the south-west corner) is 2-5 m, 1.5 m above the surrounding ground surface. The southern margin of the enclosure is markedly convex and where structures are still visible the corners are seen to be curved. On the fourth side no ditch is visible and only a slight break of slope testifies to the former existence of a bank. On the western margin there are two distinct breaks in the rampart; a stream passes through the larger of these and flows east, parallel with the northern rampart. This gap is also utilized by a track which crosses the enclosure and passes through the southern rampart at which point there is what appears to be an original entrance as suggested by the inturned banks. Traces of a low mound 30 m long can be detected within the enclosure parallel to the northern margin. Impressions of a circular structure which is conceivably a hut foundation lie adjacent to the inner
1 Tinsley, H. M., ‘A palynological study of changing woodland limits on the Nidderdale Moors’. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University of Leeds (1972).
ECOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT A ROMANO-BRITISH EARTHWORK
25
mound in the north-east corner of the enclosure. Similar types of site are not infrequent on the Pennines but little attention has been paid to their age and function. They have been loosely associated with agricultural activities.2
ERICACEOUS
PEAT
BURIED ELUVIAL HORIZON ( truncated )
• W*X ISOLATED POLLEN SAMPLES
LENS OF UPCAST
71
//
/ /
1/ /_
WASH FROM UPCAST
BURIED ILLUVIAL HORIZON
CLAY RICH SUBSOIL
mH BASAL ORGANIC HORIZON BOULDERS
Fig. 3. Excavated section along B-C.
II
Construction and stratigraphy
A trench 1*5 metres wide was cut through the inner bank, the ditch and part of the outer bank as shown by the line B-C in Fig. 2. This revealed that the banks were formed from clay subsoil, almost certainly excavated from the ditch. At this section gritstone boulders, which are abundant on the moor, were aligned along the axis of the inner mound. A lens of upcast material (Fig. 3) could be clearly recognised. It was 50 cm deep at the axis of the mound and consisted of heavy clay with frequent lumps of ganister. This overlay a discontinuous, apparently truncated, grey horizon of leached sand with a maximum depth of about 15 cm. An isolated pocket of brown earthy material, 2 cm thick, lay on top of this leached horizon near the centre of the mound. The grey sand was interpreted in the field as the buried eluvial horizon of an original shallow podzolic soil, on which the mound had been constructed. Below this a 15 cm-deep, rusty-coloured, horizon of iron accumulation was evident, becoming grey (gleyed) in the vicinity of the ditch. There was a comparatively sharp junction between this horizon and the heavy clay subsoil. The latter contained grey and orange mottles, formed as a result of fluctuations in ground water level. Soil samples were collected along the line A-A1 and also from sites W and X shown in Fig. 3.
2 Wood, E. S., Field Guide to Archaeology in Britain (1963)-
26
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
A veec,vP$e''0% _ § —
71/
>
No pollen recovered
^ 0 100 V.
0 25 50
% of total pollen
\°C>e \ “'•'v a
a'-c»Ov .0°
* , vC
D
LI
<?o'
VC
r,o'
• Less than IV. of total pollen
V. of total pollen
Fig. 4. Pollen diagram from the mound.
A thin layer of peat averaging 20 cm in depth covered the surface of the mounds and the enclosure, while in the ditch, peat had accumulated to a depth of 37 cm at the point of excavation. The mineral content increased towards the base of the ditch peat and a lens of clay separated off a lower peat horizon 5 cm deep. This clay band formed the lateral continuation of a slope-wash deposit which mantled the side of the bank above the ditch.
Table i. SOME COMPARATIVE POLLEN RECORDS
|
BLEACHED HORIZON X |
SOIL 40-45 cm |
BURIED HUMUS W |
SOIL 30-35 cm |
BASAL PEAT LENS Y Z MONOLITH |
|||
|
Alnus |
6-3 |
3-2 |
+ |
i-8 |
1-6 |
3-i |
3-6 |
|
Betula |
9-0 |
9-6 |
6-2 |
4T |
4-2 |
10-3 |
1-8 |
|
Quercus |
3-6 |
i-9 |
+ |
+ |
2-2 |
2-0 |
+ |
|
Corylus |
26-5 |
33-2 |
9-2 |
i-o |
8-o |
6-8 |
5-2 |
|
Ilex |
i-o |
2-5 |
+ |
+ |
|||
|
Gramineae |
28-4 |
26-5 |
5’3 |
3‘3 |
46-6 |
45-i |
42-6 |
|
Ericaceae |
2-7 |
n-5 |
73T |
85-9 |
I9-0 |
15-8 |
37-8 |
|
Plantago lanceolata |
5-6 |
5‘4 |
+ |
1-8 |
5‘4 |
4-6 |
2-4 |
|
Taraxacum type |
+ |
2-4 |
1-8 |
1-2 |
|||
|
Rumex acetosella type |
+ |
i-3 |
+ |
||||
|
Rubiaceae |
1-6 |
+ |
|||||
|
Ranunculus |
+ |
4-i |
+ |
1-4 |
i-o |
+ |
|
|
Caryophyllaceae |
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
+ |
||
|
Succisa |
+ |
+ |
+ |
||||
|
Cereal type |
3-o |
+ |
+ |
||||
|
Filicales: Dry opteris type |
26-2 |
31-9 |
i-o |
6-o |
4-6 |
7-6 |
6o-6 |
|
Polypodium |
ii*3 |
16-9 |
+ |
3-9 |
+ |
+ |
+ |
Data are percentages of total pollen with + representing values less than 1%.
ECOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT A ROMANO-BRITISH EARTHWORK
27
o°* c°'s \ve+
I
.W0
CZD
0 50 100
7o of total pollen
Fig. 5.
• less than I*/, of total pollen
Pollen diagram from the ditch.
I J l "1
(=□
D
I
0 50 100
1- — + 1
7. of total pollen
;S<*vP
vv
□
□
0
□
III
Pollen Analysis
A monolith of peat was removed from the ditch infilling and taken to the laboratory for analysis. Consecutive 5 cm samples of mineral material from the mound were collected for analysis along the line A-A1 in Fig. 3. The peat samples were prepared according to standard techniques by digesting in 10% sodium hydroxide, sieving, centrifuging and staining with safranin.3 Samples of soil were boiled in hydrofluoric acid to dissolve mineral particles. 500 grains of all pollen types excluding spores were counted for each sample except for certain of the soil horizons where pollen was very scarce, but no counts are based on less than 300 grains. The results are presented in Figs. 4 and 5.
For correlative purposes two mineral samples were analysed from points W and X in Fig. 3. An organic lens, identified beneath a clay horizon at the base of the ditch monolith, was exposed at two other sites on the earthwork margin (Y and Z, Fig. 2), and material from these exposures was also analysed. The results of these analyses are shown in Table 1, which includes, for comparison, data from selected horizons of the pollen diagrams.
Interpretation of the pollen records
In the pollen diagram for the soil section (Fig. 4) the pollen spectra of the three samples between 55 and 40 cm. (the rusty and bleached layers), suggest a partially cleared woodland environment. Alnus (alder) and Betula (birch) are present, Corylus (hazel) is important and the Gramineae (grasses) are well represented. The relatively high pollen percentages of Plant ay 0 lanceolata (ribwort plantain) and certain other weeds including the Caryophyllaceae (stitchwort), Succisa (scabious) type and Ranunculus (buttercup) suggest
3 Faegri, K. and Iversen, J., A Textbook of Pollen Analysis. Blackwell Scientific Publications (Oxford, 1964)-
Smith, R. T., ‘Some Refinements in the Technique of Pollen and Spore Extraction from Soil’. Laboratory Practice, 15(10) (1966), pp. 1 120-3.
28
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
human interference in this woodland. A high percentage of fern spores in these lower horizons is probably not ecologically significant and may reflect preferential decay of other pollen types.4 The samples of partially bleached material from 30-40 cm show a reduction in arboreal pollen to negligible amounts; pollen of the Ericaceae (heaths) increases dramatically and Plantago lanceolata is well represented. No pollen was recovered from the lower part of the horizon interpreted as upcast (Fig. 3) and therefore there is a break in the pollen record above 30 cm. The top 15 cm of the mound capping has a uniform pollen spectrum with large quantities of Betula pollen. Corylus and the Gramineae are also well represented, which suggests a birch woodland with an open canopy. The pollen of Plantago lanceolata and other weeds is reduced in comparison with the lower horizons, but pollen of the Ericaceae increases in importance in the top sample.
The pollen diagram for the ditch monolith is illustrated in Fig. 5. The spectrum from the basal peat lens indicates an open environment, the pollen of the Gramineae and the Ericaceae are important, with arboreal pollen less than 10% of the total. Plantago lanceolata is well represented and the pollen of other weeds such as Taraxacum (dandelion), Ranunculus and the Rubiaceae (bedstraw) also occurs/ This horizon, which also contains cereal pollen, has been radiocarbon dated to a.d. 63O1E90 (Gak 3851).
Buried
Fig. 6. Ignited soil sequence A-A1 showing podzolization of buried soil.
A clay horizon separates the basal peat lens from the main peat accumulation above. In this clay and the overlying peat, arboreal pollen increases, and at 36 cm Betula pollen reaches a maximum of 50% total pollen and fragments of birch bark and wood are present. Corylus is also well represented and grains of Ilex aquifolium (holly) are common. The pollen of the Gramineae and Ericaceae is reduced and the weed component becomes insignificant. At 32 cm, Betula and Corylus pollen begins to decline and that of the Ericaceae increases dramatically. From 25 cm to the surface of the peat, arboreal pollen remains below 12% of total pollen and the Ericaceae maintain their importance. In the upper horizons spores of Pteridium aquilinum (bracken) occur in large numbers.
4 Pennington, W., ‘Re-interpretation of some Post-glacial Vegetation Diversities at Different Lake District Sites’, Proc. Roy. Soc. B161 (1965), pp. 310-25.
Smith, R. T., ‘Studies in the Post-glacial soil and vegetation history of the Aberystwyth area’. Unpublished Ph.D. Thesis, University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (1970).
ECOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT A ROMANO-BRITISH EARTHWORK
29
IV
Soil Analysis
A continuous vertical series of samples was collected from the mound section along A— A1. These were oven-dried, crushed and then ignited in a furnace at 45° the results being displayed in Fig. 6. Larger samples were extracted from the four distinct horizons in the mound together with two from material which appeared to have been washed from the original mound. These six samples were subjected to a particle size determination by a combined pipette and dry sieving method.5 Oven-dried samples were lightly crushed and passed through a 2 mm sieve. 50 g portions were treated with hydrogen peroxide and then dispersed with sodium hexametaphosphate before starting the sedimentation. The results are presented in Figs. 7 and 8.
Interpretation of soil data
In cases where soil is affected by gleying or organic staining - especially when such features affect limited portions of soil profiles - it becomes hazardous to estimate the genetic soil type from field inspection alone. Furthermore buried soil materials should not necessarily be expected to remain in their pristine state for many centuries save under the most favourable circumstances. With this in mind the ignition sequence shows that the buried bleached (and somewhat gleyed) layer was certainly the eluvial horizon of a podzol. The fact that subsequent podzolization of mound capping is barely perceptible may be a function of time, yet could be dependent on the previous enrichment of this material in iron oxides and clay.
It seems likely that the near absence of raw humus above the buried podzol, together with obvious truncation of this soil, indicates some disturbance of the old ground surface prior to mound construction. This could easily have been associated with the location of heavy boulders. In view of the water-table height beneath the mound it is thought that the former was raised through mound construction and has now caused excessive iron- enrichment of the buried illuvial horizon.
In Fig. 7, curve 1 represents mound capping and curve 4 the clay subsoil, while curves 2 and 3 represent respectively the buried eluvial and iron-rich illuvial horizons. The almost identical paths followed by the former support the initial assumption that the capping comprises subsoil from the vicinity of the present ditch. In addition, curves 2, 3 and 4 form a pedogenic gradient illustrating the former movement of clay from the eluvial horizon. In the absence of an obvious buried humus layer this evidence reinforces the case for the buried soil beyond doubt. Furthermore, when the sample from the eluvial horizon was ignited the loss in weight was considerably greater than for the adjacent layers. When treated with peroxide, sulphurous gases were evolved indicating a concen- tration of sulphides in the sample. Although fragmentation of the buried eluvial horizon suggests interference, it is equally clear that anaerobic decomposition of an original humus could have led to the observed presence of sulphides.
Curves 5 and 6 (in Fig. 8) are somewhat similar, both representing a coarser over-all texture than the mound capping. While undoubtedly derived from the mound it is likely that the clay component has more readily washed into the ditch. Curve 4 material is 0-5 m nearer the ditch axis, but while it has a slightly higher clay content it is unfortunately not clear whether this is a depositional feature or developed through gleying. In view of the limits of accuracy of the technique, such small variations must be regarded as barely significant. The relatively smooth form of the latter two curves is similar to those which have previously been interpreted as evidence of mixing, characteristic of flood loams and
5 Piper, C. S., Soil and plant analysis (Adelaide, 1947).
30
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
Figs. 7 and 8. Mechanical analyses.
wash deposits.6 Complete smoothing would be the exception, and in this instance the local Millstone Grit provides a high proportion of medium sand grade as shown by the inflection on the cumulative curve.
V
Discussion
The earliest pollen record, in the lower horizons of the buried soil, indicates partially cleared woodland (Fig. 4 and sample X, Table 1). At this stage, before the earthwork was
6 Cornwall, I. W., ‘Soil Science and Archaeology with Illustrations from some British Bronze Age Monuments’, Proc. Prehist. Soc. 19 (1953), pp. 129-47; Cornwall, I. W., Soils for the Archaeologist (London, 1958).
ECOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT A ROMANO-BRITISH EARTHWORK
31
built, it appears that the surrounding area was already being used by man. High percentages of weed pollen, particularly of Plantago lanceolata, suggest pastoral activity. However the pollen of cereals and other indicators of cultivation are absent.
Today, podzolic soils in the immediate vicinity of the earthwork have eluvial horizons which are on average 30 cm deep. It appears that up to the time when the earthwork was built a shallow podzol had evolved, with an eluvial horizon about 15 cm deep. The pocket of dark earthy material from which sample W was extracted, appears to be all that remains of the buried surface layer of raw humus normally associated with podzols. The pollen record from this sample is similar to that in the sample from 40-30 cm in the soil section, and, significantly, is dominated by the Ericaceae. The change from open woodland to heath implies an edaphic deterioration which could be attributable to man’s activities as pastoralist.7 It was after the initial expansion of this heath that the earthwork was constructed, presumably during a period of increased pressure on land. The form of the earthwork with its inner and outer banks, its sub-rectangular shape and surviving inturned entrance suggests construction during the Romano-British period.8
An Iron Age date has been postulated for an enclosure similar to Fortress Dike Camp, on Roomer Common near the river Ure (SE 22527883), 8 kilometres north-east of this site9 and defensive structures at Cast Hills, Laverton, 3 kilometres from Fortress Dike Camp (Fig. 1) are thought also to have Iron Age affinities.10 Fortress Dike is also similar to a number of sites in South Wales, for instance those on the hills above Port Talbot, Glamorgan, which could be described as offering ‘minimum protection’ as distinct from being ‘defensive’ and which probably reflect a rather marginal form of agriculture.* 11
The pollen spectrum from the basal organic lens in the ditch (Sample Y and Z, and the basal monolith sample) postdates the construction of the earthwork. The spectrum is characterised by high frequencies of the pollen of Plantago lanceolata and other weeds generally regarded as indicators of pastoral land use. The reduced pollen values for the Ericaceae, high Gramineae values and the occurrence of charcoal fragments in these samples may indicate that periodic efforts were made to control the heath by setting it on fire. Furthermore, the presence of cereal pollen indicates that there was certainly cultivation nearby. Cereals, with the exception of rye, are self-pollinated and liberate only small quantities of pollen, so that 3% cereal pollen in sample Y should be regarded as highly significant. It is possible that the organic material at the base of the ditch could have been derived by erosion of the raw humus which appears to have covered the ground surface at the time when the earthwork was constructed. In this case the organic content of the lens would predate construction of the earthwork. However, this is thought to be very unlikely in the light of detailed comparisons between pollen spectra from the lens and from the upper horizons of the buried soil. There are significant differences in the proportions of Ericaceae and Gramineae pollen in these two horizons (80-90% Ericaceae in the buried soil surface, 27% in the basal organic lens; 10% Gramineae in the buried soil surface, 32% in the basal organic lens). A variety of weed pollen types and the pollen of cereals occur in the basal orgznic lens yet are not represented in the buried soil. In addition, the high concentration of charcoal in the material at the base of the ditch has no counterpart in the buried soil horizons. It is therefore considered that the organic lens represents a cultural phase which postdates the construction of the earthwork.
The basal organic lens is very thin and the record for this agricultural phase finishes
7 Dimbleby, G. W., Development of British Heathlands and their Soils, Oxf. For. Mem. 23 (1962), has noted similar sequences of change associated with Bronze Age activities in the North York Moors.
8 Hartley, B. R., Private communication, 1972.
9 Ordnance Survey (1962) Archaeological Card Index, West Riding of Yorkshire.
10 Ordnance Survey (1963) Archaeological Card Index, SE 27SW.
11 An example is that of Caer Blaen-y-Cwm (SS 833881), No. 657 in Glamorgan, Vol. I, compiled by R.C.A.M. Houlder, C. H. (R.C.A.M., Aberystwyth) - private communication.
32
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
abruptly at the level where the peat lens is overlain by clay. The date of a.d. 630^:90 for the agricultural phase may then indicate the most recent period of intensive use of the site and it is conceivable that deposits associated with earlier occupations have been destroyed by periodic ditch renovation.
The isolated position of the earthwork and the lack of any obvious hut structures or artifacts suggest that it could have functioned as an animal pound, although it is fair to say that timber or turf huts would effectively disappear after more than a thousand years. The stream which passes through the enclosure (Fig. 2) and which appears from field examination to have existed before the earthwork’s construction may conceivably have played a role in relation to the animal hypothesis. If this interpretation is sustained, the enclosure may have been used for the protection of stock during times of stress from the Romano-British period until the seventh century a.d. The termination of the most recent phase around a.d. 630 happens to correspond to the period of the Anglian invasion of Yorkshire, which must have resulted in considerable disruption to rural life. According to Jones,12 Bede described how in a.d. 603 Ethelfrid of Northumbria ‘overran a greater area than any other Kings or chiefs, exterminating or enslaving the (British) inhabitants, extorting tribute and annexing their lands for the English’.
The pollen assemblage in the clay which overlies the organic lens is similar to that in the upper part of the mound, from which it may be derived by erosion. It is therefore possible that the chronological vegetation sequence illustrated by the ditch pollen diagram may be disturbed at this point. However, the high Betula and Corylus pollen frequencies are continued in the overlying peat which accumulated in situ. The regeneration suggested by this pollen assemblage must therefore have taken place after the agricultural phase which bears the approximate date of a.d. 630. The presence of birch macro-remains within the peat supports this view. The pollen of Plantago lanceolata and other weeds is greatly reduced in this regeneration phase and the cereal record ceases. This regeneration of woodland is unusual as it represents a temporary reversal of the trend towards reduction of trees and establishment of heath. This may perhaps be a function of the marginal-upland location of this archaeological site, as at all other sites studied on these moors the initial expansion of heath is observed to continue practically unchecked to the present.
It is interesting to note that this woodland regeneration on Carle Moor and surrounding areas is reflected by some Anglian and Norse place-names. The Anglian name ‘Shaws’, a woodland, occurs on Carle Moor between 260 and 320 metres elevation. The same element suggests that trees once grew in Ellershaw Gill, draining Stock Beck Moor and lying to the north of Carle Moor. The element ‘stock’, a stump, is indicative of woodland clearance during Anglian times. On the same stretch of moorland the Norse element ‘with’, a wood, occurs in Sandwith Wham and Bagwith Brae; The Norse element ‘carr’, wet land overgrown with brushwood, also occurs on Stock Beck Moor at How Carr.
The pollen record from the ditch peat suggests that at some time following the Norse and Anglian period heath was re-established around the site of Fortress Dike Camp and a thin, highly humified peat cover began to develop over all the structures.
VI
Conclusions
The earthwork described in this paper appears to date from the Romano-British period but was utilised sporadically into the Dark Ages. The variation in intensity of land use around Fortress Dike Camp had important effects on the surrounding vegetation. In addition, differentiation of soil horizons has certainly intensified with time leading to clay accumulation at depth and perhaps to enhanced surface peat development even though
12 Jones, G. R. J., ‘Basic patterns of settlement distribution in northern England’, Advancement of Science, 18 (1961), pp. 192-200.
ECOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS AT A ROMANO-BRITISH EARTHWORK
33
the surrounding land may at one time have been desirable for arable farming. It is clear however, that the abandonment of the site and the final establishment of heath were separated by a distinctive interval of time.13
13 The authors acknowledge with gratitude the cooperation of Mr G. Bostock in allowing access to this site and to the Department of the Environment for approving the investigation. Excavations at the site were carr*ed out in October 1971 with the help of students from the University of Leeds. Grateful thanks are due to Mr B. R. Hartley of the Department of Latin and Mr G. R. J. Jones of the Department of Geography, University of Leeds for their advice at various stages and for their helpful comments on an earlier manuscript.
34
LOW CAYTHORPE, EAST YORKSHIRE
— THE MANOR SITE
By Glyn Coppack
Summary Excavation of part of the manor site at Low Caythorpe revealed a building, originally of the late Saxon period, replaced in stone during the twelfth century, rebuilt in the fourteenth century and, after alteration, abandoned in the sixteenth century.
The deserted medieval village of Low Caythorpe is situated to the south of the road B1253, 1300 yds. to the west of Boynton village and 3000 yds. to the east of Rudston, at TA 121678, in the civil parish of Rudston (Fig. 1). The remains are divided by a track leading to Low Caythorpe farm. To the east of the track, contained within a massive earthwork approximately 250 yds. square, is the site of the manor. The village itself lies to the west of the trackway, strung out along an earlier course of the present road, the line of which was modified in the later eighteenth century. The village was mentioned in the Domesday survey of 1086, and for the greater part of its recorded history was part of the estates of St. Mary’s Abbey, York. The date of desertion came some time after 1600, when two families were resident. These two families are not referred to afterwards. There had been partial enclosure and depopulation before 1517.1
Surface indications show that within the great earthwork which surrounded the manor was a smaller banked enclosure, with a gateway in the centre of the north side. Buildings were grouped in three ranges about the east, south, and west sides of this enclosure, although
1 Victoria County History, Yorkshire, East Riding II (1974), p. 315.
LOW CAYTHORPE, EAST YORKSHIRE - THE MANOR SITE
35
it was not possible to interpret their layout, as many tons of farm refuse had been tipped over the south range and parts of the east wing.
From 1962 until 1966 excavations were carried out on the manor site by the Bridlington School Archaeological Society, first under the direction of Mr. R. T. Hall, and from 1964 by the writer. A section was cut through the outer bank and ditch in 1962-3, 2 and in 1963 work began on the northern part of the east range of buildings. One unit of this range was fully excavated, and the presence of a further adjoining building to the south was noted. The structure excavated has for reference been called Building i.3
2 The results of this excavation are to be published by Mr R. T. Hall.
3 Further excavation of this range is intended and the number series of buildings will ultimately be extended. I should like to thank for their continued support and assistance, Mr O. W. Sellars of Low Caythorpe Farm for permission to excavate, Mr R. T. Hall for the use of his notes and records and for general advice, and Mr C. H. Ball, whose unflagging support and interest made a protracted excavation possible, and who provided facilities for the initial preparation of this report. Mr D. Johnson acted as assistant supervisor and photographer for the greater part of the excavation. I am most grateful to Messrs J. G. Hurst and T. C. M. Brewster for their continued support and encouragement. Mr. A. M. Berry kindly drew Fig. 1.
36
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
The Site (Figs. 2 and 3)
Excavation revealed a building with five phases of development, all approximately on the same alignment. Although the earlier phases were cut about by later rebuildings, enough remained to recover the general plan of this part of the east range throughout its history.
Phase A
The inner enclosure bank of the manor was sectioned, proving it to be earlier stratigraphically than any of the building phases excavated. It consisted of a ditchless bank of chalk rubble, chalk-derived gravel, clay and sand. Within the bank were found four sherds representing two vessels, most probably of Middle Saxon date (Fig. 4, nos. 1 and 2). Whether these sherds date the bank or whether they are residual will only be proved by further excavation.
Aligned parallel to the Phase A bank and lying over its foot was a timber-framed wattle and daub structure, dating to the late Saxon period. The only associated finds were scraps of pottery and bone-work of general late Saxon character. The fact that scraps of pottery were found within the foundations of the walls of this building might suggest an earlier building on the site. The excavated structure may have been occupied until the twelfth century, when it was burned, firing the daub to a brick-like consistency.
The structure was aligned roughly north-south, and lay on the surface of the natural gravelly chalk brash. Little of the structure survived in situ, but considerable quantities of fallen daub were recovered. From these fragments it would seem that the walls were
LOW CAYTHORPE, EAST YORKSHIRE - THE MANOR SITE J /
framed with roughly-squared posts of 4-6 in. scantling, set at 4-ft. centres. The interven- ing spaces were filled with panels of daubed wattle. No wood remained even in a carbonised state. The daub was made up of chalky clay tempered with chopped straw and containing many grain impressions.1 The surface was plastered with a slurry of the same
The^uilding averaged 12 ft. in width, but as the north end had been cut away at a later date, it was impossible to determine its length. A thin deposit of occupation debris remained at the southern end (Floor 1). The fragmentary structure gave no clue as to the position of the door.
Ph\nthc later twelfth century a building with stone footings was erected on the site of the Phase B structure, approximately on the same alignment. The south end ot t is building was well preserved, the west wall standing to a height of three courses of roughly- squared chalk blocks. In the south-west corner a doorway with chalk ashlar jambs was located. The jambs were rounded and somewhat worn. There was no door-sill, but the floor (Floor 2) was continued to the outer jamb. The floor was of packed dirty brown clay, and what remained of it at the southern end of the building had been scoured hollow Two post-holes, re-cut in the next phase, seem to have held posts supporting the root trusses, at 10-ft. centres. Why these posts were provided is uncertain, as a roof of 10 ft. span should not need any central support, and providing these posts cut down the working area of the building. The roof may have been tiled, although very few tile fragments were
associated with this phase. 11111 l
This building was slightly off the Phase B alignment, and the early bank had to be cut
away to insert the south end of the east wall. The building was 15 feet wide externally
and approximately 35 ft. long (assuming it to have had three bays of equal size, as suggested
by the roof supports). To the west it faced on to a yard made up of dumped chalk brash
and sandy gravel which contained a few scraps of thirteenth-century pottery. It is presumed
that the whole of the area enclosed by the Phase A bank was laid out as a gravelled yard
at this time.
The first half of the fourteenth century saw a further rebuilding. The Phase C building was swept away and a new structure was erected on the site. In previous phases the building had stood on land that fell away to the south and, to rectify this situation, the northern part of the site was dug away, whilst the walls of the southern end of the old building were retained as footings for the new structure. Because of this the old alignment was
maintained. . r 1
The new building measured 15 ft. by 34 ft. externally, and appears to be ot one build
with a further structure to the south. The south end wall is continued beyond the western limit of the building, and is apparently turning to form an apse. Only the northern face of this wall has been examined so far, and the associated building has yet to be excavated. The quality of the masonry used in this rebuilding was excellent throughout, squared chalk blocks being set in a pebble and marl mortar. The east wall was built up against the Phase A bank, and the outer face of the west wall was partially buried by raising the level of the courtyard, which was given a surface of pitched chalk. The strength of construction, combined with a large quantity of displaced chalk blocks, would suggest that the building was stone-built throughout, rather than timber-framed on a stone footing. The position of the doorway still remained in the south-west corner, a little south of its position in
4 Mr R. C. Alvey of Nottingham University has examined samples but reports that no particular grasses or cereals can be identified.
38
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
Fig. 4. Pottery from Building 1 (J).
LOW CAYTHORPE, EAST YORKSHIRE - THE MANOR SITE
39
Phase C and apparently built of jamb-stones robbed from the earlier phase. The doorway of Phase C was carefully filled to the sill level of the new door, and a new floor (Floor 3) was laid to raise the southern part of the building to the new Phase D level.
Most probably this building had a tiled roof, as considerable quantities of broken plain and green-glazed tiles were found in the construction and demolition levels of this phase. A large number of iron nails were found, also indicating a tiled roof, as one tile was still with a nail in its fixing hole. As in Phase C, two posts were set in the floor at 10-ft. centres to support the roof trusses. Between these posts a considerable amount of ash and a patch of burnt clay represented an open hearth.
Despite the support given to both lateral walls, there seems to have been some later structural failure. The west wall was distorted and inclined outwards, whilst the south wall fractured and was pushed outwards. However, the failure cannot have been con- sidered serious, since a series of repairs and modifications had later been carried out.
Phase D (a)
The repair of the Phase D structure cannot be closely dated, but the use of brick in a patch in the east wall would suggest a fifteenth-century date. It would seem that, struc- turally, the failure of the building was caused by the weight of the roof, and by the settlement of the two posts supporting the roof trusses. The remedy was to build two cross-walls, two courses high, on which the supports were placed. They also had the effect of supporting the west wall, which was cut to bond them in. They did, however, cut across Floor 3, necessitating the laying over them of a new floor (4), of timber with an under-floor void. It was not possible to determine the precise nature of this floor, as it had been badly disturbed during the collapse and robbing of the building. A sandstone ‘trough’ overlay the southern cross-wall, and was fitted with a worked chalk lid, found in fragments beside it. When Floor 4 had collapsed, the trough had fallen to the north, lying partly on the cross-wall and partly on Floor 3.
Two clay and sandstone hearths were constructed on the wooden floor, one in the centre of the room, and one to the north of the door. These, although disturbed by the collapse of Floor 4, were well stratified above Floor 3. No dateable finds were associated with either hearth. Both were overlaid by considerable amounts of wood and coal ash. Indeed, a quantity of coal was found in association with Phases D and D (a).
Pottery evidence suggests that Building 1 was finally abandoned in the early sixteenth century, and was largely dismantled. Although a considerable number of chalk blocks were found loose in association with the final phase of occupation, the greater number had been removed from the site. No complete or restorable tiles were found, again suggesting demolition. Only residual pottery and a clay pipe stem were found amongst the debris of robbing. The pipe stem would suggest a date in the late sixteenth century or even later for the robbing, whilst the north wall and north-east corner were robbed as late as the early nineteenth century. Here a distinct robber trench was noted, containing in the back-fill fragments of stock-brick and pantiles identical to those used in the present buildings of Low Caythorpe Farm.
The Finds A. Pottery (Fig. 4)
1 . Hand-made jar in a hard, smooth, buff fabric with a dark grey core. The outside surface has vertical finger- smoothing. The vessel seems to have been partially re-fired or burned to black. Three sherds were found of this jar, which conforms well to local Middle Saxon types. From the Phase A bank.
2. Hand-made rim sherd from a cooking pot in a hard, gritty, black fabric, which can be well paralleled in local Middle Saxon wares, though the form suggests Iron Age B types. This sherd is not abraded. From the Phase A bank.
3. Pancheon in a hard, sandy, orange-buff fabric. The interior is glazed with a fine yellow-green glaze. There are two opposed lugs on the rim. From Floor 4.
40
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
4. Pancheon in a soft, sandy, buff fabric, orange on the interior, with a grey core. Wavy-line decoration on the rim. From the surface of the Phase A bank, associated with Phase B.
5. Thumb-decorated jug base in a hard, sandy, orange-buff fabric with a dark grey core. From the wall-tumble, Phase D (a).
6. Upper part of a squat jug in a fine, cream-buff fabric with a pale grey core. There is a patchy pale green glaze on the outside. From Floor 3.
7. Jar in a soft, coarse, orange fabric with a light grey core. From Floor 2.
8. Bowl with an inturned rim in a hard, well-fired, sandy, orange-buff fabric with a dark grey core. The top of the rim is rouletted. From the blocking of the Phase C doorway.
9. Cooking pot in a hard, well-fired, sandy, grey fabric with a black interior surface. From Floor 3.
LOW CAYTHORPE, EAST YORKSHIRE - THE MANOR SITE
41
10. Bowl in a soft, sandy, orange-buff fabric with a light grey core. From the surface of the Phase A bank, associated with Phase C.
B. Small finds (Fig. 5)
1-6 are of iron.
1. Weed-hook. The flanges were wrapped around the shaft and secured by a nail. From the Phase D courtyard paving.
2. Arrow-head, with flanges wrapped around the shaft. From the surface of the Phase A bank.
3. One of a pair of pins with pierced, flattened heads. From Floor 3.
4. Horse-shoe of late-medieval type. From Floor 4.
5. Knife-blade. From the paving of the Phase D courtyard.
6. Twisted rod, originally of square section, with a loop or eye at the upper end. From the build-up below the Phase D courtyard paving.
7. Large sandstone trough or basin, open at one end, found with a worked chalk lid, grooved to fit securely over it. This trough gave no hint of its intended use. From Floor 4, above the north cross-wall.
42
ANIMAL REMAINS FROM WHARRAM PERCY
By M. L. Ryder
With notes on the background by J. G. Hurst and on the medieval use of horses by
H. E. Jean Le Patourel
I. WHARRAM PERCY By J. G. Hurst
Alter sample excavations on various deserted village sites by M. W. Beresford in the late nineteen-forties and early nineteen— fifties, including Wharram Percy between 1950 and 1952, the newly-formed Deserted Medieval Village Research Group chose Wharram Percy as its main research project and, since 1953, has conducted annual excavations each of about three to four weeks’ duration. In the nineteen-fifties and nineteen-sixties two toft sites were completely excavated and work is now in progress on the church, vicarage, the south mill dam and on various boundaries, including examination of late Iron Age and Roman features underneath. Full interim reports have been published each year in the Annual Reports of the Deserted Medieval Village Research Group from 1953 onwards. Since 1957 there have been shorter reports, including plans in the annual Medieval Britain section of Medieval Archaeology. Unfortunately the great mass of material, problems of time and the difficulties in obtaining other specialist reports, have prevented the publication of a definitive publication which, it is hoped, will appear as a Society for Medieval Archaeology Monograph. Now that the site has been given by Lord Middleton into the guardianship of the Department of the Environment, it is possible to make more progress and it is hoped that the first report will be ready within the next two years. Meanwhile, as Dr. Ryder’s report on the animal bones was prepared as long ago as 1959 for the early material, it has been decided to publish this now to avoid further delays.
Area 10 was excavated between 1953 and i960, and the general interpretation plan was published at an early stage in 1957, 1 and, as finally completed, in 1964. 2 There was no occupation on the west side of the valley before the twelfth century, the earliest settlement being in the valley bottom round the church.3 In the last quarter of the twelfth century the Percies built a substantial manor house, the undercroft of which was excavated.4 None of the animal bones examined can be closely equated with this phase, but the first group, comprising some 700 bones, comes from the fill of the undercroft and is datable to the thirteenth century, with later layers of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries above, when this area became an open yard. The second group of bones numbered over 1000 specimens and came from the general area of the toft, including a number of quarries, and has been divided into groups of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries.
The third group of 1200 bones came from the main house 10 area and was stratified with the various levels C to Ai, ranging in date from the late thirteenth century till the early sixteenth century. It is very difficult to determine the exact length of each period, since the main dating material, the pottery, cannot be closely dated to within the short periods during which each building lasted. The dates given in Table I are therefore only
1 Medieval Archaeol., I (1957), p. 167, fig. 34.
2 Medieval Archaeol., VIII (1964), p. 293, fig. 95. Also published in Beresford, M. W. and Hurst, J. G. (Eds.),
Deserted Medieval Villages (1971), p. 123, fig. 27.
3 Hurst, J. G., ‘The changing medieval village in England’ in Ucko, P. J. et al. (Eds.), Man, Settlement and Urbanism
(!972)> P- 536, fig. 4. Village plan also published in Beresford and Hurst (1971), p. 120, fig. 25.
4 Medieval Archaeol., II (1958), p. 207, fig. 51.
ANIMAL REMAINS FROM WHARRAM PERCY
43
a close approximation of the likely dates of the bones from the various levels. The fourth group of bones were those found during the 1959 season on Area 10 and have a wide range in date. These were similar in character to those found previously, and therefore only species and measurements were noted by Dr. Ryder. The animal bones from the final i960 season have yet to be examined.
The second toft to be excavated between 1961 and 1970 was Area 6. Only the bones found in the first two seasons have been examined. These are all from the late fifteenth- century layers both over the latest house (nos. 10,001-10, 165), 5 and from the yard to the north over the earlier house (nos. 11,75 8-1 3, 026). 6 From these layers a sample comprising about 900 bones was examined.
II. THE ANIMAL REMAINS By M. L. Ryder
The skeletal remains described in the present report can be subdivided into all those found in Area 10 up to 1959, inclusive, and those found subsequently while excavating Area 6. The first collection was reported on in 1959? hut only the main conclusions were published.7 The 1959 report has therefore been re-written to include the results from the Area 6 bones, and to take into account findings from other sites that have been published in the intervening period.
Although those bones excavated from Area 10 up to 1959 can be divided into four groups (see above), they came from all parts of the site, no particular accumulation having been found; the fill of the various quarries was, however, particularly rich in bones.
The bones were very fragmentary, particularly those from food animals, but they had rounded edges, showing considerable wear. This suggests disturbance after the bones had found their way into the ground. Several of those from Area 6 were calcined, indicat- ing burning, and several showed teeth marks, which suggested that they had been gnawed by a dog.
The horse bones were more complete, and often in groups, showing that the carcase had been buried whole, but they were fragile, and had often been broken during or after recovery.
The Area 6 bones were all of fifteenth-century date (see above). The bones were tabulated as identified, as in Table II, any possible age determinations or measurements being noted. Counts of the relative numbers of each species, and of the numbers killed in each different group, in each level, could then be made.
The Species Found Mammals
HORSE , PIG , OX, SHEEP, and GOAT:
The only certain finds from goat were several horn cores and, as it is extremely difficult to distinguish most goat bones from those of sheep, such finds should strictly be reported as sheep/goat. Since it is thought that the vast majority of the bones in question must have been from sheep, they have all been reported as sheep.
RED, FALLOW, and ROE DEER:
The main finds from these animals were teeth, only one broken antler (from Red deer) being found. It was not possible to determine the relative numbers of each species because of the uncertainty in placing the teeth (distinguished by size) as either Fallow or Red deer. But teeth from Fallow deer seemed to predominate.
5 Medieval Archaeol., VIII (1964). P- 293. fig- 95-
6 Medieval Archaeol., XIII (1969), P- 284, fig. 87.
7 Ryder, M. L., ‘Livestock remains from four medieval sites in Yorkshire’, Agr. Hist. Rev., IX (1961), pp. 105-110.
44
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
DOG and CAT: Both common. Upper and lower jaw, 1 6 teeth and a femur of dog. RABBIT , ? HARE:
Although there were several bones that were definitely from rabbit plus almost an entire skeleton in Area 6 (io,ooi),8 these species, too, are distinguished by size, and there was a cuboid and a metatarsal that seemed large enough to have come from hare.
RAT species: almost complete skeleton from Area 6 (10,056). 8
MOUSE species: of House mouse (Mus musculus) size.
MAN: Foot bone from adult; humerus from 5-year-old child.
Birds: Goose (common), domestic fowl (common e.g. 18 bones from Area 6), duck (one bone), pigeon (one bone). Apparently little, if any wild fowl was eaten.
Amphibia: A few bones from either frog or toad.
Fish: Cod and many of cod size, with a few smaller ones possibly from fresh water fish. Invertebrates
Marine Shell-fish: fragment of oyster shell ( Ostrea edulis), 2 from Area 6, fragment of ? whelk shell ( Buccinum undatum).
Edible land snail: Cepaea nemoralis.
Worked Bones
The Red deer antler had been sawn off and the sawn edges rounded, and at least one of the goat horn cores showed evidence of having been chopped from the skull. A pig metapodial (foot bone) had been shaved into the form of a peg, and there was a tapering bone peg, with a hole at the larger end, probably made from an ox bone. This could possibly have been used as a shuttle for a loom; one very similar to this is illustrated by La Page.9 The same author shows a sheep metapodial, with a hole in the middle, used for the same purpose in the Iron Age, and it is interesting that a number of lower halves of sheep tibiae were found in the present study with a hole near the distal end. It is not certain that the hole was man made, but the above mentioned illustration suggests a possible use for these bones. Another possible use is as a whistle, the hole formed at the point at which the bone was broken (in half) being the blow-hole. Megaw illustrates bone whistles with one and more holes.10
Diseased and Abnormal Bones
There was an ulna of a young ox with an arthritis and ostitis of the elbow joint. The immaturity of this animal suggests that this condition might have been caused by joint-ill. A vertebra from a sheep or a dog was deformed in such a way as to make the anterior end oblique. The obliquity was well developed showing that the deformity had been there for some time, but there was no indication of the cause. The first and second phalanges from a sheep’s foot were found with a peri-ostitis (extra growth of bone on the surface). The first bone was badly affected over the whole of its length, but the second bone was only affected in the upper part, although the two bones were not fused together. No specific cause can be suggested.
There was a foot joint of a horse which was so badly affected with arthritis that the first and second phalanges, the bones on each side of the joint, had become fused rigidly together. This condition is known as high ringbone, and is still common today, often
8 These entire skeletons could be from recent animals that had burrowed into the site; 011 the other hand they could be of fifteenth-century date and have entered the house while it was in decay.
9 La Page, J., ‘The story of wool cloth’, Wool Knowledge III (VI) (1955), p. 13.
10 Megaw, J. V. S., ‘Penny Whistles and prehistory’, Antiquity XXXIV (i960), pp. 6-13.
ANIMAL REMAINS FROM WHARRAM PERCY
45
causing lameness, but not usually preventing the animal from working. The cause is unknown. The first phalanx of an ox had an articular surface showing erosion and new growth of bone around the edge. This suggests a septic process such as a severe case of foul-in-the-foot, which causes digital suppuration. A pig metapodial had a small localised area of new growth on the posterior aspect, i.e. not on the site of a muscle attachment, and therefore probably caused by an inflammation behind the ankle.
There was a pig’s lower jaw with the 7th (trilobed) molar erupting (surface unworn and roots only beginning to form) almost completely upside down in the jaw. It is thought that this had turned over as a result of unusual pressures, e.g. from the angle of the jaw adjacent to it, caused by shortness in the jaw probably arising from poor nutrition, McCance (1964) illustrated a pig’s jaw in which experimental undernutrition had caused these molars to erupt at right angles to their proper line,11 and Luhmann (1965) illustrated archaeological specimens in which they had turned over so that the crown faced the tongue.12
Two horse molars had pits in the enamel at the side of the tooth. These are thought to be of a seasonal character resulting from poor nutrition.
Numbers
Counts were made of the most common bones from different levels in three areas as indicated in Table I. As will be seen from the table there were no obvious trends with time and no marked differences between the areas, except that horse bones tended to be concentrated in the fill of the Manor house undercroft.
The results of counts from Area 6 are shown in Table II. Comparison of the percentages from the three areas in Table I with those in Table II shows comparable figures except for the horse (7% and 13%). The other comparisons are ox: 25% and 22%, sheep: 57% and 55%, and pig: 9% and 10%.
Table I
Results of Counts up to 1959
|
HORSE |
ox |
SHEEP |
PIG |
DEER |
||||||
|
actual |
0/ 0 |
actual |
0/ /o |
actual |
0/ /o |
actual |
0/ /o |
actual |
0/ /o |
|
|
Cellar of Manor |
||||||||||
|
13th |
30 |
22 |
45 |
34 |
45 |
34 |
13 |
10 |
— |
— |
|
14th |
25 |
15 |
47 |
28 |
82 |
50 |
10 |
6 |
2 |
1 |
|
15th 70 Area 1 0 Yards and Quarries |
16 |
in |
26 |
205 |
48 |
32 |
8 |
8 |
2 |
|
|
13th |
14 |
7 |
57 |
29 |
108 |
56 |
14 |
7 |
1 |
0-5 |
|
14th |
9 |
2 |
119 |
28 |
255 |
59 |
38 |
9 |
11 |
2 |
|
15th |
15 |
4 |
76 |
18 |
262 |
64 |
48 |
12 |
6 |
2 |
|
Area 10 |
||||||||||
|
late 13th |
1 |
4 |
3 |
10 |
20 |
67 |
5 |
15 |
1 |
4 |
|
1300-50 |
4 |
4 |
26 |
28 |
53 |
56 |
9 |
10 |
2 |
2 |
|
1350-1400 |
17 |
3 |
131 |
25 |
323 |
62 |
37 |
8 |
13 |
2 |
|
1400-40 |
8 |
5 |
23 |
22 |
99 |
66 |
10 |
8 |
— |
— |
|
1440-70 |
10 |
4 |
64 |
25 |
155 |
60 |
20 |
8 |
7 |
3 |
|
1470-1500 |
3 |
4 |
24 |
28 |
47 |
55 |
10 |
11 |
2 |
2 |
|
early 16th Total |
8 2I4\ |
6 |
30 75b\ |
23 |
83 17371 |
62 |
12 258\ |
9 |
53\ |
|
|
Mean No. ox, sheep, pig only meat contribution |
16/ |
7% |
48/ |
25% 27% 77% |
134 / |
57% 63% 18% |
20 f |
9% 10% 5% |
5/ |
2% |
Some authors consider that a more accurate percentage is obtained from the minimum number of animals represented by the array of bones found, and so such figures have been included in Table II for comparison. But it is possible for such figures to be influenced
11 McCance, R. A., ‘Some effects of undernutrition’, J. Pediatrics LXV (1964), pp. 1008-14.
12 Luhmann, F., ‘Tierknochenfunde aus der stadt auf dem Magdalensberg bei Klagenfurt in Karnten. iii. Die schweineknochen’, Karntner Museumsschriften XXXIX (1965).
46
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
greatly by the chance inclusion owing to sampling error of only a few examples of the same bone from a particular species. Thus the 38 sheep tibiae in Table II have increased the percentage of sheep expressed in this way.
It has also been pointed out that since species vary considerably in size, the bone percentage does not indicate the weight of meat contributed. In order to obtain an estimate of meat supply the number of bones is multiplied by an estimated relative body weight. In the present study 1000 lb. has been taken for cattle, 100 lb. for sheep, and 200 lb. for pigs. It must be emphasised, however, that these figures are little more than guesses, and that neither the absolute body weights, nor their relation to those of other species, are known.13
Seddon, Calvocoressi, Cooper and Higgs used cattle; 1120 lb., sheep: 140 lb., and pig: 200 lb.,14 while Yealland and Higgs used cattle: 900 lb., sheep: 125 lb., and pig: 200 lb.15 Harcourt used dressed carcass weights of cattle: 400 lb., sheep: 25 lb., and pig: 80 lb.ltt Whichever of these figures is used, the same broad conclusion is reached, viz., that although sheep bones may outnumber those of cattle, cattle contribute more meat owing to their larger size (Tables I and II).
Table II
Counts of livestock bones from Area 6
|
HORSE |
OX |
SHEEP |
PIG |
||
|
Horn core |
— |
1 |
2 |
||
|
Skull |
— |
2 |
I |
||
|
Upper jaw |
— |
— |
2 |
7 |
|
|
Lower jaw |
3 |
4 |
32 |
6 |
|
|
Incisor |
15 |
21 |
14 |
22 |
|
|
Canine |
— |
15 |
— |
2 |
|
|
Molar |
58 |
39 |
24O |
19 |
|
|
Scapula |
3 |
5 |
4 |
||
|
Humerus |
3 |
7 |
20 |
2 |
|
|
Radius |
2 |
3 |
28 |
3 |
|
|
Ulna |
1 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
|
|
Carpals |
3 |
19 |
7 |
||
|
Metacarpals |
1 |
4 |
9 |
||
|
Pelvis |
— |
1 |
11 |
||
|
Femur |
— |
4 |
5 |
4 |
|
|
Tibia |
1 |
2 |
38 |
2 |
|
|
Fibula |
5 |
2 |
— |
2 |
|
|
Tarsals |
2 |
14 |
4 |
4 |
|
|
Metatarsals |
— |
II |
2 |
I |
|
|
Metapodial (unidentified) |
4 |
5 |
29 |
I |
|
|
Phalanges |
10 |
17 |
16 |
7 |
|
|
Totals |
ill |
179 |
466 |
84 |
|
|
Grand Total |
840 |
||||
|
percentage |
13 |
22 |
55 |
10 |
|
|
% based on No. of individuals |
9 |
13 |
70 |
8 |
|
|
Grand total excluding horse |
729 |
||||
|
% excluding horse |
24 |
64 |
12 |
||
|
individual % excluding horse |
14 |
78 |
8 |
||
|
meat contribution % based on |
bones |
74 |
19 |
7 |
|
|
meat contribution % based on |
individuals |
60 |
32 |
8 |
The Age at which the Animals were Killed
Age at death was estimated from the stage of development of the dentition in complete jaws, and the degree of wear and condition of the roots of individual teeth, the criteria
13 Ryder, M. L., Animal Bones in Archaeology (Oxford, 1969), p. 52.
14 Seddon, D., Calvocoressi, D., Cooper, C. and Higgs, E. S., ‘Fauna’ in Addyman, P. V., ‘A dark-Age settlement at Maxey, Northants’, Medieval Archaeol., VIII (1964), p. 71.
15 Yealland, S. and Higgs, E. S., ‘The Economy’ in Hilton, R. H. and Rahtz, P. A., ‘Upton, Gloucestershire, i959-i9<54\ Trans. Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeol. Soc., LXXXV (1966), pp. 70-146.
16 Harcourt, R., ‘Report on Animal Bones’ in Musty, J. and Algar, D., ‘Excavations at the Deserted Medieval Village Site of Gomeldon, near Salisbury, Wilts.’, Salisbury Museum Research Comms. Interim Reports VII-IX (1964).
ANIMAL REMAINS FROM WHARRAM PERCY
47
used being detailed by Ryder.17 It must be borne in mind that the ages given are those applicable to modern animals. Development may have been slower in the past (resulting in an underestimate of age), and wear may have been more rapid (resulting in an over- estimate). Harcourt (personal communication) refers to a ewe aged two years in which the development of the dentition was retarded by 6 months, i.e. a difference of 25 /0. A detailed analysis of the ages found in the sheep and ox among the Area 10 finds is shown in Table III. Although the numbers are somewhat small to show any trends, it appears that the age of killing remained similar during the whole period examined.
From Area 10 the ages of killing of both the sheep and cattle show a similar pattern. The largest (peak) number were killed at a little over two years, but the number killed at two years added to the number killed under two years was in fact greater than the peak number. As age increased, the number killed decreased, but there were a few finds from ox that had been killed at much greater ages than the sheep. And from Area 6 the peak age at which oxen were killed was five years.
The findings do not support the contention that sheep were kept to a relatively great age in order to obtain as many clips of wool from them as possible.18
Although a fair number of finds from young animals, and a few from older animals, were found, most pigs were apparently killed at about 18 months of age, as on the other medieval sites examined. This is early in their second winter, and at about three times the age of killing today, which indicates the additional time these scavengers needed to reach maturity.
There was a wide range of age among the horse teeth, from young to very old, presumably indicating that they had all died a natural death. Two incisors from Area 6 were under two, one about fifteen years and five over twenty years old. Some horse molars were worn literally to the roots, and in one the wear had exposed the pulp cavity. As an illustration of the difficulty of judging age from the amount of wear in a single tooth, one might mention the possibility that the first molar of a horse might be excessively worn by a bit.
The lack of precision in age determination coupled with observer differences, makes it extremely difficult to compare the age of killing at different sites, but the pattern at Wharram seems to have been similar to that at the Saxon village of Maxey,19 and not really different from that at Upton,20 contrary to the interpretation of Beresford and Hurst (1971). 21
The Size and Type of the Animals
The bones were too fragmentary to make many measurements; those that it was possible to make are shown in Table IV, and these measurements support the impression gained that the animals were on the whole smaller than those on the other medieval sites examined. The horse finds were of pony size (see discussion). No complete ox skulls were found, and there were only a few fragments of ox horn cores. There were a few instances of ox metapodia with a broad distal end like those found at Kirkstall.22 Hornless sheep were indicated by one complete hornless skull from Area 10 and another almost two years of age in the wall rubble of Area 6. Hornless skulls readily break into unidentifiable fragments, whereas if a horned skull breaks the horn core usually remains intact. There were, however, not many sheep horn cores.
17 Ryder, M. L., Animal Bones in Archaeology (1969).
18 Trow-Smith, R., A History of British Livestock Husbandry to 1700 (1957).
19 Seddon, D. et al., Medieval Archaeol., VIII (1964). PP- 69-71.
20 Yealland, S. and Higgs, E. S., Trans. Bristol and Gloucs. Arch. Soc., LXXXV (1966), pp. 70-146.
21 Beresford, M. W. and Hurst, J. G., Deserted Medieval Villages (1971), PP- 138-9-
22 Ryder, M. L., ‘Reports on the Animal Remains’ in Kirkstall Abbey Excavations, Publ. Thoresby Soc. XLVIII, no. 107 (1959). PP- 41-53, 67-77, 98-100 and 130-2.
48
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
Table III
Percentage of Ages
|
Area 10 |
Under two |
years |
two |
two plus |
five |
years |
five |
plus |
ten |
|||
|
actual |
0/ /o |
actual |
0/ /o |
actual |
O/ /o |
actual |
0/ / 0 |
actual |
0/ /o |
actual |
0/ /o |
|
|
Sheep |
||||||||||||
|
late 13th |
4 |
40 |
2 |
20 |
3 |
30 |
1 |
10 |
— |
— |
||
|
1300-50 |
5 |
21 |
10 |
41 |
8 |
33 |
— |
— |
1 |
5 |
||
|
1350-1400 |
25 |
17 |
38 |
26 |
62 |
43 |
18 |
12 |
3 |
2 |
||
|
1 400-40 |
6 |
13 |
20 |
43 |
15 |
33 |
4 |
9 |
1 |
2 |
||
|
1440-70 |
21 |
26 |
23 |
28 |
25 |
3i |
12 |
15 |
— |
— |
||
|
1470-1500 |
10 |
33 |
4 |
I3‘5 |
12 |
40 |
4 |
13-5 |
— |
— |
||
|
early 16 th |
18 |
33 |
22 |
40 |
12 |
22 |
3 |
5 |
— |
— |
||
|
Total |
89 |
119 |
137 |
43 |
5 |
|||||||
|
Mean % |
30 |
35 |
39 |
12 |
3 |
|||||||
|
Ox |
||||||||||||
|
late 13th |
||||||||||||
|
1300-50 |
3 |
25 |
5 |
42 |
1 |
8 |
2 |
17 |
1 |
8 |
— |
— |
|
1350-1400 |
15 |
30 |
7 |
14 |
19 |
38 |
7 |
16 |
1 |
2 |
— |
— |
|
1400-40 |
5 |
3i |
6 |
37 |
3 |
19 |
2 |
13 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
|
1440-70 |
10 |
25 |
6 |
15 |
15 |
38 |
6 |
15 |
1 |
2 |
— |
5 |
|
1470-1500 |
— |
— |
1 |
20 |
3 |
60 |
1 |
20 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
|
early 16th |
2 |
22-2 |
— |
— |
4 |
44'4 |
3 |
33-3 |
— |
— |
— |
— |
|
Total |
35 |
25 |
45 |
21 |
3 |
5 |
||||||
|
Mean % |
27 |
25 |
34 |
19 |
4 |
5 |
||||||
|
Area 6 |
Under |
2 |
At least |
2 |
At least |
5 |
||||||
|
actual |
0/ /o |
actual |
% |
actual |
% |
|||||||
|
ox |
9 |
l6 |
20 |
36 |
26 |
48 |
||||||
|
sheep |
49 |
22 |
122 |
54 |
57 |
24 |
||||||
|
pig |
12 |
42 |
12 |
42 |
5 |
16 |
Most sheep horn cores were typical of those of modern animals but some had a more shallow curve suggesting the Soay type of sheep. Wool remains in medieval parchments, too, have suggested that survival of Soay sheep, in addition to other types, in England during the Middle Ages.23
The majority of domestic fowl bones were of only bantam size, although some were as large as those from an average modern fowl. Some of the leg bones had spurs suggesting fighting cocks, but old roosters can have large spurs. There were also two sizes of goose bones, which could indicate that wild as well as domestic geese were eaten.
Table IV
Measurements (mm) - up to igsg
|
13th Century |
Length |
Proximal Width Distal Width |
|
|
Metacarpals |
— |
40 |
— |
|
— |
47 |
— |
|
|
Metatarsals |
— |
— |
49 |
|
c. 180 |
43 |
— |
|
|
c. 190 |
40 |
— |
|
|
14th Century Metacarpals |
173 |
45 |
55 |
|
separate ends |
52 |
49 |
|
|
53 |
50 |
||
|
54 |
54 |
||
|
55 59 (2) |
62 |
||
|
Metatarsals |
separate ends |
39 |
48 |
|
42 |
(broad) 50 |
||
|
45 |
|||
|
50 |
23 Ryder, M. L., ‘Follicle remains in some British parchments’, Nature CLXXXVII (i960), pp. 130-2.
ANIMAL REMAINS FROM WHARRAM PERCY
49
OX
SHEEP
SHEEP
HORSE
|
15th Century |
Length |
Proximal Width |
Distal Width |
|
Metacarpals |
182 |
52 |
54 |
|
155 |
56 |
— |
|
|
separate ends |
53 (broad) 73 |
||
|
Metatarsals |
separate ends |
32 |
48 |
|
35 |
50 |
||
|
4i |
55 |
||
|
42 |
57 |
||
|
46 |
62 |
||
|
Tibia and femur each c. 300 mm long |
|||
|
16th Century Metacarpals |
45 |
||
|
57 |
|||
|
Metatarsal |
37 |
||
|
ijth Century Metacarpals |
95 |
19 |
22 |
|
118 |
22 |
25 |
|
|
separate ends |
20 |
22 |
|
|
23 |
23 |
||
|
Metatarsals |
18 (2) 19 |
25 |
|
|
14th Century Metacarpals |
1 12 |
19 |
22 |
|
c. 1 15 |
20 |
— |
|
|
c. 120 |
21 |
— |
|
|
separate ends |
18 |
22 |
|
|
19 (2) |
23 (2) |
||
|
20 (4) |
|||
|
Metatarsals |
hi |
18 |
22 |
|
132 |
20 |
22 |
|
|
separate ends |
16 |
||
|
17 (2) 18 |
|||
|
19 (2) |
|||
|
20 |
|||
|
One tibia c. 150 mm long and another 165 |
mm to the suture of the proximal epiphysis |
||
|
15th Century |
Length |
Proximal Width |
Distal Width |
|
Metacarpals |
hi |
20 |
20 |
|
US |
22 |
— |
|
|
127 |
22 |
25 |
|
|
19 (2) |
|||
|
20 |
|||
|
Metatarsals |
117 |
19 |
23 |
|
118 |
19 |
23 |
|
|
118 |
19 |
23 |
|
|
separate ends |
18 (2) |
20 |
|
|
19 (4) |
21 |
||
|
25 |
|||
|
16th Century Metacarpals |
c. 90 |
|
|
|
Metatarsals |
— |
19 |
— |
|
i^th Century Metacarpals |
245 |
45 |
47 |
|
Metatarsals |
c. 220 |
— |
— |
|
240 |
45 |
— |
|
|
Humerus |
275 |
— |
70 |
|
14th Century Metatarsal |
_ |
45 |
|
|
First phalanx |
70 |
42 |
37 |
|
75 |
47 |
44 |
|
|
15 th Century Metacarpals |
225 |
52 |
50 |
|
Metatarsals |
255 |
45 |
45 |
|
MC/MT |
— |
— |
36 |
|
First phalanx |
75 |
47 |
40 |
|
80 |
50 |
40 |
|
|
1 6th Century MC/MT |
|
35 |
— |
50
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
DOMESTIC FOWL
GOOSE
13 th Century
Tarsometatarsus
Tarsometatarsus
Humerus
14 th Century
Coracoid
Humerus
Radius
Carpometacarpus Carpometacarpus Tibiotarsus 15 th Century Ulna
Carpometacarpus
length
95 (large) with 20 mm spur
70
66
50
65
67
42 (large)
3i
hi
65
37
Tarsometatarsus with 15 mm spur (ends of bone broken)
14th Century Tarsometatarsus 80
15 th Century Carpometacarpus c. 90
DIAMETERS OF FISH VERTEBRAE (frequency in brackets)
13th Century 14, 22
|
14th Century |
5 (2), 6, 8, 9, 11, |
16, 17, 18, 20 (1st |
of vertebral column) 20 (2) 24 |
||
|
15 th Century Length (D |
5, 12, 13, 16 Measurements from Area 6 */ Proximal Minimum width Width at mid-point (M) |
Distal Width |
LIM |
||
|
HORSE |
|||||
|
Metapodial |
200 |
— |
— |
40 |
— |
|
OX |
|||||
|
Tibia |
— |
— |
— |
60 |
|
|
Metacarpals |
190 |
59 |
35 |
62 |
5-43 |
|
— |
50 |
28 |
— |
— |
|
|
— |
— |
— |
48 |
— |
|
|
Metatarsals |
190 |
40 |
— |
— |
— |
|
— |
— |
— |
53 |
— |
|
|
— |
— |
— |
58 |
— |
|
|
215 |
50 |
30 |
61 |
7-17 |
|
|
— |
40 |
— |
— |
— |
|
|
215 |
48 |
28 |
52 |
7-68 |
|
|
SHEEP |
|||||
|
Metacarpal |
in |
21 |
12 |
— |
9-25 |
|
Metatarsal |
119 |
20 |
12 |
24 |
9-92 |
Discussion
The bones were on the whole of similar character to those from the other medieval sites examined, but Wharram contrasted with the wealthy monastic sites of Kirkstall and Pontefract in having relatively few bones from wild animals.24 Although it is true that the numbers of bones from food animals indicate the number of animals eaten rather than the number kept, the high proportions of sheep bones found is in keeping with the expected farming pattern of the area. It is possible that on a village site the animals were eaten roughly in the same proportions as those in which they were kept. For purposes of comparison with other medieval sites, omitting the horse, the proportions can be regarded as being roughly 30% ox, 60% sheep, 8% pig and 2% deer. It turns out therefore that only at Kirkstall Abbey was the proportion of ox bones as high as 90%, with only 5% sheep. Petergate, York had 60% ox and 30% sheep.25 And whereas Pontefract Priory,
24 Ryder, M. L., Publ. Thoreshy Soc. XLVIII, no. 107 (1959), pp. 41-53, 67-77, 98-100 and 130-2; ‘Report on the animal remains’ in Bellamy, C. V., Pontefract Priory Excavations 1957-61, Publ. Thoresby Soc. XLIX, no. no (1965), pp. 132-6.
Ryder, M. L., ‘The animal remains from Petergate, York, 1957-58’, Yorkshire Archaeol. J ., XLII (1970), pp. 418- 28.
25
ANIMAL REMAINS AT WHARRAM PERCY
51
like Wharram, had 30% ox, a relatively high proportion of pig bones (20%) reduced the proportion of sheep bones to 45%. 26 Wharram therefore had the greatest proportion of sheep bones. In all other village sites reviewed by Beresford and Hurst, except Seacourt, sheep outnumbered cattle, although cattle predominated at the Saxon villages of Cassington and Maxey.27
Perhaps the most striking feature about Wharram noted by Ryder (1961) was the relatively large proportion of horse bones compared with the other sites.28 It is possible, however, that the numbers had been artificially increased because the bones had come from complete skeletons. What the horses were used for is not clear; the predominant draught animal in the middle ages was the ox, and in any case these animals were of only pony size. They may have been pack or riding animals, and it is possible that Wharram may have been a breeding centre for such ponies. Trow-Smith says that horses and even whole stud farms were mentioned in wills as early as the tenth century.29 But before this suggestion of Wharram as a breeding centre is put forward, it will be necessary to make sure that other medieval villages do not have a similar high proportion of horse bones. Although Wharram did have more horse bones than the other villages studied since (Gomeldon, Upton, Martinsthorpe and Seacourt), the figure of 7% at Wharram was comparable with 8% at the Saxon villages of Cassington and Maxey.
One must not, however, exclude entirely the possibility that some at any rate of the horses were used to draw ploughs.30 According to Trow-Smith the first British evidence of the use of horses for ploughing dates from the eleventh century,31 although there are few mentions in Domesday of specifically agricultural horses each village having about one riding horse. The harnessing of horses to the plough depended on the Asiatic invention of a rigid padded collar which came to the west about a.d. 700. This question is discussed elsewhere by the writer in greater detail.32
It is most interesting that sea fish, including shell-fish were found as on the other sites; that they should have reached this apparently isolated village on the wolds seems remarkable. Sea fish was of course dried, but oysters may have been transported in barrels of salt water. On the other hand, if they are merely kept cool and moist oysters will remain dormant for months.
Acknowledgements
I wish to thank Dr A. S. Clarke of the Royal Scottish Museum for assistance with the identification of certain bones and Mr K. G. Towers of the Agriculture Department, Leeds University, for describing the diseased and abnormal bones.
III. THE USE OF HORSES By H. E. Jean Le Patourel
Considered in isolation, the unusual number of horse bones found at Wharram Percy might be interpreted in more than one way. When, however, they are looked at in relation to the situation at the neighbouring manor of Wetwang, a strong case can be made for suggesting that they are the remains of plough animals.
William Wickwane, archbishop of York from 1279 to 1285, made arrangements for permanent stocking of the demesne on various manors belonging to the see with animals for agricultural use. An ordinance embodying his arrangements was confirmed by the
26 Ryder, M. L., Publ. Thoresby Soc. XLIX (1965), pp. 132-6.
27 Beresford, M. W. and Hurst, J. G., Deserted Medieval Villages (I971)-
28 Ryder, M. L., Agr. Hist. Rev., IX (1961), pp. 105-110.
29 Trow-Smith, R., A History of British Livestock Husbandry to 1700 (1957).
30 See note by H. E. Jean Le Patourel below.
31 Trow-Smith, op. cit. in n. 29.
32 Ryder, M. L., ‘Livestock’ in Finberg, H. P. R. (Ed.), The Agrarian History of England and Wales I (forthcoming).
52
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
king and enrolled on the Charter Rolls in 1283. 33 Twenty manors, twelve of them in Yorkshire, were provided, among other things, with varying numbers of ploughs. Nineteen of the manors were allotted nine oxen for each plough. The twentieth, Wetwang, situated just over five miles from Wharram and also on the Wolds, was given two ploughs and eight horses, but no oxen at all.
Walter of Henley, writing at much the same time, made a careful analysis of the relative cost of ploughing with horses and with oxen. He came down heavily against the horse as more expensive to feed, as needing to be shod,34 as less useful when dead, and as no quicker on the ground because ‘the malice of the ploughman’ would not allow the horse plough to move faster than the ox plough.35 Nevertheless the words he chooses indicate that he had first-hand experience of both types of plough team. It seems likely that the shallow chalky soil of the Yorkshire Wolds made the use of horses more suitable than would be the case on other types of soil. The archaeological evidence at Wharram and the documentary evidence at Wetwang both point in this direction. Possibly Henley’s experience may reflect experimental transference of upland practice to a less suitable terrain - and the peasants’ reaction to an attempt to change custom. The cost factor would rule out the use of horses on the peasants’ own holdings and the excavated Wharram ox bones no doubt represent the peasants’ plough teams.
There will always be difficulty in demonstrating the type of draught animal at any given upland manor on documentary evidence alone, save in such exceptional cases as that of Wetwang, since horses for carting and harrowing were normally among the stock kept. The most hopeful line is a comparison between the numbers of horses and oxen included in manorial stock returns as they appear in reeve’s and bailiff’s accounts, and of the expenses incurred under the heading ‘plough expenses’. It is significant that at Crawley in Sussex there are intermittent references throughout the thirteenth century to shoeing both plough horses and oxen, the former in some number. In 1208-9 there were 10 plough horses (cjffri), 11 in 1233 and 8 in 1257, all returned under ‘plough expenses’.36 Crawley, unlike Wharram Percy, is situated on clay.
The Council of the Society wishes to thank the Department of the Environment for a grant towards the cost of publishing this article.
33 Cal. Charter Rolls, II (1257-1300), pp. 268-9.
34 There is evidence at some manors that oxen too, were shod. See n. 36.
35 Oschinsky, D., Walter of Henley and other treatises on estate management and accounts (1971), p. 319. 38 Gras, N. S. B., The Economic and Social History of an English Village (1930), p. 189.
53
BOOTHTOWN HALL: A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE IN THE PARISH OF HALIFAX
By J. A. Gilks
Summary Boothtown Hall, a fifteenth-century L-plan house, was encased in stone and enlarged c. 1640, converted into tenements in the nineteenth century and demolished in 1968. Its history and development are discussed in the light of a survey of the structure and of the results from excavation.
Boothtown Hall was situated miles (2-5 km) north of Halifax (SE 088269) on the western side of Pepper Hill, at 650 ft. (198 m) O.D. overlooking the southern tip of the plain of Ovenden. The house was aligned north-west — south-east with a service bay at the north-western end, an open hall of two bays in the centre, and a three-bay residential wing to the south-east. The house was encased in stone about 1640, and a new suite of rooms added on the north side between the service bay and the east wing (Plate I). The original entrance to the house was blocked and a new entrance constructed at the north- west end of the north front. During the nineteenth century, when the house was converted into tenements, the seventeenth-century windows, fireplaces and chimney stacks were reconstructed, the walls plastered and the floors paved.
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THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
In 1968, the West Riding Archaeological Research Committee carried out a survey of this house prior to its demolition in April of that year. Excavation work was also under- taken in the service and hall bays in an attempt to throw some light on the history and development of the hall. The excavation suggested that the house had been erected in the fifteenth century, and that prior to its construction there had been two thirteenth to fourteenth-century buildings on the site.
Photo: H. C. Morris
Plate I. Boothtown Hall. North front of seventeenth-century house, from north-west.
I
HISTORICAL
No references relating to the house have been found in the documents examined, and it has therefore been impossible to associate it other than by its name, which is not conclusive evidence, with a family called Bothes (or Boothes), recorded as living at Bothes (Boothtown) from 12741 to 1620. 2 The first reference to a member of this family is to one Gilbert del Bothes, forester in the wood of Hyperum (Hipperholme) and Schipenden (Shibden) in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield.3 In the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries the name occurs frequently in the Court Rolls, and in 1331, William, son of Gilbert, is recorded as having paid 4 d for a messuage and eight acres of land at le Bothes in the graveship of Hipperholme.4
There is little documentary evidence relating to the Bothes in the late fourteenth to early sixteenth centuries, until 1522, when George, son of Christopher Boothes, is recorded
1 Baildon, W. R. (ed.), Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield’, Y.H.5. Record Ser., vol. I, xxix (1900), p. 81.
2 Baildon, W. R. (ed.), ‘Yorkshire Fines II, 1614-1625’, Y.H.5. Record Ser., lviii (1917), p. 238.
3 Baildon (1900), p. 168.
4 Walker, J. W. (ed.), ‘Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield’, Y.A.S. Record Ser., vol. V, cix (1944), p. 169.
BOOTHTOWN HALL*. A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE
55
Plate II. Truss 2 with close studding, from south.
Photo: H. C. Morris
as leasing portions of the ‘great tithes and the tithes of lamb and wool’ from the monks of Lewes in the Parish of Halifax.5 In 1595, John, Hugh and Robert, sons of George, held lands in Hipperholme and Lightcliffe,6 and in 1614, Tobias, son of Robert and Judith his
wife, had a ‘messuage and lands in Rawden .7
The poor documentation of the family in the Later Middle Ages and in particular the seventeenth century, has made it impossible to compile a detailed and accurate genealogical table. Other families with the name Both, Bouth and Boothe appear in other parts of the parish, and especially in the township of Northowram, during the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries; these people may well have been descendants of the Boothes of Bothes, although this point cannot be substantiated.8 That the Boothes had moved from Boothtown9 by the second half of the seventeenth century is shown by the absence of their name in late seventeenth-century documents. Indeed, Tobias had moved to Rawden by 1614 and a George Boothe, ? cousin of Tobias, held lands in Pontefract.10
The style of the house and the archaeological evidence suggest a construction date in the first half of the fifteenth century. No mention is made, however, of the house in contemporary documents, but it could well be that it was built or at least owned by the Boothes, who were, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, one of the largest land- owning families in this part of Halifax.
5 Brown, W. (ed.), ‘Yorkshire Deeds III’, Y.A.S. Record Ser., lxiii (1922), p. 129, n. 377-
6 ‘Yorkshire Fines IV’, Y.A.S. Record Ser., viii (1889), p. 3d.
7 Baildon (1917), P- 21 •
8 For much valuable advice relating to the Boothe family, I am indebted to Mr A. Bettridge, of the Central Library, Halifax.
9 Referred to as Bouthtowne in 1580; Crossley, E. W., ‘Parish Registers of Halifax, co. York, Yorks. Parish Register Soc. 37 (1910), p. 263.
10 Baildon (1917), p. 238.
BOOTHTOWN HALL
56
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
Fig. 2. Isometric projection of Boothtown Hall, with east wing, hall and service bay partially reconstructed.
II
THE TIMBER-FRAMED BUILDING
Boothtown Hall comprised the remains of an early fifteenth-century L-shaped house. Internally, the centre portion, comprising the second and third bays, was an open hall with a small rectangular service bay to the north-west with a chamber over, which was
BOOTHTOWN HALL: A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE
57
probably reached by a ladder. The east wing, of three bays, had one large and one small room on the ground floor with the original entrance to the house on the north-west side of the second bay. There were three rooms over, which were open to the roof and these were probably reached by a ladder from the second bay.
The house was constructed of sawn and planed oak; the timbers were secured with i in. (2-4 cm) diameter round-sectioned oak pegs which were sawn off except for those securing principal rafters, common rafters and ridge braces. The feet of the posts rested on stylobate
58
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
blocks of local sandstone, or were set in post pits. The floor was of thin sandstone slabs and rammed yellow clay and exhibited many phases of repair.
The Service Bay (Figs. 2-5 and 8)
This was a single rectangular room, 16 ft. 3 in. (5-14 m) between the tie beams of trusses 1 and 2 and 18 ft. 9 in. (5-97 m) from wall plate to wall plate, to the north-west of the hall and of two storeys. The framing consisted of two pairs of posts with their feet set in shallow post pits (truss 1) and on single stylobate blocks (truss 2). The pair at the north- west end carried a rectangular sectioned tie beam which was morticed for the tenons of the enlarged heads of the posts; originally two braces, probably curved, spanned the angle between the posts and the tie beam.
The pair of posts at the south-east end carried a cambered tie beam 1 ft. 9 in. (53-4 cm) thick at its centre, which was supported by two curved braces (one remained on the north- east side) which were tenoned into the sides of the posts (Plate 2). The wall plate and middle rail were similarly attached to the external faces of the posts and the former was also supported by pairs of curved braces. There was no evidence of a sill beam, although it may have rested onto a sill wall without being jointed into the bases of the posts.
The gable was of hipped type and the common rafters sloped up to a pair of principal rafters which were held together at the top by a triangular collar plate. The ridge piece was let into the tops of the rafters but was not jointed to them.
The tie beam of truss 2 carried a king post with enlarged head, with the ridge piece let into the top and secured by a pair of curved ridge braces. The purlins were recessed into the backs of the principal rafters and the angles between the rafters and tie beam filled with vertical studs with clay and straw filling in between; much of the original fill had however, been replaced during the seventeenth century by brickwork. The sandstone slabs used for roofing were supported on pairs of common rafters spaced at 15 in. (38 cm) intervals which were secured at the top with a pegged tongued joint.
Originally the walls had been of vertical studding, and three studs survived on the north-east side. Clay and straw was used to fill the spaces between the studs and this was plastered on to oak splints which were wedged and sometimes nailed into grooves in the sides of the studs. Mortice holes in the soffit of the tie beam and the underside of the middle rail of truss 2, indicate that these spaces had been filled with close vertical studding; the studs had been removed in the seventeenth century and replaced by brick and stonework. Entrance to the chamber was probably through a hole in the floor reached by a ladder from the service bay, but of this feature no structural evidence survived; the original staircase was probably removed when the contemporary oak plank floor was replaced in the nineteenth century with narrow polished floorboards. On the ground floor, two mortice holes in the underside of the middle rail of truss 2, suggest that a door had existed at this point, which would have provided access to the hall from the service bay.
The Hall (Figs. 2-5)
The hall comprised the second and third bays and measured 30 ft. 6 in. (9-68 m) from the tie beam of truss 2 to the north-west wall of the east wing and 18 ft. 9 in. (5-97 m) from wall plate to wall plate, with a height of 21 ft. 3 in. (6- 72 m) from the flagged floor to the underside of the ridge piece, and was open to the roof. It was spanned at its centre by a large cambered tie beam (Fig. 9, Plate 3) which was supported by curved braces which were tenoned into the sides of the posts and recessed into its soffit (Plate 4). The roof structure was identical to that of the service bay to the north-west and therefore requires no detailed description. The middle rail on the south-west side was recessed into the posts whilst that on the north-east side was secured by a lap joint and supported at its south-east end by an additional post which was tenoned into the wall plate.
Site of smoke-hood
BOOTHTOWN HALL
A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE
59
Fig. 4. North-east elevation of hall, service bay and east wing
h Metres
6o
THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
CO
O
O
C\J
lO -
Fig. 5. Elevation through hall, service bay and east wing, south-west side
h Feet h 1 ‘ 1 Metres
BOOTH TOWN HALL! A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE
6l
Photo: H. C. Morris
Plate III. Truss 3 over hall, from south-east.
This post also supported the tie beam of a closed king post truss which carried the ridge piece at the south-east end of the roof (Plate 5). The truss was 4 ft. 3 in. (1-31 m) from the north-west wall of the east wing and possessed no mortice holes in its soffit to suggest that there had once been a partition wall of vertical studding, nor was there provision in the middle rail of the north-west wall of the wing for the seating of a wooden canopy. From this it can be concluded that this truss was probably inserted to give support to the ridge piece and was not intended to carry a timber canopy as at High Bentley, Shelf11 and White Hall, Ovenden.12
The south-west wall had been filled with vertical studding between the sill beam/middle rail and the middle rail/wall plate. On the north-east side however, apart from three later studs nailed to the outer faces of the wall plate/middle rail of the second bay, there was no evidence of contemporary studding. It is possible that an aisle might have extended the length of the second and third bays, although there were no peg or mortice holes in the posts or wall plate of the hall or in the wall plate/middle rail and sill beam of the north- west wall of the east wing to suggest that an aisle had existed on this side.
The East Wing (Figs. 2-7 and 9)
This was a three-bayed rectangular structure, 40 ft. 6 in. (12-86 m) long by 15 ft. 3 in. (4-76 m) wide from wall plate to wall plate, with a height of 21 ft. (6-64 m) from modern floor level to the underside of the ridge piece, and was of two storeys. Originally four trusses (nos. 5 to 8 on Figs. 6 and 7), with the feet of the posts resting on sandstone stylobate blocks (Plate 10), spanned the side walls. Truss 8, at the north end was removed during the
11 Atkinson, F. and McDowall, R. W., ‘Aisled Houses in the Halifax Area’, Ant.J. xlvii (1967), P- 83.
12 Surveyed by the writer in 1968, 1970-2; ‘Yorkshire Archaeological Register, 1970’, Y.A.J. 43 (1971), P- 196;
‘Yorkshire Archaeology 1972’, C.B.A. Newsletter (1972), p. 8; ‘Medieval Britain in 1970’, Med. Archaeol. xv
(1971), pp. 168-9; ‘Post Medieval Britain in 1970’, Post Med. Archaeol. 5 (1971), P- 2°8-
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THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
seventeenth-century reconstruction and only trusses 5, 6 and 7 remained to the south-west.
Morticed and tenoned on to the enlarged heads if the posts were rectangular sectioned tie beams, each (apart from truss 5) supporting a king post with enlarged head which carried the ridge piece and curved ridge braces. The purlins were recessed into the backs of the principal rafters, and on each side was a complete set of common rafters; the common rafters on the south-west side were supported on two principal rafters which rested on the enlarged heads of the posts of truss 5, and sloped up to the end of the ridge piece. The
Truss 6 Truss 7 Truss 8
0 5
| , I 1 1 L_
15 0 5
1 peet i 1 ' 1 ‘ 1 Metres
Fig. 6. South-east elevation of east wing.
Entrance
5
J L_
15 0
—I Feet h
0
h
Fig. 7. Elevation through east wing, north-west side.
5
h Metres
BOOTHTOWN HALL! A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE
63
Photo: H. C. Morris
Plate IV. Truss 3; south-west post displaying sawn-off wall plate, from east.
Photo: H. C. Morris
Plate V. Truss 4 with close studding over south-east end of hall, from north-west.
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THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
spaces between the principal rafters and the tie beam of truss 6, were filled with narrow, closely-spaced, vertical studs (Plate 9) with clay and straw filling in between (Fig. 4). The ridge piece of the hall extended through into the roof space of the wing and rested at its extreme south-east end on the ridge piece of the east wing.
The walls were of narrow closely-spaced vertical studs with a clay and straw filling in between; at the ends of each section of studding on the first floor were curved braces, each spanning the angle formed by the post and the wall plate (Fig. 7, Plates 6-8). On the ground floor the first, or south-west bay, had been divided from the second bay by a partition wall of vertical studding. The two bays to the north-east formed a single rectangular room, with the original entrance to the house on the north-west side of the second bay (Fig. 7). Of this door, one curved jamb remained, and the position of the second was indicated by a mortice
Photo: H. C. Morris
Plate VI. North-west wall of east wing, south-east end of hall, from west.
hole in the underside of the middle rail to the north-east. A second door, with rectangular- sectioned jambs morticed into the middle rail, and giving access to the hall from the wing, was located in the west end of the north-west wall of the first bay (Fig. 7).
On the first floor, peg holes on the south-west sides of the tie beams of trusses 6 and 7 attest that the spaces between the soffits of the tie beams and the tops of the middle rails had once been filled with vertical studding, making each bay a separate room. In the room occupying the first bay, the original oak floor boards, 10 ft. 6 in. (3-38 m) long by 18 in. (45-7 cm) wide by 3 in. (7-6 cm) thick had been preserved, and these showed evidence of having been adzed on their upper surfaces and edges. The original oak floor boards in the second and third rooms were removed in the nineteenth century and replaced with narrow polished floor boards which were later painted dark brown.
Smoke FIood (Figs. 5 and 9)
Evidence of a smoke-hood was attested by smoke blackening on a pair of common
BOOTHTOWN HALL: A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE
65
Photo: H. C. Morris
Plate VII. North-west wall of east wing, south corner of hall, from north.
rafters (with peg and mortice holes) and on the ridge piece at the south-east end of the roof over the first bay of the hall. The three pairs of rafters to the south-east were not blackened, and their clean surfaces suggested that they were probably replacements, inserted during the seventeenth-century reconstruction. A feature of note is the mortice hole in the soffit of the tie beam of truss 3 ; this suggests that there had been a central post extending down to a cross-beam which would have been morticed into the sides of the posts. The original rafters and vertical member would have carried the wooden framework of the smoke- hood which allowed the escape of smoke from the hearth below. Similar smoke-hoods have been identified at Haigh’s Farm, Sowerby13 and High Bentley.14
Joints
Throughout the house a high standard of jointing was displayed and six joint types were identified:
Splice mortice and tenon: wall plates, north-east and south-west sides of the first bay of the hall and the north-east and north-west sides of the second bay, east wing.
13 Atkinson and McDowall (1967), p. 81, Fig. 3, section C-C, Pi. XVI. b.
14 Ibid., pp. 83-4.
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Truss 1
Truss 2
0
5 10 0
-1 1 Feet h
3
h Metres
Fig. 8. Top: Truss i, north-west end of service bay, from south-east. Bottom: Truss 2, south-east end of service bay, from south-east.
BOOTHTOWN HALL: A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE
67
Truss 3
Truss 7
0 5 10 0
I — 1 — 1 — 1 — 1 — -J ! Feet 1-
3
H Metres
Fig. 9. Top: Truss 3; open truss over hall, from south-east. Bottom: Truss 7, east wing, from south-west.
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THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
Mortice and tenon: studs, posts, principal rafters, collar plate, wall plates, ridge pieces, middle rails, tie beams, all forms of braces and smoke-hood.
Recessed mortice and tenon: middle rails of truss 2, west end of hall, north-east wall of the second bay of the hall and truss 6, east wing.
Open mortice and tenon: purlins, north-east and south-west sides of the roof over the first bay of the hall and the ridge piece to the south-east of truss 4.
Lap : middle rails secured to north-east post of truss 3, ridge piece to the east of truss 4 and above truss 7; purlins, third bay of east wing.
Tonpued : common rafters.
Carpenters’ Marks (Fig. 10)
Apart from two marks, one at the head of the north-east post of truss 2, south-east side, and the second on the south-west post, south-east side below the middle rail, the marks were confined to the north-west sides of the ridge braces of the east wing and the north- east side of the king post of truss 7.
Fig. 10. Carpenters’ marks.
1. Truss 2, head of north-east post, south-east side.
2. Truss 2, south-west post, below the middle rail, south-east side.
3. East wing. Truss 6, south-west ridge brace, north-west side.
4. East wing. Truss 6, north-east ridge brace, north-west side.
5. East wing. Truss 7, south-west ridge brace, north-west side.
6. East wing. Truss 7, north-east ridge brace, south-west side.
7. East wing. Truss 7, king post, north-east side.
Windows
The windows in the south-east, north-east and north-west walls belonged to the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries, whilst those on the south-west side were inserted when the house was converted into tenements about 1850. No original windows remained, but the position of one was suggested by the close spacing of three peg holes on the inner face of the south-west wall plate of the service bay (Fig. 5). This was probably of a type with square set, rectangular-sectioned, wooden mullions, similar to the well-preserved window found during the demolition of Norland Hall, Halifax.15 Other windows
15 Kendall, H. P., ‘Norland Hall’, T. Halifax AS. (1911), pp. 19, 35.
BOOTHTOWN HALL! A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE
69
probably existed in the north-east wall of the hall and in the south-east wall of the east wing, but the precise position of these is uncertain.
The Seventeenth-Century House
Owing to the limited amount of time available for the survey, it was not possible to record the seventeenth to nineteenth-century additions and alterations in detail; certain features were, however, recorded and these are briefly described below.
The house was encased in stone about 1640 (date above the door 164?; last figure weathered, but probably o) and a suite of rooms, with mullioned and transomed windows with drip mouldings above terminating in heart and cross-shaped label stops, added on the north-east side between the service bay to the north-west and the east wing (Plate 1); at the corners on this side were heavy sandstone quoins. A new entrance with chamfered jambs and a square sectioned lintel was inserted at the north-west end of the north front and the original entrance to the house in the north-west wall of the east wing blocked.
The studding of the service bay, hall and the south-east wall of the east wing was removed and the spaces filled with brick and stonework; similarly the spaces between the soffits of the tie beams of trusses 2 and 3 and the original floor were blocked before the insertion of a floor in the hall at middle rail level. During the late eighteenth-early nineteenth centuries, the south-west wall of the east wing was covered with oak laths, 1 in. (2-4 cm) wide and plaster, which was decorated on the south-east side of the first bay with small painted flowers in orange, yellow, blue and grey.
About 1850, when the house was converted into tenements, the walls of the service bay, hall, east wing and the seventeenth-century extension were plastered, the floors paved and fireplaces inserted into most rooms. It was at this time that a small rectangular structure of two storeys was constructed at the east corner, and the north-east, north-west, south-west and south-east walls refaced with coursed squared rubble; small single and twin light windows with square set, square-sectioned mullions replaced the seventeenth-century windows. New doors were inserted to give access to individual tenements and the north- east and the north-west walls cement rendered.
Ill
THE EXCAVATION
The excavation occupied one week in April 1968, and was confined to the service and hall bays. Trial trenches excavated in the east wing were inconclusive and in two test holes a layer of black ash used as a seating for the sandstone flags rested directly on the natural subsoil. The excavation was impeded by the small size of the rooms and the presence of water and gas pipes. The presence of a nineteenth-century chimney stack on the north- west side of truss 3 prevented an examination of the open hearth, nor was it possible to sample the levels in Fur Street on the south-west side of the house, where it was suspected, and later confirmed during the removal of gas pipes, that evidence of the two pre-hall structures might have been preserved.
Trench I
A section was cut parallel to truss 2 and at right angles to the robbed footings of the south-west wall, in the west corner of the first bay of the hall (Fig. 3). The trench was intended not only to examine the surface of the fifteenth-century floor (floor 3 on Fig. 11, section A-B) but to investigate its junction with the south-west post of truss 2 and the section of robbed walling to the south-east.
Floor 3 was located beneath the nineteenth-century flagged floor (floor 4) and a layer of black soil and ash (layer 1) at the south-east end of the cutting, and a layer of stiff yellow
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THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
clay (layer 2) with medieval and post-medieval pottery intermixed at the north-west end and was composed of flat pieces of undressed sandstone 1 in. (2-4 cm) thick, laid on a layer of dark brown soil (layer 3). To the north-west the floor was of rammed yellow clay and iron slag, the latter decreasing in quantity towards the south-west corner of the cutting. The floor had been patched at the centre, where it had sunk into the underlying brown soil, with dark brown soil and flat pieces of sandstone; in the soil were fragments of pottery (some of these might well be residual (Fig. 12. 6 and 7)), flecks of charcoal and several small pieces of burnt sandstone.
The foot of the south-west post of truss 2 rested on a single sandstone stylobate block, 1 ft. 9 in. (53-3 cm) wide by 1 ft. (30-5 cm) thick and exceeding 2 ft. (61 -o cm) in length, which was set in a shallow rock-cut stone hole; the stylobate projected 3 in. (7-6 cm) above the surface of the floor on the north-east side, whilst to the south-east, along the line of the sill wall, the floor had been destroyed by a broad robber trench; the trench was filled with broken bricks, stones, black soil and sherds of nineteenth-century pottery.
0 1 3
1 1 1 1 Metres
|
Black soil |
Yellow clay |
1 |
||||
|
'///// |
Black soil, |
ash |
and stones |
Brown soil
urnt stones
\ V v \ \ \ \W\W
and a
Yellow
sh
soil
Fig. 11. Sections of Trenches I— III.
BOOTHTOWN HALL: A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE
71
Sandwiched between floor 3 and a second floor (floor 2 below) of rammed yellow clay was a layer of dark brown soil (layer 3) containing numerous potsherds (Fig. 12. 1, 3, 5, 8,9, 12 and 13) and an iron knife blade (Fig. 13. 2). A third floor (floor 1), also of rammed yellow clay and small pieces of weathered sandstone, was located 7 in. (17-9 cm) below floor 2. The two floors were separated by a layer of stiff yellow clay and stones with charcoal fragments and several scraps of pottery (Fig. 12. 2) intermixed. Cut through the floor in the north corner of the trench was a shallow hollow (Fig. 11. section C-D) 4 in. (10-2 cm) deep and exceeding 4 ft. 9 in. (1-45 m) in diameter; the hollow was filled with yellow clay, pieces of sandstone, charcoal and fragments of quartz tempered pottery.
Trench II
A trench 13 ft. 6 in. (411 m) by 8 ft. (2*44 m) was cut at right angles to the north-west wall of the service bay and to within 4 ft. 2 in. (1-27 m) of the south-east wall of the bay (Fig. 3). Layer 3 (Fig. 11. section E-F) was preserved beneath the modern flagged floor and a layer of black soil (layer 1), as a bank 7 ft. 3 in. (2-21 m) wide running north-east - south-west across the cutting. A pit dug about 1850, parallel to the north-west wall had destroyed all trace of pre-hall occupation; in the centre of the pit was a square structure constructed of red bricks 9F in. (24-0 cm) long by 3! in. (9-4 cm) wide by 2| in. (6-4 cm) thick. The structure and the pit were filled with black soil, ash, burnt stones and charcoal, intermixed were sherds of mid-nineteenth century pottery, nails, animal bones and fragments of iron slag. To the south-east was a second pit, of mid-seventeenth-century date, filled with large blocks of sandstone, black soil and sherds. Intermixed in the narrow bank of brown soil were several scraps of pottery (Fig. 12. 15-17), iron nails (Fig. 12. 3 and 4) and an iron bolt.
Again floor 3 was of flat pieces of undressed sandstone laid directly on floor 1 , floor 2 was found to be absent from the stratigraphical sequence. Beneath one of the flags, and cut through floor 1, was a circular post hole 1 ft. 2 in. (35-5 cm) in diameter by 4 in. (ion cm) in depth, filled with fine brown soil, flecks of charcoal and fragments of weathered sandstone. A small hearth of clay burnt deep red was located on the north-west side of the seventeenth-century pit; associated with the hearth were fragments of pottery, pieces of iron slag, charcoal and burnt stones. The brown soil layer to the north of the hearth had been disturbed and black soil, ash, broken bricks and charcoal extended down from the base of the modern flagged floor to the top of the natural subsoil.
Trench III
A trench 13 ft. (3-97 m) long was cut at right angles to the north-west wall of the east wing, in the second bay of the hall, on the south-west side (Fig. 3)- Black soil, ash with brick chippings and a layer of cement i| in. (3-8 cm) thick, containing fragments of seventeenth-century green window glass, was found beneath the flagged floor (Fig. 11. section G-H). The brown soil layer (layer 3) below had been disturbed at the north-west end of the cutting by a mid-seventeenth-century pit (Fig. 11. section I— J) which exceeded 3 ft. 9 in. (1-14 m) in diameter with a depth of 1 ft. 3 hi- (38'1 cm). The pit was lined with dark brown soil and levelled off with fine yellow soil and stones, in and towards the base of the yellow soil were brick chippings, flecks of charcoal, a piece of iron sheeting and part of a seventeenth-century iron key (Fig. 13. 7 and 9). In the brown soil above the pit were pieces of burnt sandstone, flecks of charcoal, iron nails (Fig. 13* 6), part of an eighteenth- century iron knife with wooden scales (Fig. 13* 8) and a sherd of quartz-tempered pottery.
A narrow extension to Trench III was cut across the south-west wall of the hall in the south corner of the second bay of the hall. The sill wall had been robbed out and the foundation trench filled with black soil, bricks, flat pieces of sandstone, iron slag and charcoal ; intermixed were fragments of a blue glass bottle of nnd-nineteenth-century date.
On the north-east and south-west sides of the cutting, floor 1 had been preserved below
the YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
the brown soil as a layer of rammed yellow clay, i to i| in. (2-4 to 3-8 cm) thick; no evidence was found in the excavated section of floors 2 and 3 or of the late-medieval industrial activity found in trenches I and II. At the south-east end of the trench, and penetrating floor 1, was a circular post hole, 1 ft. 3 in. (38-1 cm) in diameter by 1 ft. (30-5 cm) in depth, with tapering sides and a flat bottom. The timber upright had been removed from the post hole, and this was clearly attested by the splaying of the yellow soil packing towards the base of the post socket. The cavity had later been filled with dark brown soil, pieces of weathered sandstone and charcoal; in the brown soil fill, 6 in. (i5'2 cm) from the top edge of the post cavity was a single sherd of quartz-tempered pottery.
Photo : H. C. Morris
Plate VIII. Truss 5 and north-west wall of east wing, from east.
IV
DISCUSSION
Interpretation of Pre-Hall Features
The earlier features found beneath the rammed clay and flagged floor of the timber- framed hall were poorly preserved; areas to the north-east, south-east and south-west of the cuttings, had been disturbed during the seventeenth-century reconstruction when deep foundation trenches were cut to carry the 2 ft. (61 -o cm) thick sandstone rubble
BOOTHTOWN HALL I A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE
73
foundation walls of the stone-built house. Sufficient remained, however, to indicate that at least two structures had occupied the site prior to the construction of the timber-framed hall. Of the first (Period I), only the floor of rammed yellow clay and a hearth had survived. No foundation walls, sill beam or robber trenches were found in the excavated cuttings that could be associated with the floor. The dimensions of the building are not known and its use, suggested here as a house, can only be based on the abundance of pottery found scattered on and above the floor and in association with the hearth. In the absence of documentary evidence the dating of the house has been based on the ceramic material. Certain sherds compare in fabric with wares of Upper Heaton type, tentatively dated to the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries; a date close to c. 1300 is therefore suggested for the occupation of House I.
The absence of demolition debris at the base of layer 4, cutting II, suggests that the timber and/or stonework from House I was reused in Period II for the construction of House II. House II had walls of vertical timber posts and a floor of rammed yellow clay; it is uncertain what material was used to fill the spaces between the posts as no foundation walls, wattle holes or daub were found. The roof was probably of thatch or wooden shingles as no roofing slates were found in layer 3 over floor 2.
House II, as the archaeological evidence attests, remained in use for nearly a century, until it was demolished m the fifteenth century to make way for the larger timber- framed L-shaped hall. Houses I and II were probably minor dwellings in a larger settlement that covered the lower slopes of Pepper Hill during the late thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. Had it been possible to excavate under two late fourteenth-century timber-framed aisled halls in Sladden Street to the south-west, a more complete picture as to the layout of this primary settlement, m relationship to the smaller, more nucleated hamlet of late-fourteenth, early-fifteenth century timber-framed halls, might have emerged.
The Timber-Framed L-shaped Hall
In i960 only one house based on the L-plan (High Bentley to the west of Halifax) was listed among the many examples of aisled hall and H-shaped halls recorded in the ancient parish of Halifax. High Bentley was described in detail by Atkinson and McDowall in their paper on the Aisled Houses in the Halifax Area.1* The writers considered that the hall, of aisled type, and of four bays with a service bay at the east end with a chamber over, had been erected in the late fourteenth century, whilst a two-bay, two storey cross-wing, erected on the site of the fourth or western bay, was certainly of the fifteenth century.17
Two questions arise after studying the framework of this house: (a) was the addition of a cross-wing an innovation of the early fifteenth century? and (b) did the L-plan represent an important, yet hitherto unrecognised typological development from the aisled hall-end hall house to the H-shaped hall? In i960 no definite answer could have been given to this first question, but as the recording of timber-framed buildings progressed between 1965-71, it became apparent that halls laid out on the L-plan had been quite common in the eastern part of the ancient parish of Halifax during the early fifteenth century.
Of the L-shaped halls recorded, Throstle Nest18 and Boothtown Hall were the most complete. Both had halls of two bays, a service bay with a chamber over and a residential wing. The most important constructional difference between Throstle Nest, Boothtown
16 Atkinson and McDowall (1967), pp. 81-5.
17 Atkinson and McDowall considered that the cross-wing had probably been erected in the first half of the fifteenth century. They based their conclusions on the surviving constructional elements, e.g. stylobate blocks, narrow studs, thin king posts and ridge braces, and by comparing these features with those found in a cross- wing of a sixteenth-century L-plan house at Haigh’s Farm, Sowerby (Atkinson and MacDowall (1967), PP- 79~ 81). Although the wing at High Bentley compares favourably with other buildings of fifteenth-century date which are to be found in the Halifax area, no archaeological or documentary evidence was found by the authors to confirm the suggested date.
18 ‘The Yorkshire Archaeological Register, 197 Y, Y.A.J. 44 (1972), p. 222, Fig. 1.
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THE YORKSHIRE ARCHAEOLOGICAL JOURNAL
Hall and High Bentley was the way in which the halls and wings were framed together. At Boothtown Hall, the wall plate on the south-west side of the second bay of the hall was recessed into the north-west post of truss 5 and pegged from the hall side ; studs were inserted between the wall plate/middle rail of the north-west wall of the east wing and the spaces filled with clay and straw. This method of joining the hall and wing together was a feature which helped Atkinson and McDowall establish the two phase construction of High Bentley. It is possible that the cross-wing at Boothtown Hall was an addition to an end-hall house, although there was no evidence to suggest that this was so, nor was there a striking difference in the style of the timber-framing of the hall and wing, apart from the taller stylobate blocks in the wing compared with the single stylobate blocks and post pits found in the hall and service bay. At Throstle Nest, however, the hall and wing appeared to be contemporary ; the tie beam of the centre truss of the south wing continued through as the wall plate on the west side of the hall and service bay, a constructional feature which clearly indicates that both hall and wing were constructed at the same time.
At Boothtown Hall the carpenters had developed a simple method of framing the hall and wmg together. The massive posts, heavy tie beams, thick king posts and the broad
Photo: H. C. Morris
Plate IX. Truss 6, with clay and straw filling, top left, and north-west wall of east wing, from south.
BOOTHTOWN HALL: A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE
75
deep studs certainly suggest an intermediate stage in the development of the L-plan house from High Bentley to Throstle Nest. The small quantity of late medieval coarse and fine pottery recovered from the surface of floor 3 at Boothtown Hall suggests a date for the construction of the house somewhere in the first half of the fifteenth century, although the paucity of finds does not enable an accurate date to be ascribed to the house. Generally speaking, it is at present impossible to apply precise dates, in the absence of good documen- tary and/or archaeological evidence, to this class of building. At Throstle Nest the method of framing the hall and wing together, cited above, was a constructional improvement, and this method has been noted at the L-shaped houses of Haigh’s Farm, Sowerby19 and by the writer at Storths Farm, Birkby,20 both dating to the mid-sixteenth-century. Typo- logically, High Bentley might well represent the earliest phase in the development of the L-plan house; Boothtown Hall the intermediate phase, and Throstle Nest and Haigh’s Farm, the final stage, the whole series having a date range from the early fifteenth to the sixteenth centuries, although this conclusion requires further substantiation.
The roof truss employed at High Bentley, Boothtown Hall, Throstle Nest and Haigh’s Farm, was of king post type, the most common form of roof structure used in the Halifax area and in the north-west generally; good examples of this type of roof have been identified at Long Can, Ovenden,21 Lower High Sunderland in the Shibden Valley,22 a house in Sladden Street, Boothtown,23 Fletcher House24 and Wormald Hall,25 Almondbury, Lees Hall, Thornhill,26 and John Bunny’s House 27 and Haseldon Hall,28 Wakefield. At Booth- town Hall the king posts had enlarged heads and were morticed into the tops of the tie beams. The ridge pieces were recessed into the tops of the king posts and secured by pairs of curved ridge braces. The purlins were recessed, to half their thickness, into the backs of the principal rafters. This type of roof structure replaced in Calder Dale the trussed- rafter roof, seen at Bentley Royd, but as Atkinson and McDowall argued, where and how this type of roof truss evolved must remain in doubt.29
From the middle of the fifteenth century the FI-shaped hall predominated in Calder Dale, and examples built about this time are Elland New Hall,30 and Shibden Hall.31 Some aisled-hall and end-hall houses, like White Hall, Ovenden32 were converted by the addition of cross-wings into H-shaped halls, whilst others such as Broad Bottom, Mytholmroyd,33 and Lower High Sunderland34 remained unaltered until they were
19 Atkinson and McDowall (1967), pp. 79-81, Figs. 3 and 4, PI. XVIII. d.
20 Storths Farm, Birkby (SE 134185) was recorded by the writer for the Tolson Memorial Museum in June 1973. The present dwelling of stone, and of seventeenth-nineteenth century date, is built around the remains of a sixteenth-century timber and stone built L-plan house with an open hall of two bays at its centre, a service bay with a chamber over at the north-east end, and a two bay, two storey cross-wing on the south-west side; the remains of a possible aisle or penthouse were identified on the north-west side of the house (Photographic record in the Tolson Memorial Museum).
21 ‘Yorkshire Archaeology 1972’, C.B.A. Newsletter (1972), p. 8.
22 ‘The Yorkshire Archaeological Register, 197T, Y.A.J. 44 (1972), p. 223; ‘Post Medieval Britain in 1971’, Post Med. A. 6 (1972), p. 217, Fig. 91.
23 Atkinson and McDowall (1967), Fig. 6. III.
24 Manby, T. G., ‘Fletcher House, Almondbury, A Late Medieval Timber-Framed Building near Huddersfield’, Y.A.J. xli (1964), p. 299, Fig. 4, Pis. Ill and V.
25 Survey by the Tolson Memorial Museum.
26 Manby, T. G., ‘Lees Hall, Thornhill, A Medieval Timber-Framed Building in the West Riding of Yorkshire’, Y.A.J. 43 (1971), pp. 115-24, Figs. 6-8, Pis. V and VI.
27 Bartlett, K. S., ‘John Bunny’s House, Wakefield’, Y.A.J. 44 (1972), pp. 147-52, Figs. 3-7.
28 Field, J. J., ‘Haseldon Hall, Wakefield’, Post Med. A. 3 (1969), pp. 188-90, Fig. 73.
29 Atkinson and McDowall (1967), pp. 93-4.
30 Walton, J., Early Timbered Buildings in the Huddersfield District (1955), p. 59, Fig. 26.
31 Innes, R. A., Shibden Hall, Halifax (1964), p. 5.
32 Survey by the writer; see note 12.
33 Stell, C., ‘Pennine Houses: An Introduction’, Folk Life 3 (1965), p. 69, Fig. 1.
34 Survey by the writer; see note 22.
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encased in stone in the seventeenth century; where houses of these types have first been converted by the addition of a cross-wing, into an L-shaped hall and later, by adding a second cross-wing, into an H-shaped hall, there is little hope of identifying the inter- mediate L-plan, particularly when the original end bays of the house have been demolished and the hall and cross-wings are in no way joined together; a possible example of this type
Photo: H. C. Morris
Plate X. Truss 6; post and stylobate block, north-west side of east wing, from south.
of house, although badly mutilated during the seventeenth century is the now demolished White Hall.35
The L-shaped halls cited probably belonged to middle-class families of similar social standing to the Boothes and are ascribed on structural evidence to the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. That the L-shaped hall represents the intermediate stage between the aisled-hall or end-hall house and the H-shaped hall is a matter of controversy and cannot be satisfac- torily resolved until further L- and H-plan halls have been recorded and studied in detail.
35 Central hall demolished in 1970 and the standing cross-wings in 1972; see note 12.
BOOTHTOWN HALL! A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE
77
V
THE FINDS POTTERY
Introduction
The bulk of the pottery recovered from layers 3 and 4 and floors 1, 2 and 3 is in a heavily gritted ware, belonging to the East Pennine gritty ware series. The tempering medium is opaque angular and water-rolled quartz grains up to 1 mm in diameter and fine sand with some shale inclusions either in particle or sheet form; these have fired to cream, pink and deep red. There is a considerable variation in the amount and size of the quartz particles in the clay. Thirteen grades are distinguished, but the divisions between each type fabric are arbitrary.
The heavily quartz-gritted cooking pots in Fabric A (with thickened and everted rims) are precisely matched at Holdsworth among the late thirteenth-century fabrics and among the early fourteenth-century wares from Houses I-X, Gaol Lane, Halifax.36 The gritty- ware pottery is certainly of local manufacture and Fabric J, a hard cream-white ware with quartz and sand tempering and with a mottled green-yellow glaze, is typified by the fabric of the baluster and ovoid jugs from the Upper Heaton kilns, near Huddersfield,37 whilst the coarse ware cooking pots and storage jars can again be matched at Upper Heaton,38 but are closer to the products of the Baildon and Brunthwaite kilns, although many other kilns in the West Riding are known to have been producing vessels in similar fabrics during the first half of the fourteenth century.
The better-quality wares had been obtained from a more distant source, probably from kilns operating closer to the mouth of the River Humber. Some of the fifteenth- and sixteenth-century vessels are in lightly-gritted fabrics (Fabrics, H, O, P and R) and are again likely to be of local manufacture, whilst the finer wares, as in the Middle Ages, were obtained from manufacturing centres outside the region. The pattern of trade during the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries indicates that coarse ware products, e.g. cooking pots and storage jars, were supplied by local potters whilst the higher quality wares, e.g. glazed bowls and jugs were imported from centres which specialised in the production of finer quality wares.
The Type Fabrics Thirteenth to Fourteenth Centuries
Fabric A Orange gritted with angular quartz fragments, some shale inclusions. Six sherds (Fig. 12. 1, 15).
Fabric B Soft, orange, less angular quartz grits, some fine sand. Four sherds (Fig. 12. 3, 7, 8).
Fabric C Flard cream-pink-orange, grey-brown core, quartz grits with some fine sand and shale inclusions. Three sherds (Fig. 12. 2, 5, 11).
Fabric D Soft orange, some opaque water-rolled quartz grains, but fine sand predominating. Four sherds.
Fabric E Soft orange-cream, grey core. One sherd.
Fabric F Soft orange-brown, one sherd with grey interior, fine sand tempering with some coarse quartz grains. Two sherds.
Fabric G Orange-brown, corky, tempered with fine sand and occasional coarse quartz particles. One sherd (Fig. 12. 19).
Fabric H Hard, quartz gritted with some shale particles, variable colour range. Eleven sherds (Fig. 12. 12).
Fabric I Pink exterior, cream interior, grey core, tempered with fine sand, opaque water-rolled quartz grains and shale fragments. One sherd.
Fabric J Hard off-white, one sherd with mottled green-yellow glaze on exterior, fine quartz tempering with some shale inclusions. Three sherds; possibly Upper Heaton Ware.
Fabric K Soft buff-pink-grey with cream-grey core, tempered with angular and water-rolled quartz grains. Two sherds (Fig. 12. 4).
Fabric L Hard off-white to pinkish-cream, tempered with fine sand and angular quartz particles. One sherd (Fig. 12. 6).
Fabric M Dark grey with outer pale grey surface. One sherd (Fig. 12. 9).
36 Tolson Memorial Museum, collection.
37 Manby, T. G., ‘Medieval Pottery Kilns at Upper Heaton, West Yorkshire’, Arch. J. cxxi (1964), pp. 82, 85, Fig. 8. 1-4.
38 Ibid., p. 90, Figs. 11 and 12.
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Fig. 12. Medieval and Post-Medieval pottery from Boothtown Hall. 1-14; Trench I; is-18, Trench IF 10 Trench III.
Fifteenth to Sixteenth Centuries
Fabric N Hard orange with purple interior and exterior surfaces covered by a thin dark grey slip. Tempered with angular quartz grains. One sherd.
Fabric O Hard orange with reddish-brown exterior, grey core, quartz tempered. One sherd (Fig. 12. 13).
Fabric P Soft pale grey with purple-grey exterior and cream-grey interior covered with a blistered purple-brown glaze; tempered with shale fragments and fine sand. One sherd (Fig. 12. 14).
Fabric Q Hard pale grey core with buff-grey interior, off-white exterior, tempered with fine sand. One sherd (Fig. 12. 17).
Fabric R Soft grey-orange, with external brown-red-purple surface, fine sand inclusions. One sherd (Fig. 12. 18).
Fabric S Hard buff-orange, with dark orange core. Two sherds, possibly Humber Ware (Fig. 12. 16).
Fabric T Hard dark grey with pale grey exterior. One sherd.
Fabric U Hard cream-buff with pale grey core and mottled brown-green-yellow glazed outer surface. Two sherds.
BOOTHTOWN HALL! A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE
79
Late Sixteenth to Mid-Seventeenth Centuries
Fabric W Hard deep brown-purple with dark grey outer slip. One sherd (Fig. 12. 10).
Fabric X Soft orange with darker orange exterior, pale translucent orange-yellow glaze on interior. Possibly Pule Hill Ware, c. 1650.
CATALOGUE
Thirteenth to Fourteenth-Century Pottery Trench I: Layer 4, above floor 1
Fabric L, cooking pot rim, everted with rounded external face, internal bevel (Fig. 12. 4).
Hollow
Fabric B, one sherd.
Fabric E, one sherd.
Fabric F, one sherd.
Fabric I, one sherd.
Layer 3, brown soil above floor 2
Fabric A, cooking pot rim (Fig. 12. 1).
Fabric B, everted cooking pot rim (Fig. 12. 3).
,, everted bowl rim (Fig. 12. 8).
Fabric C, cooking pot rim, everted with rounded external face, slight internal bevel (Fig. 12. 5).
,, base of cooking pot (Fig. 12. 11).
Fabric H, base of cooking pot, orange-brown surfaces, three splashes of yellow glaze on exterior (Fig. 12. 12).
Fabric M, jug rim, remains of a thin decayed pale yellow glaze on exterior (Fig. 12. 9).
Fabric O, base of cooking pot (Fig. 12. 13).
Pottery from patched area of floor 3
Fabric B, bowl or storage jar with flanged rim (Fig. 12. 7).
Fabric L, cooking pot rim, everted with rounded external face (Fig. 12. 6).
Not illustrated
Eighteen wall sherds belonging to cooking pots and storage jars in Fabrics A, B, D, F, H and M.
Layer 2, above floor 3
Fabric C, cooking pot rim, thickened with rounded external face (Fig. 12. 2).
Trench II: base of layer 3
Fabric A, cooking pot rim, everted with internal bevel (Fig. 12. 15).
Fabric S, part of the base and body of a Humber Ware jug with rough knife trimming round base angle (Fig. 12. 16). This vessel can be paralleled with similar examples from the Holme-on- Spalding Moor39 and West Cowick40 kilns, both working in the mid-fourteenth centuries, and with two Humber Ware jugs, one from the churchyard at Riccall, E.R.41, and the second from Skipton-on-Swale, N.R.42
Not illustrated
Fabric A, single sherd belonging to the neck of a cooking pot.
Fabric H, cooking pot base, brown exterior, orange interior, grey core. Sherd of buff-orange ware, carbonised exterior.
Trench III : Layer 3, brown soil fill of post hole Fabric A, wall sherd.
Layer 3
Fabric G, cooking pot base (Fig. 12. 19).
Fifteenth to Sixteenth Centuries Trench I : Layer 2, above floor 3
Fabric P, base of dish (Fig. 12. 14).
Fabric W, oval sectioned strap handle (Fig. 12. 10).
Not illustrated
Fabric N, six wall sherds belonging to a cooking pot.
Fabric O, base of dish.
Trench II: top of layer 3
Fabric Q, part of the neck and body of an ovoid jug (Fig. 12. 17).
Fabric R, strap handle; traces of a purple-brown glaze on underside (Fig. 12. 18).
Not illustrated
Fabric H, base of cooking pot in a light orange ware, grey core.
Fabric T, a single sherd belonging to the neck of an ovoid jug, decorated with an incised wavy line on the upper part; traces of a thin decayed orange-yellow glaze on exterior.
Fabric U, two sherds belonging to the same vessel, possibly a dish or shallow bowl.
,, wall sherd.
Seventeenth-Century Pottery Trench II: Pit
Fabric X, open bowl.
39 Mayes, P., ‘A Late Medieval Kiln at Holme-on-Spalding Moor’, Hull Museum Publications, no. 216 (forthcoming).
40 ‘Medieval Britain in 1963’, A led. A. 8 (1964), p. 297.
41 Wenham, L. P., ‘Seven Archaeological Discoveries in Yorkshire’, Y.A.J. xl (i960), p. 300, Fig. 2.
42 Thompson, J. P. A., Inventory of British Coin Hoards, A.D. 600-1300 (1956), pp. 124-5, no. 33T PE IV. c.
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GLASS
Trench III: cement layer
Fragments of heavily pitted green window glass were recovered from the mid-seventeenth century construction debris.
Nineteenth-century filling of the foundation trench
Fragments ot a bottle in pale blue glass with cylindrical neck and body, some vitrification on the exterior; possibly mid-nineteenth century.
0
« — I i 1 1 L
?Cms. <L
3
Ins.
Fig. 13. Iron objects from Boothtown Flail. 1 and 2, Trench I; 3 and 4, Trench II; 5-9, Trench III.
IRON
Badly corroded iron nails were found in Trench I, layer 2 (Fig. 13. 1); Trench II, layer 3 (Fig. 13.3 and 4); Trench III, layer 3 (Fig. 13. 6) and in the nineteenth-century filling of the foundation trench (Fig. 13. 5).
Trench I: layer 3 below floor 3
Fragment of a badly corroded knife blade 4-7 cm long, with triangular sectioned blade (Fig. 13. 7).
Trench II: layer 3
A badly corroded bolt, 12-8 cm long, square section.
Trench III: seventeenth-century pit
Tool; corroded sheeting, triangular section with a rectangular sectioned ? handle, 6-2 cm long; use unknown (Fig. 13. 7).
Fragment of a heavily oxidised mid-seventeenth century key with broken bow (Fig. 13. 9).
Layer 3
Part of the blade and handle of an eighteenth-century knife with wooden scales, held in position by a bronze rivet 0-2 cm diameter (Fig. 13. 8).
IRON SLAG By K. S. Siddiqui
Four fragments of iron slag from the first bay of the hall, trench I, floor 3, were submitted for analysis; the results may be conveniently summarised in list form:
Spinel-fayalite-rich scoriaceous slag (I.G.S. Ref. No. NEQ. 2101)
This is grey-black, highly vesicular scoriaceous spinel-rich slag of very low density showing a foliated structure. The vesicles are filled with carbonaceous and argillaceous matter together with amorphous iron oxide. The thin section also shows patches of fayalite with magnetite inclusions and perfectly rounded to elongated voids varying in length from less than 2 mm to more than 12 mm. The intervoidal areas are filled with massive to well- crystallized spinel associated with a turbid mixture of clay and iron oxide. Patches of light yellow spinel show a characteristic overgrowth of concentric roms of? glassy material marked by a radial, fibrous structure of individual or compound accicular crystals, also of ? glass. Rounded grains of highly fragmented quartz, most probably from the bloomery, and mixed during smelting, are scattered in the intervoidal zones of the slag.
Scattered patches of fresh organic matter, filling the cavities, occur with the patches of fayalite slag.
The most likely spinel material, based on mineral composition, is gahnite, confirmed by an X-ray powder
BOOTHTOWN HALL I A FIFTEENTH-CENTURY HOUSE
8 I
pattern of a channel sample taken across the foliated structure which showed a predominance ot iayahtc and spinel, with subordinate quartz, mixed clay mineral and kaolinite.
(I.G.S. Ref. Nos. NEQ. 2102 and NEQ. 2103)
These specimens are similar to NEQ. 2101 except that they show the presence ot amorphous orange to brownish-red, slightly concretionary matter (? organic) freshly grown in contact with the black spinel-slag. X-ray powder photographs (NEX. 1534 and 1535) of the slags as a whole showed identical patterns of magnesian
spinel and quartz.
Fayalite-rich iron slags oj high density (I.G.S. Ref. No. NEQ. 2104)
This black, botryoidal, granular fayalite (Fe2Si04) slag of high density speckled with reddish-brown iron oxide and charged with gas cavities some of which show churned carbonaceous fillings together with amorphous orange- red-opaque? (iron oxide) matter. The thin section cut shows a predominance of highly birefringent, pale greenish- yellow slender crystals of fayalite, generally elongated along a central axis with an abundance of magnetite inclusions.
The voids vary from small rounded to irregular large and amygdaloidal (up to 12 mm long). X-ray powder film (NEX. 1536) showed a predominance of fayalite with a slight trace of wustite (FeO).
Conclusions: The low density of the specimens (NEQ. 2101-3) and their scoriaceous form suggests that they are most probably slags resulting from bloomeries and formed at very high temperatures. The latter is clearly indicated by the presence of spinel and fayalite, both of which are high temperature minerals. The slags could have formed as an oxidation product of alumina-iron and magnesium-rich salts in reaction with the residual silicates. The organic matter is of course totally adventitious, as also are the quartz grains which may have been incorporated from the sides of the bloomery.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I would like to record my thanks to Mr J. L. Berbiers, late Architect to Halifax Corporation, for permission to record Boothtown Hall; to Dr E. A. Gee, Messrs T. W. French and D. W. Black, of the Royal Commission on Historical Monuments (England) for advice on the H-shaped halls referred to in this paper and to Mr. K. S. Siddiqui, Institute of Geological Sciences, Leeds for the specialist report on the iron slag. I am deeply indebted to Mr H. C. Morris of the Halifax Photographic Society for providing the photographs used in this report and to Mr A. Bettridge, of the Central Library, Halifax, for information relating to the Boothe family. The following individuals assisted in the excavation: Messrs G. Chambers, S. Crowther, I. D. Francis and C. ^X/llton.
82
CHEESECAKE HALL, OULTON, WEST RIDING
By Kenneth Hutton
Summary Cheesecake Hall, now derelict, is an early sixteenth-century timber-framed house, originally single- storeyed and ot four bays, altered in the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. Its structure and affinities are examined and illustrated.
In the winter of 1972-73, vandals began stripping the roof tiles from a building on the A642 road from Oulton to Wakefield, just opposite the junction with Pennington Lane (SE 360269). This revealed the building (Fig. 3) to be a late medieval house; within an area of three square miles, seven other timber-framed houses are known, but none quite like this. It is built of shaley sandstone, rendered at the front with pebble-dash, and roofed with stone slates. It incorporates three trusses of timber building. It faces south, and stands in a lonely position outside Oulton village with its west gable end towards the road. There are three ground-floor rooms, and only one upper one, a later addition over the eastern room. There are outshots