bordley township projectbordleytownship.com/download/i/mark_dl/u/4007112961/4530599100... ·...

BORDLEY TOWNSHIP PROJECT

Interim Report 1 2009

A Feasibility Study

2

A Feasibility Study

Contents

Geology of Bordley Township Alison Armstrong 4 Introduction Janis Heward 5 Research Ann Thake 6 Discovery Walks Janis Heward 7 Walk Over Surveys Helen McKinlay 15 Field Surveys Pauline Dodsworth 17 Geophysical Survey at Bordley Hall Ann Wilkinson 19 Water Management Lynne Primmer & Hugh Nicholas 22 Vernacular Buildings Alison Armstrong 25 Wall Recording Alison Armstrong 26 Cracoe and Rylstone School Janis Heward 28 Summary Janis Heward 29 Sources Consulted 30 Acknowledgements 30 Appendix A 31 Appendix B 34

Photographs

Front cover From top

1. Orthostats in wall – Mastiles Lane 2. Capped shaft - north of Mastiles Lane

3. Roman Quern Stone 4. Cow Gill Close

5. Bordley Hall (Farm) – Nether Bordley 6. Hennery/Piggery - Over Bordley

7. Re-used stone – Lainger 8. Wall

Back cover:

9. Weets Cross

Photographs by:

1. P. Dodsworth 2. P. Claughton.

3 – 6 & 8 J. M. Heward 7. G. Prince 9. A. Thake

3

Illustrations

Plate 1. Discovery Walk 1 7



Plate 4. Bordley Stone Circle 11





Plate 9. Remains of Lead Industry 14

Plate 10. Banking 17

Plate 11. Triangulation 18

Plate 12. Water Management 24

Plate 13. Bordley Township Boundary 31

Plate 14. Know Farm Field Barn 38

Figures:

Figure 1. Hachuring 15

Figure 2. Location of geophysical survey 19

Figure 3. Greyscale Plot Field B 20

Figure 4. Greyscale Plot Field C 20

Figure 5. greyscale Gradiometer Field C 21

Figure 6. Summary of Magnetic Anomalies 21

Figure 7. Recording Plans 32

Figure 8. Wall Recording Sheet 33

Figure 9. Know Bank Barn 36

Table:

Table 1. Selected Features 29

4

Geology of Bordley Township

Bordley (or Bordeley) township and its geology and scenery.

The township lies between heights of about 250 metres OD at the south end and over 530 metres in the north. The township boundary mostly follows the watershed of Bordley Beck and its tributaries. The geology is of Carboniferous age rocks. The township however is crossed by the W-E trending North Craven Fault (NCF) and Middle Craven Fault (MCF). These major tectonic fractures form the southern edge of the Askrigg block, a stable area of crustal plate beneath the Pennines. Millions of years of erosion has exposed the old rocks seen today. The NCF runs almost through Bordley hamlet and the MCF through Bordley Hall to the south. North of the Craven faults and overlying the Askrigg block are uplands underlain by flat-bedded limestones of the Great Scar Limestone Group. Above this the rocky scars of the Wensleydale Group (prominent limestones with siltstones and sandstones and some ironstone) form the highest pastures e.g. at High Mark. There are shake holes, caves and disused shafts and bell pits from the post-medieval lead mining area centred to the east, on adjacent Kilnsey Moor. The land was probably good pasture like adjoining Great Close of Malham on the west and grazed since prehistoric times. Bordley Green was perhaps a medieval expansion into the older common pastures. Aerial photos show funnels of track ways out of the enclosed fields, created by driving livestock. Mastiles Lane across the pastures was a major medieval road between Kilnsey and Settle. The pastures are now divided by straight Enclosure walls, probably of 19th c date. Between the NCF and MCF is an area underlain by fault-broken limestones, sandstones and shales of the Wensleydale Group of rock. These are exposed around Bordley settlement and south along the beck to Bordley Hall. There are ironstones above the Hawes limestone, so it is possible that there was medieval/monastic iron-working here. Above the Bordley Beck, to the east, are Upper Carboniferous sandstones of the Millstone Grit rock series forming more acid grasslands of Bark and Gill Field. South of the MCF is mostly an area of Millstone Grit sandstones on shales. Here Park House and Lainger adjoin Hetton Common and Threshfield Moor, with its coal pits, quarries and place-name evidence of back-stone-making. There were coal pits and a lime kiln near Lainger in 1852. There are still some small wood lands here and place names like Hagg Laithe indicate former coppice woodland and marginal land use somewhat different from that of the north township. Park House Close and Moor Close to the west and Intake on the east suggest large pastures taken out of former moor land and which now form the township boundary. Land usage notes; The township is part of an area with a dense distribution of Bronze Age Sites (North Yorkshire Atlas). Fountains Abbey acquired all of Bordley (Raistrick) and it was one of their granges. Earthworks are abundant and need investigating; there are for example rectangular pillow mounds of post-medieval rabbit warrens in the township. Not far away, in Gordale Beck and Malham Tarn are inliers of older, Pre-Carboniferous rocks, but it is not known if these were used for building. The National Trust owns the nearby Malham Tarn estate and some of the finest English upland scenery with its associated diversity of plants (see Abbot; Plant Atlas of Mid-West Yorkshire) and insects. The field pattern in Bordley includes clusters of small irregular fields forming assarts around the settlements of Bordley/Bordley Green; Lainger; Park House. These buildings need investigating to discover their earlier phases. Larger circular pastures extend beyond these e.g. Moor Close, Park House Close, Heber, Intake, Bark, Gill Field, which suggest stock-rearing, with the highest moor remaining unenclosed until the 19th century.

5

Background to the Project

The Lancasters – John and Judith – tenants of Bordley Hall, were recently approached to allow access to Bracken Pot Wood and Bracken Pot Gill (NGR: 935 645) where the remains of potash kilns were expected to be located. Following the initial visit the Lancasters expressed a great interest in the history of the land they farm and a quest for more knowledge of the earthworks which lie in the fields close to the Hall. Little research has been conducted in the area due to the previous tenant (John Lancaster‟s father) who discouraged visitors and walkers alike. The Lancasters suggested that the author may be interested in exploring the historical and archaeological evidence on the land which they farm. The landscape in the area known as Bordley is vast and almost every corner has a story to tell as is evident when viewing the features to be seen on Google Earth images. The area surrounding Bordley Hall consists of a huge expanse of moor land and pasture showing visible signs of a massive drainage system which runs via streams, leats and culverts for several kilometres through fields and across moor land into the valley below where two streams converge at NGR SD 943 636. Four wells emerge at Bordley NGR SD 948 649, eight springs from the surrounding area and four streams issue from both sides of the valley suggesting a huge water management programme. The area is so vast that further work might be expanded to look at the wider landscape picture. During initial field walking in the area two potential water-powered mill sites have been located at NGR SD 937 635 and NGR SD 944 637. Bordley Hall itself has in filled mullioned windows in the west gable and is around 200 years old. There are two listed barns and a servant quarters on the property. Lainger House NGR SD 951 626 which stands by the pack-horse bridge and Bordley boundary stone on the now unmade track which leads to Bordley Hall has a history reaching back hundreds of years. It is suggested that Lainger House farm was a sheep farm owned and run by monks of Fountains Abbey (Times Past 2004: 2). The three fields adjacent to Bordley Hall itself (A, B and C in Appendix B p: 9) have been examined in detail. Field C has been further identified as Field 73 – Chapel Garth (1845 Tithe Award).

6

Research - The Historical Background

The Bordley Township Project research team are trying to build up a picture of how the land has been used and who has lived in it over the centuries using documents and maps. The documents go back to the Doomsday Book 1086 in which “Borelaie in the land of Roger of Poitou” is recorded. Borelaie probably means woodland clearing where the boards were. Bordley having been a grange, or possibly one of twin granges, of Fountains Abbey, there are a number of records in the Fountains Abbey Lease Book and the Fountains Abbey Chartularies and Memorials which help to build up the picture. There are also interesting entries in the Early Yorkshire Charters. The Proctor family owned Bordley Hall and some of the land in the township after the dissolution; their wills have proved very helpful as have the wills of other tenants in the township. Sadly the deeds to Bordley Hall were lost in a fire but the remaining family papers have been given to the National Archives at Northallerton and the papers relating to Bordley are being transcribed for further clues. Dr. Arthur Raistrick left a number of papers of which some are held at the Yorkshire Archaeological Society Library; those relating to Bordley are also being transcribed. There are a number of other papers relating to Bordley in other collections noted in the National Archives; some have been seen in the National Archives at Kew but there are many more and they will be studied in the future. The census data has been recorded and in the future the parish records will be checked to see if they can help with the numbers of people living within the township and the possible work they did. The local people involved in the study have given invaluable help in sharing their local knowledge and sharing the work they have already done with their references. Some work has been done on oral and written histories from older members of the community and it is hoped more will be done on those lines. The maps have been useful in showing the buildings, tracks and other features recorded back to John Speed‟s map of 1610, The Tithe Award, all the Ordnance Survey Maps from 1845, aerial photographs, kindly given by The Yorkshire Dales National Parks and Google earth. John Cruse, an expert on querns, has looked at 4 querns found on one of the farms (see cover page). One area of particular interest has been the site of a chapel at Bordley and its position is being actively investigated; so far it has been found to be mentioned on two documents from the Lambeth Palace Archives, the will of Geoffrey Proctor and Parish records, but there are several other avenues which have yet to be pursued. The Research team has had invaluable help from a lot of people to whom I say thank you and hope they continue to be enthusiastic as more documents are sorted out and transcribed and other records pursued.

7

Discovery Walks

1. Lainger to Bark Laithe

Discovery walks have produced a wealth of interesting features to be recorded and followed up with research. Starting at Lainger the group began by keeping to the bridleway from Lainger to Bordley Hall looking at a variety of wall construction as they went. Scattered stone from a nearby quarry bore evidence of a possible medieval industry - the stone had been cut, producing a ragged/wavy edge. A stone box drain was discovered close to the first cattle grid in Field P. Here also banking at the base of the wall which continued into Field A1 was evident. The banking provided a high side facing the moor and a low side inside the field. This particular wall separated the moor from enclosed pasture – intake walls. Field A1 – A4 are named Bordley Intake. Bark Laithe which lies further to the north than the track down to Bordley Hall suggests that it had a thatched roof by an earlier steeper pitched roof line. At the rear of the laithe flows a high waterfall too far from the building to suggest a mill. The group retraced their steps back to the turn off to Bordley Hall (Farm) and keeping to the footpath we returned to Lainger via the obscured footpath through very high bracken and close to Bordley Beck.

Plate 1. Discovery Walk 1

Bark Laithe

Quarried Stone – Medieval

Lainger Walls

8

2. Quarry to Know Bank

The afternoon trek started again at the quarry above Lainger. Three group members took the left (west) footpath/track, at the cross roads, down beside Lainger Beck to Know Bank. The beck wove a zigzag path in and out of fields. Peering over high bracken and wild rhubarb leaves they saw jumbled earthworks close to the beck at one point and into Field A10 and out A11. Across the footpath at the boundary wall is an exceedingly large, long orthostat built into the wall. We continued over the ladder stile and along the footpath in a northerly direction by Bordley Beck for a short distance before retracing our steps and our attention moved across the beck to Hagg Laithe and more large orthostats in Field 13. Approaching the ladder stile now from the opposite direction an odd gateway was noted. Neither of the 2 walls was actually in the correct position for the gate posts, in fact they were approx. 17 cm away. Between each gate post and the wall was a pile of stones. The reused easterly gatepost was an interesting piece of work!

3. Lainger Beck, Waste Inn, Boss Moor

Starting on this occasion at Lainger bridge, a short walk in an easterly direction brings the walker to a small waterfall built from a very large, shallow, broken trough. Above this point Lainger Beck winds in large loops until the weir when it leaves a steep sided gorge. The course of the beck has been changed many times in the past (Nelson, pers. comm. 2008.) By the first meander, and over the wall is Mill Field. The beck runs very close to the wall here and a patched up section of the wall resembles a half circle – suggesting a mill wheel may have stood

Plate 2. Discovery Walk 2. Wall end & re-used gateposts

Field R – well in corner

Hagg Laithe

9

in this position. The beck meanders wildly here and there are several earthworks. It has been suggested that the earthworks may have contributed to a mill pond (Nelson, pers.comm. 2009). A glance down the valley at this stage gives a good view of the water management channels in the field to the south of Lainger Beck. Looking back from a higher point, a row of coal pits could be seen –walling now built over the pits. These coal pits are on the edge of the Threshfield Coal Field. The coal was poor and had to be washed prior to use. The remains of a building are on the boundary of Bordley, Threshfield and Hetton. Here the pile of stones believed to be the Waste Inn - once a busy way-side inn giving refreshment and accommodation to the drovers whose cattle had been driven from as far away as Scotland to the Cattle Fairs which were held regularly on Boss Moor. A turnip store stands in the field adjacent to the inn – a simple structure built into the hillside with stone door jambs and lintel. Inside it is a stone lined double chamber separated by a standing stone. Beyond the inn the double walled drove road continues high up onto the moor. Turn left (north) here and it takes the walker to the funnelled fields and cattle underpasses of Heights and Malham Moor Lane. Turn right (south) and the road crosses a beck lined with huge banks which line a track for some distance. A short distance from the track (east) is an old boundary stone called „Ragged Stone‟, actually it is „ragged‟. Back then and across the moor. Earthworks, of possible animal pens lie on either side of the track across the moor (Google Earth Images).

10


Clockwise from top left Waterfall on Lainger Beck Drove Road Turnip store at Waste Inn Interior turnip store Banked track–Boss Moor Ragged Stone Double stream hole Coal pit Meandering beck Mill Field

11

4. Bordley Stone Circle – Lantern Holes.

The walk started this time from the cattle grid on Malham Moor Lane and first stop was the Bordley Stone Circle, an intriguing place – three of four standing stones remain on a low platform below a hillside, Hammond Close, where coaxial walls run up the hillside between hut circles of a prehistoric settlement. Leaving the circle behind the walkers crossed the road and walked up the hillside keeping to the

wall of the field known as Lantern Holes. Over the wall to the east, close to the road, is a feature referred to as a „tank‟ on some OS maps. It is a stone edged hollow which appears to have a runoff channel which leads to a second hollow in Lantern Holes field. Reaching the summit of the steep hill the views were magnificent. Lunch was eaten sitting in one of the several enclosures. The walk continued along the summit wall where several other settlement features were discovered. At the base of the escarpment is a fine example of a hut circle and enclosure. These are tucked into the lower bank of the hillside. Several orthostats were investigated

before moving through the lower terrain of the field, where more circular enclosures were located. Not content with four hours of exploring the group decided to follow a line of banking which had been spotted earlier in the day from the summit of Lantern Holes. The banking led all the way to the summit of the limestone escarpment where some limestone blocks were piled high simulating walling. Whether this is ancient or modern we have no way of telling, however, we do know that there are more enclosures both circular and rectangular between at least four rows of banking which runs up to the summit and beyond. A follow up to this walk was made in March 2009 when a small group explored to the northeast of the summit. Walls, which ran close to the limestone escarpment were followed closely. Some unusual features, for example several courses of walling, continued over the top of a huge orthostat approximately 2 metres tall. Here four walls form three enclosures which funnel down to a short stretch of water (Plate 5 p:12). Livestock underpasses can be viewed along Malham Moor Lane. These allowed access to water for livestock on Malham Moor.

Plate 4. Bordley Stone Circle

12

The above left photograph shows a now blocked underpass which enabled livestock to walk under the drove road to access water in the distance. Four further underpasses, which ran beneath Malham Moor Lane linking another funnelling system seen earlier on the walk, were located.

5. North of Mastiles Lane

The terrain and vegetation north of Mastiles Lane takes on a dramatic form – the remains of the lead industry of the late post-medieval era and possibly earlier. However, littered between the shallow shaft veins and craggy limestone ridges nestle the earthwork remains of earlier settlements. Tattersal Pasture is reached from Mastiles Gate – a settlement consisting of a long house type dwelling built into the wall which appears to form a boundary. Low, exposed building walls form this rectangular long house which lies close to an early farming system. To the north a jumble of stone exposed earthworks form the occasional circular enclosure. In the far north of the settlement a large rectangular enclosure dominates the settlement.

Underpass

& Funnel fields



Settlement evidence in Lantern Holes.

Orthostat back & front

Drove Road funnels down to a water source in the distance

1909 6” map annotated by

Dr. A. Raistrick

13

Leaving this settlement behind via a second boundary wall, remains of a lead mining industry came into view – mounds of debris from shallow shafts, dressing floors and lines of shallow open-workings strike across the limestone landscape. At this point three boundary walls meet – Kilnsey, Bordley and Hawkswick. Large orthostats suggesting ancient walls are set at intervals into the Bordley boundary wall. Here an acute turn to the west and a steep hill takes the walker above the initial workings to a higher level. Looking back - flowers: buttercups, spend thrift and clover hug the toxic soils of the old industry.

Onwards to the cairn, stone-capped shaft and, close by, and un-fenced, stone-lined shaft. Magnificent views were enjoyed from this vantage point as far down in the south to Rough Haw and Sharp Haw. Rows of shallow-shaft veins and dressing floors, vast areas of hillsides devoid of soil and vegetation, lie exposed on the hillsides along with earthwork evidence of ancient settlements nestling amongst the limestone pavements and crags. Approaching the crest of the hill, above Cote Gill in township of Hawkswick, a second settlement mainly hugging the limestone ridge with one large semi-circular enclosure straddling the wall between the two boundaries, comes into view. No water problems here! A second limestone ridge runs across the field exposing five springs.

Plate 8. Discovery

walk 5

Cairn, stone-capped

shaft &

stone-lined shaft

Plate 7. Discovery Walk 5. Tattersal Pasture north of

Mastiles Lane

Rectangular Enclosure

Dwelling…. Long-house?

Circular enclosure

14

Plate 9. Remains of the Lead Industry

Examples of shallow shaft vein workings

Below

Areas of dressing floors

North of Mastiles Lane

15

Walk Over Surveys

The object of a sketch survey is to locate features in a landscape and record them for future investigation. The survey should always follow a walk-over of the area, locating and observing any features and noting their relationship to each other and the wider landscape. Notes of these observations can be kept if the sketch plan cannot be made at the same time. There are obvious limitations to the size of the area where this form of recording can be usefully carried out; surveyors need to be able to see the necessary relationships without moving the viewpoint more than can be avoided if depicted size and distance are to be meaningful. The sketch plan, by definition, is not the result of a measured survey but part of the process of reconnaissance “one of the most important processes of field survey” (Bowden.1999. p: 44). Although not measured or drawn to scale, the planned features need to be drawn so that they can be recognised by a later visitor to the site. As with any drawing in which the three dimensional reality is depicted in two dimensions, forms and spatial relationships must be clearly represented; the surveyor needs to be able to recognise and depict them. There are recognised conventions which can be used or the surveyors may devise their own. Where conventions are not self-explanatory a key should be used.

Some information can be usefully written on the plan but should not obscure the drawn topographical plan. A numerical or alphabetical key can be used when written notes accompany a plan. The surveyor will need a blank map outlining the area to be drawn. Blank outlines can be obtained from such sources as OS maps, aerial photographs, Google Earth etc. Where the whole area can be seen from a single view point without much perspective distortion of the distance, surveyors can make their own outline map. This is only possible for small and clearly defined areas such as single small fields with visible boundaries. Visible objects such as field boundaries and junctions, corners, gates, single trees, buildings, water courses all make useful reference points for establishing the position and form of features from the view point. Once these are noted, further detail can be added from closer view points. Heights can be recorded where they are relevant.

Figure: 1. Hachuring

This convention

presents a very good

picture of surface relief.

The surveyor can

change the style of the

hachures – length,

space and intensity.

(Bettess. 1992. p: 52)

Styles of hachuring

Source: Bowden. 1999. p: 169 Sketch by H. McKinlay 2009

16

The final plan should give: Location details Field or topographical feature names OS grid references, GPS locations North direction Name of the surveyor Date It should be noted on that the plan is a sketch survey and not to scale.

17

Field Surveying.

Earlier sketch surveys will have indicated the areas requiring more detailed plane table surveying and the plans which will then be drawn up will indicate how the features relate to one another, perhaps even establish some chronological order to their construction. All slopes at either side of an earthwork, together with any platforms or other flat areas, must be recorded very carefully in addition to any large surface stones which should be drawn in individually. Slopes (even a natural one) are indicated by using hachures; these are the tadpole- like strokes used on plans which are drawn following the direction of the slope (from the top to the bottom) and which help to make the plan three dimensional. For example, if the slope is short but steep, the hachures will be shorter and much closer together than if the slope was more gradual and continued down to the natural incline; in that case they would be drawn further apart and would continue for a greater distance finishing with the line being broken when it reached the natural slope. When used correctly hachures can indicate angles and if, for instance, a bank abutted on to another one, it is possible to show how the junction had been achieved. This is, of course, extremely helpful in establishing the probable chronology of the earthworks. There are various tasks which must be decided upon before drawing can commence, for instance:

1 The scale to be used. At a scale of 1:200 it is possible to produce a plan which will show considerable detail when finalised. If the survey is to include a larger area, for instance an entire field, the scale would have to be at least 1:500, an entire landscape covering a much larger area would require drawing with a scale of 1:1000 or even more.

2 Control. It is vital to define an accurate framework from carefully measured points which are unlikely to change in the foreseeable future.

After a baseline has been positioned centrally through the earthworks, it is usual to work in 20m squares within which it is necessary to mark out with canes or flags what is considered to be the top and bottom of the feature. The canes or flags are spaced at intervals along the entire length of the feature. The plan can then be drawn by either:

a) Triangulation, i.e. taking two readings several metres apart along the baseline to each of the canes in turn. These readings are recorded by using a drawing compass to mark each measurement on the plan. Where the two arcs from each reading cross is the exact position of the cane in relation to the baseline (Plate 11) or

b) Offsets. If the cane is within a few metres of the baseline, a tape can be held on the cane and swung it like a pendulum over the baseline to record the nearest, lowest measurement on the plan (Plate 11).

Using either method errors may arise due to strong winds, changes in height of vegetation or other obstructions which may prevent the tape from lying flat between the baseline and the point to be recorded. For those reasons great care is required in observing the differences in slope etc. to ensure the measurements are as accurate as it is possible to make them. Observation is always personally biased but, importantly, it must be consistent and the team recording the feature have to agree on any disputed areas. The checking process should also include, for further accuracy, some random measurements taken between the features.

Plate: 10. Banking - surrounding an enclosure

18

When the recording is complete the plan should be compared with the feature, checking that hachures are correctly positioned and an accurate plan has produced.

Minimum items required for plane table surveying include: 1 Tapes : 2 x 30m long for establishing the 20m grids used to record the features and the

distances from baseline to cane plus 1 x 100m for the baseline. 2 Ranging Poles, one of which needs a sight slot – at least 3 being needed in order to be

able to „eye-in‟ a straight line should the original baseline require extending. Additionally poles are used to show the scale of a feature whenever a photograph is taken.

3 GPS – to tie in the plan to the Ordnance Survey National Grid. 4 Plastic pegs, flags, canes and metal hooks for holding tapes, positioning control points

and marking the ends of the baseline in addition to making the changes in the feature requiring recording.

5 Prepared drawing board with tripod. The drawing board requires covering with graph paper and an acetate overlay on which the measurements are recorded.

6 H6 or H7 pencil. When recording at 1:200 the width of a soft lead pencil can cover too large an area for accuracy in addition to being more likely to smudge if the drawing becomes damp.

7 Drawing Compasses – 2 can make the recording of the measurements much quicker if the two triangulation readings vary greatly in length from the baseline. Using the scale drawn at the foot of the plan, the pointed end of the compass is placed on the mark denoting each length measurement with the pencil end being placed on 0, this is because if the point was placed on 0 for every reading the acetate would undoubtedly be pierced and any dampness would seep down onto the graph paper.

8 Notebook for recording the measurements. A waterproof notebook is useful. 9 Scale ruler – to draw the actual scale on the plan for use when recording the triangulation

measurements in addition to it being used when recording offsets. 10 Eraser – to keep the plan clean and remove the arcs created by the compass. 11 Directional Compass.

Plate: 11. Triangulation Source: J. Heward & P.

Dodsworth

Canes in place

Completed plan

Data plotted on drawing board

19

Geophysical survey at Bordley Hall Geophysical survey was undertaken at Bordley Hall in order to clarify the nature of earthworks and other features observed in the fields lying to the west of the farm buildings. These fields are identified as Fields A to C in Figure 2 below.

Methods The geophysical survey work was undertaken over the areas indicated in Figure 2 and employed two techniques, earth resistance and magnetic survey using a fluxgate gradiometer. The resistance survey was carried out using a Geoscan RM15 twin probe array with 0.5m and 1.0m probe spacings, data was collected in zigzag mode over 20m x 20m survey grids with 1.0m sampling and traverse intervals. The gradiometer survey was carried out using a Geoscan FM256 fluxgate gradiometer similarly over 20m x 20m survey grids in parallel mode with 0.125m and 0.5m sampling and traverse intervals respectively. In each case the data was downloaded and subsequently processed using Geoplot version 3.0 software supplied by Geoscan. Processed greyscale plots were then imported into ArcGIS version 9.2 (ESRI) software package and superimposed over a base Ordnance Survey map encompassing Bordley Hall and adjacent fields.

© Crown Copyright/database right 2009.

An Ordnance Survey/EDINA supplied service

FIELD B

FIELD C

FIELD A

BORDLEY HALL, NORTH YORKSHIRE

Bordley Hall

Figure 2: Location plan of survey areas over base OS map (Scale of 1:1250)

20

Results The more indicative earth resistance plots are shown in Figures 3 and 4. In general no distinct features which could particularly be associated with buried archaeology were noted. What emerged are large, amorphous areas of low and high resistance data which probably reflect trends in the underlying geology. The areas designated as R1 to R3 in Figures 3 and 4 underlie the earthworks noted in these fields suggesting that these features are possibly of natural origin.

The results of the gradiometer survey carried out in Field C are presented in Figures 5 and 6. There are several discrete magnetic responses (denoted as M1 to M21 in Figure 6) scattered across the expanse of the survey area. There appears to be no order to the scatter and this may simply represent the random distribution of ferrous material introduced into the topsoil of the field over time. It is also possible that some of these responses may have an archaeological origin such as the presence of small pits or hearths. Excavation of some of these magnetic anomalies may clarify the nature of their response.





-17.49 ohm

17.75 ohm

FIELD B

FIELD C

FIELD A



-13.57 ohm

14.83 ohm

FIELD B

FIELD C

Figure 3: Processed greyscale plot of the 1.0m probe separation data for Field B

Figure 4: Processed greyscale plot of the 1.0m probe separation data for Field C

R1

21



2.19nT

-2.10 nT

FIELD C

FIELD B

FIELD C

FIELD B



M1

M2

M3

M4

M5M6

M7

M17

M18

M10M8

M9M10

M11

M12

M14M13

M16

M15

M20 M21

M19

Figure 5: Processed greyscale plot of the

gradiometer survey in Field C Figure 6: Summary of magnetic anomalies

22

Water Management

Irrigation in England was supplemented by natural rainfall to improve the grassland, either by natural seasonal flooding (alluvial silts) or artificially by sluices and leats. On suitable slopes leats were cut along contours, to direct the water from its source and control the flow downhill. This process probably evolved over a long period, but in the early 17th century there is documentary evidence of large-scale irrigation. Most evidence comes from S & W England. The aim of flooding meadows was to promote an earlier growth of grass: a thin sheet of continually flowing water raises the ground temperature and deposits nutrients. This ensures earlier grass for sheep in spring. Later in the summer following more flooding, hay is cropped. There are two main types of artificial irrigation: 1. Catchwork Meadows – mainly on hill slopes. A series of water channels („carriers‟ or „gutters‟) are cut along the contours of a hill. Care is taken to establish precise levels along the gutters. Also, the downhill side of a gutter is invariably embanked to ensure an even flow of water along its full length. A bank may be breached at intervals to allow flooding of particular areas. The water supply comes from springs. A spring on the south side of the hill was preferred as it was warmer. If the supply was insufficient or of an unsuitable quality, leats might be cut to another source some way from the meadow. Water could be further improved by mixing with manure from the farm‟s stockyard. Catchworks were essentially for the benefit of sheep but were also for hay. From the stockyard or source, water was channelled onto upper parts of a meadow where it was directed through a sluice and along a main gutter. The gutter was either tapered to a point or had a stop (e.g. turf) to ensure it filled with water and overflowed, to spill a thin film over meadow. Further gutters were cut down the hillside to fill and overflow in turn, thus controlling the amount of water over the whole meadow. The surplus water was directed to a stream at the bottom of the slope. In meadows which covered several fields, sluices and culverts through field boundaries were constructed, enabling the farmer to direct water to specific areas. 2. The Bedwork System (Expensive to construct and maintain) A series of earthen ridges („carriers‟, „carriages‟ or „panes‟) of varying length was arranged in either parallel or herring-bone blocks, with a narrow central channel to carry their water (which was rarely visible). Between ridges, side drains led to a wider main drain which led back to the beck/river. There might also be hatches, sluices and aqueducts to direct and control the water.

Other research discusses these two systems and suggests that the catchwork system was “suitable for areas where there were abundant springs and/or hilly terrain with steep, narrow valleys. Bedwork systems in contrast were suited to more muted terrain, and in particular to wide alluvial valleys.” (Cook, et al. ). Catchwork would therefore seem to be the most likely system if any to be used at Bordley. The same document mentions the destruction of „water meadows‟ at Fountains Abbey by a flood in 1456-7, as well as possible evidence of meadow irrigation at Rievaulx Abbey in the 16th century; neither Fountains nor Rievaulx, however, although in North Yorkshire, have topography similar to that at Bordley. More interestingly, Cook et al also state that “ At Bolton Priory in Yorkshire in 1311 payments were made for „diverting the water of the Aire in the field of Kildwick‟, (Cook, et al ) The topography at Kildwick is more similar to that at Bordley but is much more low-lying with less hilly terrain. Clearly, however, the principles of water management were known in Yorkshire in the mediaeval period.

23

N.B. Evidence for the processes described in Brown‟s paper has come mainly from the south and west of England. As yet, the only evidence we have found for water management at Bordley consists of several examples of stone/turf-lined drainage channels, clearly intended to take the water away from the fields into a main watercourse. Research will continue…

24

Plate: 12. Water Management

Field P – (Appendix A : 30)

South of Lainger Beck

Stone-lined water channels, well and leat

25

Vernacular Buildings

HOUSES AND BARNS OF BORDLEY Vernacular buildings provide an enormous resource for the study of social and economic change in the landscape. Styles and building plans change over time and buildings provide some of the main historical evidence for farming changes, craftsmen in stone or timber, availability of materials, people‟s aspirations for living conditions and so on. In Bordley the present buildings are part of a settlement and field pattern developed during 400 years of monastic ownership by Fountains Abbey (1159-1539). Fountains was the principle Cistercian abbey in England, whose main income was based on wool from its flocks of sheep and wool export to the continent. The twin granges of Over Bordley and Nether Bordley were present by 1198. In later monastic times five farmsteads that survive today are named in a rental of 1498. The aim was to examine Bordley Hall and other farmhouses, barns and field barns to see what they tell us of post monastic changes and if there is evidence of medieval buildings, such as any large plinths and, particularly, any re-used timbers or stonework. Later medieval buildings, after the mid 14thC when the farms were tenanted, are likely to have been timber-framed (box-framed or cruck-built). Earthworks at Kilnsey Grange also suggest timber-framing although a fragment of the late medieval gatehouse at Kilnsey Grange is a rare survival of a standing monastic stone building. Date stones recorded so far in Bordley are for post-monastic buildings and range from 1635 to 1888. They tell of a period of much rebuilding in the 17thC by the new freeholders, who had replaced the monastic tenants, and who managed to buy their farms after 1540 from the post-dissolution gentry landowners. Farming was still the main occupation but was often combined with other income such as coal mining (in the 17thC at Lainger) or textiles. There is building evidence of extensive 18thC Georgian improvements to houses and the building of new barns as well as improving the old. Old stone was re-cycled and not wasted. An unusually late period of farming prosperity seems to have occurred in the 1880s, after the agricultural depression, perhaps based on fresh dairy produce for the nearby towns, where the railways had arrived in Skipton (1840s) and Settle and by 1902 to Threshfield. To assess what might be of interest, “discovery walks” were undertaken to view the houses and barns. We looked at Bordley Hall (formerly Nether Bordley), Bordley or Bordley town (former Over Bordley), Cow Gill Cote, Lainger House and Know Bank, with brief visits to Park House and Bleak Bank and some distant field barns. After these initial looks it is planned to produce detailed surveys of selected buildings, with owners‟ permissions. A vernacular buildings training day on how to record buildings has already been given. Detailed surveys allow a full understanding and interpretation of a building but most buildings could only be observed from the exterior and most from public footpaths, as we had no access permission. Two Listed Buildings (Lainger and Park House) have accounts of the interior and Lainger was recorded by the YVBSG in the 1970s but requires re-interpretation and updated recording in the light of current knowledge. There is still work to do. Not all buildings have yet been looked at. Only two field barns have had full recording but one is unfinished. Some re-used timber of pre 1600 date has been noted in other buildings. Further work will produce a bigger picture.

26

The Walls and Enclosures of Bordley

1 Introduction

The aim of looking at the dry-stone field walls in Bordley township is to use both field work and documentary evidence to identify the different types of walling, establish which are oldest and assess how much the wall styles reflect the process of creating field boundaries over time, particularly during ownership by Fountains Abbey from 1159 to the Dissolution in 1539. Boundaries were needed to enclose fields, route-ways and to establish ownership, such as around farms or townships. Ditches, hedge banks and stone walls remain in the Bordley landscape from these processes. An illustrated sheet of the wall types observed has been produced by this author (Figure 8) and historic walling experts have visited. Many Bordley walls date from the late 18th/19thC with some replacing older hedge banks. Of particular interest however area the number of older, wide walls built with a base of paired (or single) orthostats (i.e. stones set up on end) and large clearance boulders and sometimes incorporating huge erratic stones. Orthostat walling dates from before 1600 and is widespread in the Pennines. In the 1940s Arthur Raistrick recognised such walling as both “ancient” and “16th century”. The orthostat style has long usage and even the extensive grid-like remains of prehistoric field walling, which is independent of the present fields, is similarly built with a wide 1.30m base of orthostats. There have been few studies of standing orthostat walls. Tom Lord has shown that at Low Winskill near Langcliffe this type of walling dates from occupation by Sawley Abbey in 1250. It is also found from Malham to Swaledale and many other places. The 14thc gentry vaccaries in the Forest of Trawden, such as at Wycoller, are famous for their orthostat walls. H. Beaumont‟s study of Hebden shows that orthostat walling surrounds four large “primary enclosures”, now sub-divided into fields. Although not dated exactly the walls are almost certainly medieval and may predate the planned landscape of Hebden‟s crofts around the green. At Bordley the distribution of such walling is being plotted (Plate 13). The results show concentrations in the small closes around the farms named in monastic times, such as at Nether Bordley and Over Bordley (present by 1198) Lainger (by 1416); Cow Gill Cote and Cow Gill House (1457); Know Bank (by 1496). New Houses and Rough Close are also mentioned. The Park (possibly now Park House) is mentioned in 1305, as is Bordley Intake.

2 Documentary evidence for field walls and boundaries. A browse through some of the published material (e.g. Fountains Abbey leases) and archive documents (e.g. Raistrick collection) give some clues to field boundaries and land use types in Bordley. For instance Doomsday Book of 1086 records carucates of land to be taxed in Bordley (the most westerly of Anglian “ley” – clearance - place names) so there would have been fields. Possibly the lynchet features around Lainger date from that early period. The main income of Fountains Abbey was exported wool from the fleeces of large flocks of wethers that grazed on the important limestone pastures of Bordley and Malham at the western limits of their estates; land which had reached its maximum by 1265. Significantly none of the surviving field names indicate old arable land. Monastic accounts indicate Bordley had a wood nearby; tenants were to make banks and ditches but walls were to be at their own expense. Bordley‟s township boundary with Malham is described and also the southern township boundary, between 1283 and the 16thC, where it adjoined the Norton‟s property of Threshfield, Rylstone and Hetton. This however was well south of the township boundary recorded on the First Edition Ordnance Survey in 1848. Township boundaries were largely established by 1300 (Faull & Moorhouse) but this appears not to be the case in Bordley. There were disputes from trespassing livestock and a major wall was built between Kilnsey, Threshfield and Bordley (Michelmore). In 1517 it was agreed to build a wall anew in stone within five years. There was an “ancient wall” on the west side of Arkelgarth (possibly Newhouse?)

27

By the early 17th C (Raistrick documents) the big pastures like Mastiles and Lambthorn Holes were stinted and probably walled in by then. Bordley Intake, the last common pasture, was enclosed by Parliamentary Act in 1848-52 with long, straight stone walls with projecting through stones.

3 Wall Discoveries The Middle Craven fault running W-E near Bordley Hall gives a strong contrast of acid grit stone scenery and sandstone walls to the south and pale limestone scars and walls to the north. Most of the area is covered by a thickness of glacial deposits yielding boulders and cobbles of weathered limestones and sandstones and large surface erratics for use as orthostats. Clearance boulders and cobbles feature in the older walls of the township boundary and in all the small field closes, but with shallow-quarried blocks and lumps typical of the 18/19thC field subdivisions or wall rebuilds. Wall features noted include stone gate stoops (19thC square grit stone ones and earlier limestone ones with the square hole for harr-hung gate), rabbit smoot holes (usually 18/19thC) and drain holes, sheep and cow creeps, cattle underpasses (L18/19thc), bields (sheep shelters), various gathering folds. Much of the township boundary noted so far includes a straight-sided wide-base (1.20 -2.00m) stone wall with orthostats and local clearance boulders. At the pasture of Lantern Holes the boundary makes a loop. The wall has been much rebuilt but retains some orthostats and a bank on the NW side as clues to age. The straight alignments may be influenced by underlying prehistoric co-axial walls. From Lantern Holes to Mastiles Lane the old wall follows the centre of a dry valley, but there are some wall heads with initials indicating 17th/18thc wall upkeep by the stint owners. Part of the west length of Mastiles Lane also forms the township boundary and here are huge orthostats at regular intervals, perhaps to highlight the township‟s area of post-dissolution road upkeep responsibility. The west boundary on Mastiles Pasture is undefined but marked by late 19thC stones carved with “B” and “M”. The curving boundary from Lantern Holes S. to Lainger Beck top is mostly a bank and ditch now topped by a quarried stone wall but no orthostats. To the south, Lainger Beck has no township boundary markers. Documents show the boundary went S from the Ragged stone (a huge limestone) in Bulgilsyke (Lainger Beck or Hamerton Hill Syke?), SW to Thakmyreslade (Ackmaslate), south to Hameldon (Hamerton Hill) and by the middle of the stream (Hamerton Hill Syke); SW to Indritmanpittes (coal pits on Boss Moor?), W to the foot of Newcommen Gill (Hetton Common Beck?), and W to Ulgilfoot (Raygill foot), NW to Ulgill (Raygill) and to the Height of Weets (Weets Top where a medieval cross base survives).

28

Cracoe & Rylstone C of E Primary School

How would it work – taking The Bordley Township Project into the local school? Community Archaeologist – Kevin Cale was a member of „Time Travellers‟, a group of people funded by NYCRO in Northallerton to provide short archaeology courses in schools in North Yorkshire. Following a discussion with Margaret Taylor, head teacher, of the school Kevin and Janis arranged a programme of six half days. These panned out like this: Session 1 Wall power point and base activity for 4 -7 yr olds Talk on archaeology + finds forms for 8 - 11 yr olds Session 2 Wall power point for 8 – 11 year olds Session 3 Excavation boxes for 8 – 11 yr olds Wall drawing exercise for 8 - 11yr olds Session 4 full day trip to University of Bradford Archaeology Department again 8 – 11 yr olds. This session was arranged by John McIllwaine. The above sessions were run by Kevin Cale and Janis Heward and assisted by Helen McKinlay, Isabella Ladigus, Agnes Farrer and Cynthia Rymer. The whole programme was very well received by the school. The children were very excited by our visits and took on board what had been taught and brought „finds‟ in and drawings for our second visit. The visit to University of Bradford‟s Archaeology Department consisted of a tour round the Department calling in on the following laboratories: metallurgy, animal bones, Northern Isles Unit and a skeleton exercise in the „Big Lab‟ was the highlight of the day. Kev Cale and Janis Heward have formulated a „Schools Plan‟ which will include several schools in the Grassington Schools Cluster including the Upper Wharfedale Secondary School. We hope that we can also include Malham Primary School as it is near to Bordley. This is only if we are successful in our HLF bid. If not then we still want to continue our links with Cracoe & Rylstone School.

29

Summary of Field Work

Field work has followed a specific plan. The author and members of the group were unfamiliar with the area within the township so discovery walks were organised. Field walks were followed by walk – over surveys followed. Fields A, B, and C at Bordley Hall have been further subjected to a field and geophysical survey. Field survey plans are not yet available. The walk-over surveys of fields at Bordley Hall and Lainger are almost complete and it is hoped that the same can start at Know Bank Farm and Park House in early in 2010.

A selection of features located during the first year of the project.

30

Sources Consulted

Bettess, F. 1992. Surveying for archaeologists. Durham: University of Durham. Bowden, M. 1999. Unravelling the landscape. Stroud: Tempus Publishing Ltd. Brown, G. 2005. Irrigation of water meadows in England. In J. Klapste (ed). Water management in medieval rural economy. Pamatky archaeologicke, Supplementum 17. 84 – 92. Czech Republic: Prague. Cook, H., K, Stearne & T. Williamson. The origins of water meadows in England Moorhouse, S. A. & M. Faull. (eds). 1981 „Water supply‟. In West Yorkshire: an Archaeological Survey to AD 1500 (3 vols, 1981), III). Michelmore, D. (ed). 1981. The Fountains Abbey Lease Book. Y AS Record Series, Vol CXL., Michelmore, D. (ed). The Fountains Abbey rental 1495-6. Privately printed. Nelson, C. 2009 pers. comm. Landowner and Farmer, Lainger House. 29/03/2009. Raistrick, Dr. A. 1967. Old Yorkshire Dales.

Acknowledgements

Members of BTP are indebted to and thank the following profusely for their time and knowledge; Landowners: Peter Chadwick and Chris Nelson for allowing BTP access to their land. Farmers: Kevin Huck, John Lancaster, John Stephenson, The Deanes and Garry of Park House. The Local History Group – Kathleen Carlisle, Margaret Lancaster, Cynthia Rymer, Lesley Walker for their huge input. Florence Carr for her huge input through her knowledge of the area. Chris Nelson was his knowledge of the area Lesley Walker for initially contacting the farmers. Alison Armstrong for her expertise in vernacular buildings, walls and geology. Mike Fyvie, for the loan of a digital projector and field survey training. Cynthia Rymer, for booking the Methodist School Room, providing the refreshments and helping out on the school visit to University of Bradford. Robert White and his team at Bainbridge for their time and help.

We, BTP, are very grateful to all farmers for allowing us to access their land.

Thanks also

to all the group members of BTP for helping to make the Project a success.

31

APPENDIX A

Plate: 13. Bordley

Township Boundary Source: OS map.

A. C. Armstrong & F. Carr.

32

Figure: 7.

Field Recording Plans

Geology Map. Source: A. C. Armstrong 2008

Recording Plan. Bordley Hall (Farm).

Source: J. M. Heward. 2008

Recording Plan. Lainger Farm

Source: J. M. Heward. 2009

33

Figure: 8. Bordley Walls. Source: A.C. Armstrong 2009

34

APPENDIX B BORDLEY BUILDINGS SURVEY Survey number……….

Building Name; High Laithe, (Know bank, Bordley (township), North Yorkshire /West Riding) NGR SD 944 627 Survey date: 6 July 2009 Recorders; Alison Armstrong, Bill Haigh, Janis Heward, Helen McKinley, Hugh Nicholas , Lynne Primmer, Glenys Prince, Ann Thake,

DETAILED DESCRIPTION 1. Building Type/Purpose Field barn. In agricultural use 2. Materials: Roof of sandstone flags in graded courses. Concrete replacement and sandstone ridge. Walling of local quarried Carboniferous sandstone rubble, roughly coursed. Dressed stonework of pecked gritstone. Interior roof truss timber of sawn, wany, local hardwood (possibly ash) but rafters of sawn oak. Shippon floor of small flagstones on end. 3. Exterior detail (see drawings) South elevation (see drawing); The central fodder gang door is wide with a large rough sandstone lintel and well-shaped grit stone composite jambs with no chamfer. The shippon door is narrow and has a chamfered edge and broached chamfer stops and may be re-used from a house. The quoins are all well cut and most about 11 inches deep and may be reused. There is a change in the colour and shaping of the upper quoins suggesting a possible raised roofline (as suggested also on the W gable) or perhaps a changed source of stonework, with some being re-used. All ventilation holes seem to be in filled except for one at the west end. East Elevation: This is the low side and features the shippon mucking-out hole and the foundation stones of the midden wall below it. The MOH is made from two sections of door jamb, one having another broach stop like the shippon door. The base of the wall is a rough plinth of quarried stone blocks on which the present wall has been built. This suggests earlier foundations rather than a plinth contemporaneous with the wall. On the lower left of the wall are some very large stone blocks in the wall which are not easily explained. Some suggest possible window positions or perhaps a water trough beside the wall. Inside the barn the floor has been removed at this point. North elevation: This has no openings but the change in quoin colour half way up is seen. There are also some very long stones near the quoins on the NE corner. An Ordnance Survey bench mark is cut on the NW corner marking a contour height. West elevation: This has the hay forking hole for the hay-mew but it has been widened by removing the jambs. There is a suggestion of a raised roofline from a steeper and lower one coinciding with the change in quoin colour. 4.Interior detail; In the shippon, the cow standings are still marked by an area of exposed, small, up-ended flags forming a cobbled floor. The stone edgings of the skellbuse have been replaced by concrete. A long stone in the floor marks the position of the last boskin (stall partition). This end area may have been used as a single boose (cow stall), or as a routeway to the foddergang. It is likely the other booses were two double ones, in the normal way, housing four cows. The long-horn

35

cows, popular well into the 19thC, would have been tethered during the winter. Stone corbels which once supported the hay baulks (hay loft) remain and corbels are often seen when ashwood is used. The shippon door opens typically into a wall recess. Further along is a lantern niche. The shippon is 9 feet deep, rather than the normal 12 feet. With the narrow door it may have been for the younger cows. There is one roof truss, probably of mid 18thC date. The truss is a morticed apex type with a tie beam and two pairs of raking struts. The tie beam is now encased by two planks, bolted on, as reinforcement (see drawing). It has carpenter‟s construction marks on the W face with Roman “I” and “II” chiselled marks to show left and right sides. The truss was prefabricated and made in a workshop, then dismantled and re-erected at the site, so marking joints was essential. Also still visible are the carpenters red-chalk marking-out lines. These are seen inside the principal rafters. The strut mortices are cut between the two lines. The purlins are, unusually, not trenched but notched to fit over the principal rafters suggesting some re-building. The roof shows other signs or modification with the purlins raised up in the wall at the E end, to make them more level. Similarly the tie beam has packing stones under it as if raised. The W wall may represent part of an older building on the site (see sketch). There is a clear ledge where an older wall has been reduced in height and then rebuilt up. The rebuilt wall appears to have the shadow of a steeper roofline, probably for a thatched building that had been raised in the 18thC. The barn was full of hay but on an earlier visit the base of this wall was seen as a plinth forming a second ledge. This wall may represent part of the thatched building. The hay forking hole has been widened but has a lintel of reused timber with a carpenters construction mark “III” 5.Plan Form (see plan) Two door field barn (with shippon for 4 or 5 cows and hay storage in mew and baulks) DATING and INTERPRETATION 6.Identifying the oldest part of the building and date Possibly the W wall is part of a thatched building, possible cruck built. 7.Major extensions or alterations In the 18thC a stone roof was added with the roof truss. The First Edition OS map seems to indicate a rather larger building with irregular outline; perhaps this included the midden. The building all dates from post–medieval times. Know Bank is known to have been separated from Lainger before 1496 when Bordley belonged to Fountains Abbey. By1500 the farms were run by Abbey tenants and the numbers of sheep kept for their wool on these outlying grange farms were much run-down (Michelmore). Whilst many of the fields were created in monastic times, the buildings have been much rebuilt in stone from the 17thC. By the 17thC cow-keeping and pastoral farming on enclosed pastures with hay meadow closes, supplemented with coal-working, provided the main farming income. Field-barns were built for the new economy from the late 16thC, when farmers with scattered holdings could over winter their cows near their meadow. There are about 20 field barns in Bordley of various dates; date stones range from 1635 (Kealcup laithe) to 1886 (Horner Close laithe). In the Dales many field barns are on old settlement sites since they provide a good foundation and a water supply. Possibly High Laithe began in the same way. “Laithe” usually indicates a barn with more than one function and perhaps there were cart shelters attached to the barn giving the layout recorded in 1850 . SETTING 8 Orientation: Faces south 9. Relationship; High Laithe stands in the gritstone country at the S end of Bordley township. It lies at the edge of Mean Pasture (which has an orthostat wall boundary bank) and at the gated top of a walled track from Know Bank farm to Weets Top. The track widens onto the pasture by the barn. The

36

barn would have been economical since the cows, meadow hay and manure could remain near the meadows over the winter. The cows could have moved to the nearby pastures as meadow grass grew in the closes in spring. To the north is the larger late 18thC New Laithe with a porch and shippons. Perhaps this represents an increase in the farm size at that time. An acre of hay was needed to feed one cow over winter. There is also a barn with shippons behind the farmhouse. All this represents a considerable number of cows kept. The walled enclosure on the south is 19th C and dates from after the 1850 OS map. The enclosure has a stone structure on the south wall which may be where a water trough has been removed. There is now no evidence for the essential water supply for the cows. The field‟s hedgebank trees separate the two fields south of the barn. The bank may mark a “tide-line” of improvements onto the higher land of Mean Pasture. The 19thc. field wall still includes pieces of roofing flags and cut stones, some pieces of hollow-chamfered mullioned window. Something must have been rebuilt using older stone at that period, possibly Know Bank farmhouse which has mid 19thC sash windows. In 1850 however the plan of the barn appears to include structures on the south side, in what is now the walled enclosure. There are two pieces of deeply chamfered mullioned window jambs (see drawing) still lying in the walled enclosure. They may have formed the jambs of the hay-forking hole since iron pins for shutter attachments remain in the reused mullioned. All this masonry, including the reused chamfered doorway fragments indicates a good pre-1700 structure once on this site or nearby. More ogee-moulded pieces are lying near the farmhouse. One cell of a 17thC house with a two-storey porch was converted into a 1880s stable complex for the farm. Further documentary research may reveal more about the developments on the site. OTHER INFORMATION 10. Initials/Datestones; None 11. Oral information from owner/occupier; None

DOCUMENTS 12 Documentation; maps, inventories,etc. Report by; ACA

- block plan of site x- elevations - copies of inventories, maps etc x- ground floor plan - sections - oral information

- first floor plan x- detail drawings - others (please list) - analytical plan x- photographs