|
Speaking on a subject that is close to the heart of many of our members, Roger presented his latest assessment of the annual excavations at Chapel House Wood, near Grassington.
 Originally surveyed by Dr Arthur Raistrick who identified hut circles, barrows, an elling kin, farm complex and field systems, the area has continued to reveal an extensive and complicated archaeological record through the work of the Yorkshire Dales Landscape Research Trust. For several years, Roger has led summer digs in an attempt to unravel this complex, usually with UWHG members amongst each season’s volunteer diggers.
The Chapel House Wood (CHW) site lies in a buffer zone between two parishes. Omitted from the Domesday Book - which may suggest it was not a place where much activity was taking place – it sits inside a bulge at the southern corner of Kilnsey township, lying outside the important monastic centre of medieval Kilnsey, and protruding into a quiet “no man’s land” area of Threshfield parish. Originally this site would have been dominated by woodland, set well apart from the busy activities of the monastic grange. This woodland survived into the mid-19thC, and is shown on the 1844 Tithe Map. Nearby field names, Carlecroft Laithe and Carle Croft Foot, (also mentioned in a 12thC Fountains Abbey Chartulary, and an Abbey rental of 1495), suggest an possible Anglo-Saxon connection to the area, and perhaps explains the “bulge” in the township boundaries as representing a gift of land to the monks at Kilnsey.
Aerial photographs of the site, taken before the Quarry was opened up, clearly show an ancient hollow way ran through the site and across into an area (now on the opposite side of the Quarry) which is littered with large enclosures and small cairns (probably the result of field clearance). The relationship between the two sites is unclear.
Roger then turned his attention to the CHW settlement site itself. It lies at the beginning of the hollow way, as an enclosed area containing stone building foundations and garden plots. To the south lie platforms for timber buildings, backing into the hill slope. These may indicate a pattern of a settlement shifting across the landscape over time.
Finds at the site are mostly from the Roman period – a few pieces of pottery (heavily abraded as though they have been in a midden), part of a glass bangle, a quern stone of unusual design (similar to examples found on Roman military sites in Scotland and an example recently found in Carmarthen, Wales). An Anglo-Saxon style knife blade appears to have no real association with the site and may represent a single item lost by a passing traveller.
The trench on the south side of the site, affectionately known as DF, and the subject of the last two digging seasons, has revealed a substantial stone revetted structure which has produced a handful of artefacts, such as native Iron Age coarse pottery, an iron pin, a piece of a knife blade, iron slag, a few lead rivets, and piece of iron ore. A brooch of a style which emerged in Southern England circa 60AD was found, but C14 dating of animal bones puts the origins of the site more firmly into the earlier, pre-Roman period of between 180BC to 10 AD. And the site is packed tight with thousands of butchered animal bones – 23 Kg and still counting! A few show signs of incised decoration. Occupation of DF appears to span several generations from pre-Roman to post-Roman periods.
Work on the site will continue, with the structure in DF yet to reveal its function.
For those UWHG members who have taken part in the annual digs at CHW, this was a fascinating round-up of the investigations so far, setting all the hard work into context. As usual, Roger’s presentation was excellent and highly enjoyable.
Further Reading:
Roger Martlew – The Chapel House Wood Landscape project, Kilnsey, North Yorkshire (Prehistory Research Section Bulletin 47, 2010; Yorkshire Archaeological Society)
UWHG website here
YDLRT website here
Yorkshire Dales National Park – Out of Oblivion (Historic Environment Record) here
Please note: Chapel House Wood is on private land and there is no public access.
Anyone wishing to take part in the summer excavations can find further information on the Yorkshire Dales Landscape Research Trust’s website here
and at ilovethepast.com here
Jane Lunnon, UWHG Archivist
|
