On this page are reports, in reverse chronological order, on four talks that were given at the few SWAAG monthly meetings that were held in the Covid pandemic year of 2020. To jump to any one report, click the relevant link:
Dec – The Harrying of the North; 1066 and all that
Nov – The Viking Boatyard on the Rubh’an Dunain peninsula, Skye
Nov – Applegarth Enclosed Settlement
Jan – Textiles through history
December – The Harrying of the North; 1066 and all that
Rod’s talk last night was a fascinating and detailed examination of the effects of the Norman Conquest in the North lands.
Victorious at Hastings, William quickly consolidated his rule in the South but struggled to bring the rest of the country into line. In 1070, the Harrying of the North was a brutal act of ethnic cleansing perpetrated by an under-resourced task force driven by a desperate King. Fifty years later, Orderic Vitalis wrote:
“The King stopped at nothing to hunt his enemies. He cut down many people and destroyed homes and land. Nowhere else had he shown such cruelty. This made a real change. To his shame, William made no effort to control his fury, punishing the innocent with the guilty. He ordered crops, herds, tools, and food be burned to ashes. More than 100,000 people perished of starvation. I have often praised William in this book, but I can say nothing good about this brutal slaughter. God will punish him.”
The Domesday Book records large areas of the Northern uplands as “waste”. But asks Rod, what did this emotive word signify and how widespread and permanent was the damage? The maps below tell their own story, but it is heartening to note that twenty years after the Conquest, many areas of North Yorkshire were more productive than before. The Normans preferred wheat bread and may well have taken the Northern uplands, where only oats would grow, out of production. And one way of interpreting the word “waste” is that it signifies an area where the agriculture is not generating enough surplus to warrant taxing. The reasons for this may indeed have been social displacement caused by warfare but might just as well be related to the difficult climate and topography of these areas.
Certainly, there was widespread social dislocation in the North. The areas immediately around York were brutally attacked. Villages and farms were burned to the ground, crops and livestock killed, peasants slaughtered or left to die of hunger. Refugees were willing to sell themselves and their families into slavery, desperate for food. But Rod’s interpretation shows that it was a complex, nuanced and evolving situation which deserves deeper analysis, rather than simplistic, Sellar and Yeatman assumptions.
Rod has written three novels set in the post-Conquest era: “The Year 1070 – Survival”, “The Year 1071 – Resistance and Revenge” and “The Year 1072 – Retribution”.
Nov – Talk 1 of 2 – The Viking Boatyard on the Rubh’an Dunain peninsula, Skye
At our inaugural Zoom meeting, the first since the end of the Covid lockdown in July, Les described a visit he and Sue made to this beautiful location in August, rather appropriately on their daughter’s boat. Setting the site in context, Les explained that the area was first inhabited by Picts, christianised by St Columba in AD563. Viking raids began around AD800, with boats sailing out of Norway and down to the Western Isles, intent on looting and pillage.
The early Christian settlement of Iona was first raided in 795, with subsequent attacks taking place in 802, 806, and 825. The monasteries must have presented an easy target, housing as they did valuable silver artefacts and books with treasure bindings, all undefended and easy to carry away. The raids gradually petered out but from 1079 Norse settlers arrived, displacing the Pictish peoples and establishing Sodor, the Kingdom of the Isles.
The extent of the take-over is reflected in place names, with 86% of current names being of Old Norse derivation. This settlement took place during the Medieval Warm Period, when climatic conditions were more favourable to farming. The rule of Norway ended in 1266 with the Treaty of Perth when Skye became part of the Kingdom of Scotland and the Gaelic Renaissance commenced.
The Viking Boatyard is an extensive site on Loch na h-airde, a small lochan linked by a channel to the sea in the west of Skye. The channel was canalised by Viking builders who also created boathouses on slipways (“noosts”) also two quays, store houses and other buildings; a whole complex. It is still possible to make out the outline of many of these structures on drone footage. Underwater exploration in 2009 retrieved two oak timbers from a 4-metre boat called a berlinn, which were carbon-dated to around AD 1100.
Historic Environment Scotland has designated the site as a Scheduled Monument and further details are available on their website. Many thanks to Les for a fascinating talk which we all enjoyed very much. This was followed by Jane Harrison’s excellent analysis of the Enclosed Romano-British settlement at Applegarth, which you can read about in my earlier blog. This gave rise to a lively discussion including some members who had visited in 2011 with Tim. There are comparisons to be drawn with The Hagg.
Nov – Talk 2 of 2 – Applegarth enclosed settlement
Jane Harrison talked about a visit she and Sue Nicholson made to Applegarth ancient settlement remains near Richmond. This site was first listed as a Scheduled Monument in 1962. Tim Laurie has also reported it in database record 228 on this website. Tucked at the bottom of Whitcliffe Scar it enjoys panoramic views up and down Swaledale and is designated as Romano-British.
It consists of two large enclosures, defined by substantial stone ramparts, separated by a Hollow Way. The Historic England record notes further rectangular and circular subdivisions of the space, perhaps for stock management. Comparisons with The Hagg are inevitable; another Romano-British site, ostensibly agricultural/domestic, while surface finds of Samian Ware suggest trading links with Roman military. The topography is comparable, at a similar height above the Swale and with the same kind of panorama, except that Applegarth is also well defended from the North.
Jane said: we were especially intrigued by the “beehive features”; two (perhaps three) sunken pits with a passageway between, showing remains of walls and stone lintels with what may have been a domed roof.
January – Textiles through history
Last night’s talk by Christine Wallace, “Textiles through History”, was a fascinating look at an area which has sometimes been overlooked in archaeology. This may be because modern techniques have only recently made conservation possible or perhaps the subject has suffered in the past from perceptions that it is a “women’s” subject.
The exquisite Tarkhan dress, for example, a finely-pleated linen dress from 2800 BC, was excavated in Egypt in 1913. Put away in a cupboard wrapped in newspaper it was completely disregarded until 1977 when it was finally cleaned and conserved at the V&A’s Textile Conservation Workshop. It is one of the oldest examples of an Ancient Egyptian garment on display in the world.
Textiles will of course usually decay over time but may be preserved in a number of contexts. They may be present as a negative impression eg in pot sherds, or when products of metal corrosion are absorbed into the fibres. Charring also preserves wood, basket work and fibres. Must Farm is a significant Bronze Age site where a catastrophic fire has resulted in the charred remains of an entire settlement falling into and being preserved by the silts of the sluggish river over which it was built.
The anaerobic mud of Vindolanda has famously preserved stunning examples of artefacts in materials usually lost over time: wood, leather, a hair-moss wig and some beautiful examples of textiles, have been saved and conserved. Some textile objects speak eloquently of their owners and give us a tangible and poignant link into the deep past. Christine showed us a lovely example from Vindolanda which includes a fragment of woven textile that Christine likes to imagine may be of a birrus Britannnicus, with a very poor darn that may even have been carried out on site by its legionnaire owner.
Global warming is resulting in a widespread melting of areas of permafrost in areas such as Siberia. Ancient textiles preserved by freezing retain their colours and recent discoveries include some startlingly beautiful examples including the Pazyryk carpet which is the oldest pile carpet ever discovered. An exquisite composition in glowing reds, greens and blues it measures 183×200 cm, the pile so intricately knotted that it surpasses even the best quality hand-made modern carpets.
