On this page are reports, in reverse chronological order, on eight talks that were given at SWAAG monthly meetings in 2021. To jump to any one report, click the relevant link:
Dec – Geology and industrial archaeology around Richmond
Nov – Place-names
Oct – Anglo-Saxon remains in Bamburgh
Jun – Conclusions about the Swaledale Dykes by Alan and Judith Mills
May – Neolithic farming techniques
Apr – Evolution of Hartlepool Through the Ages
Mar – The Bloody Wall
Jan – High Noon on Harkerside
December – Geology and industrial archaeology around Richmond
Before Christmas Jane Harrison gave a Zoom talk to members about the Geology and Industrial Archaeology around Richmond. The Yoredale rocks with their repeating sequences of limestones, shales, mudstones, and sandstones have helped to create the distinctive landscape of Swaledale.
Map, lidar and historical evidence was used to identify areas of mining and quarrying around Richmond. The remains of coal pits can still be seen today on Thorpe Edge and Hudswell Moor, but those near High Coalsgarth seem to have vanished. Lead and copper were also mined locally on a small scale. At the turn of the 20th century a copper mine was opened in Billy Banks Woods. The blocked off entrances to the two levels and the massive stone trackway along to Green Bridge remain. It is hoped that a future SWAAG walk will visit some of the sites mentioned in the talk.
J. H.
November – Place-names
For November’s online SWAAG meeting, member Will Swales gave a fascinating talk about local place names. Members had previously been asked to submit suggestions. Will researched these names, assessing views on their origin from different sources, as well as drawing on his own understanding acquired through years of interest in the subject.
Several place names incorporated the word saetr from the Old Norse (ON) word for a ‘shieling’ or ‘upland pasture’. For example, Appersett, in Wensleydale, comes from the Old English (OE) appeltreow meaning ‘apple tree’ and the ON saetr. Here, as in other places, the name first given to distinguish a patch of ground was eventually transferred to the name of the adjacent village. Elsewhere a personal name was incorporated into the place name. Gunnerside probably came from the ON name Gunnarr and ON saetr. The village is first documented in 1301 as Gunnersete and that pronunciation has persisted down the centuries in local dialect. Harkerside and Shunner Fell may also incorporate the name of a person. Names linked to physical features in the landscape were also common. Dubbingarth Hill probably came from the local dialect word dub meaning a pool or pond.
The origin of some place names is uncertain. Booze, for example, has been variously interpreted as ‘house by the bow’, ‘cow stall’ or ‘cow house’. Others like Helwith are more straightforward, coming from the ON hella meaning ‘flat stone’ and ON vath meaning ‘ford’.
Will also researched the wonderfully named Great and Little Cockup in the Lake District. Cocc is OE for ‘game bird’, possibly a woodcock, whilst hop might come from the OE meaning ‘a blind and rounded valley’ or alternatively from the ME meaning ‘a remote valley’. Curiously Great and Little Cockup are now the names of fells, but perhaps Cockup was originally the name of a valley below. Closer to home, Oxnop probably had a similar origin, deriving from OE meaning oxna or ‘oxen’ and same OE or ME word hop.
These are just some of the place names that Will investigated for this excellent talk. The discussions that followed generated further questions and observations.
J.H.
October – Anglo-Saxon remains in Bamburgh
Last night SWAAG members were treated to an excellent talk by Professor Emerita Charlotte Roberts, about the excavation of an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Bamburgh. The burials are in an area which is now sand dunes, near to Bamburgh Castle. They were first discovered in the 19th Century due to coastal erosion. In 1998 a rescue excavation began and between 1999 and 2007 there was a series of archaeological investigations of the site. The cemetery was linked to the royal centre that was Bamburgh in the 7th-9th centuries.
Professor Roberts led a study of the bones using paleo-osteological techniques. There were 98 skeletons in total, a quarter of which were those of juveniles of all ages. The average height in adulthood was calculated as around 5’7″ for men and 5’4″ for women.
Strikingly, there was a lot of evidence of very poor dental health. Charlotte described it as “grim”. This could be the result of a diet high in protein and sugars, perhaps from honey and mead. There was also other evidence in the bones of obesity and gout. There was also some indication of chronic anaemia, which might suggest parasites in the gut.
One individual had grooved teeth suggesting someone who used their teeth in their work, perhaps textiles or basket making. There was evidence that many of these people habitually squatted when working. Another young man had suffered fatal wounds from a weapon.
Over half were not locals. Isotope analysis showed origins as far away as Scandinavia, the Mediterranean area and North Africa. 25% died young.
Once the project was concluded, the bones were once again laid to rest in specially made coffins in the crypt of St Aidan’s church. Today you can visit the crypt where there is an audio-visual display explaining the project. In the church there is a touch-screen display and access to the digital ossuary which is also online.
June – Conclusions about the Swaledale Dykes by Alan and Judith Mills
Some 40 members joined us online last Tuesday for Alan Mills’ talk about the Swaledale Dykes. Alan and Judith have reviewed all the available evidence and brought it together to form some interesting conclusions.
The dykes, clearly visible in the Swaledale landscape, have been the object of many academic theories and much informed speculation. Fieldhouse and Jennings suggested a series of Romano-British fortifications against the Romans. Andrew Fleming’s theory was that they were the boundaries of the Early-Medieval Kingdom of Swaledale. Grigg ‘s view was that they were Early-Medieval route-blocking structures. Ainsworth, Gates and Oswald set their origins in the Bronze Age.
SWAAG has conducted two digs on the dykes, one in 2012 led by Tim Laurie and supervised by ASDU, and a second in 2016 led by Rob Nicholson and supervised by YDNPA. Both reports are available on this website. Alan and Judith note that the dykes “look like” Early Medieval but that place name history and pollen analysis suggest an earlier phase, possibly as early as 300BC.
This leads them to conclude that the Grinton-Fremington Dykes were most probably originally constructed between the late Iron Age and 800AD, perhaps as a defensive structure or maybe just as a statement of land ownership. They were then supplemented in the mid-10th Century by the High Harker dykes to defend the local Anglo-Saxon / Hiberno-Norse population from incursions from the south and southeast.
May – Neolithic farming techniques
Last night’s talk by Professor Peter Rowley-Conwy was a fascinating look at the sophisticated farming techniques used by Neolithic farmers. Our understanding of these early dwellers on the land has developed over the years from a rather dismissive “primitive” judgement to a better appreciation of their skills and resilience. New archaeological methods such as carbon dating, DNA and isotope analysis have provided new and detailed evidence of their diet and of the genetic makeup of this population and their animals.
After the last ice age, Britain was initially inhabited by hunter-gatherers. They followed the herds of wild deer in their northerly migration each year, also hunting the massive aurochs, cattle, and wild boar as well as smaller animals, birds and fish.
They were rapidly replaced by a new kind of immigrant, the farming communities of the Neolithic. Bringing with them new strains of domesticated cattle, sheep and pigs, they established small-scale communities in woodland clearings. They ploughed using the ard, a wooden surface plough, crossing and recrossing the earth to break up the soil and grub up the weeds. They enriched the soil with manure from their cattle. Then they planted grains, mostly emmer wheat and barley. They coppiced hazel so that they could use the thin, flexible stems for weaving fish traps. They learned how to extend the calving season so that there would be a supply of milk over a long part of the year, and they made the surplus into cheese. They traded their cattle to avoid inbreeding. They met and feasted, raising large buildings like the one at Balbridie or creating causewayed enclosures. It was a hard and precarious existence but clearly there were times of plenty when families could get together with the local community (including it seems, their hunter-gatherer neighbours) and celebrate.
April – Evolution of Hartlepool Through the Ages
Old Hartlepool developed as a fishing village on the magnesium limestone headland. Surrounded by the sea on three sides it is a picturesque area with interesting architecture and a marina. Old Hartlepool amalgamated with its more industrialised neighbour West Hartlepool in 1967 to form a single entity.
John Russell’s talk covered the history of Hartlepool Headland from the Romans through to modern times.He highlighted the many archaeological digs which have taken place there, unearthing the remains of a 7th Century monastic community and an extensive Anglo-Saxon community. The impressive St Hilda’s church was built on the same site. During the Napoleonic wars a French ship allegedly sank nearby. The only survivor is said to have been a monkey and legend has it that the monkey was duly tried and hanged as a French spy. Hartlepudlians are known as “monkey-hangers” to this day.
The Heugh Battery was established in 1860 to protect the fast-growing port. The guns, suitably updated, formed an air-raid defence during both World Wars. In 1914 the area was bombarded by German battle cruisers and Hitler launched a massive air raid on the East coast of England which saw 40 bombers attack Hartlepool.
March – The Bloody Wall
Sheila Ickringill’s talk on the Bloody Wall led us to consider the possible origins of this local name for a stretch of ordinary-seeming boundary wall between Crackpot Moor and Satron Moor. Various theories exist in Dales folklore and in local history records.
Was there a murder associated with a local land dispute? Did a Scots raiding party kidnap a local girl and force her to wear plaid, resulting in her being accidentally killed by a member of her family? Is it named after a local family called Bladys (later morphed into Blades)? What is the connection with the “Bloody Vale” that adjoins it?
During lockdown, SWAAG members have formed a small online focus group to look more closely at this, bringing expertise on the geology of the site, the possible etymology of the name and the lichens growing on the surface of the wall. There was a lively discussion after Sheila’s talk, and this may be a theme we will return to.
January – High Noon on Harkerside
Will Swales gave an excellent Zoom talk yesterday about the farmers’ disputes on Harkerside in Swaledale. Under the old Manorial system, tenant farmers were allowed to graze a certain number of sheep, known as a “stint” on their adjacent common land. By the eighteenth century the Manor governing Harkerside was extinct and there were 19 farms on Harkerside with, apparently, unregulated access to moorland grazing. Gentlemen’s agreements (or plain common sense) might have been a solution but sadly seem to have been in short supply and the land became overburdened.
In 1827 the Duke of Leeds leased the estate for grouse shooting. He managed to get the farmers to agree to a system of “Levancy and Couchancy”, apportioning grazing rights according to the fodder production of each farm. While this might have settled things temporarily, the situation unravelled.
In 1860 Richmond County Court heard the first of many cases brought by one Harkerside farmer against another on a charge of “dogging”; chasing sheep off their grazing using dogs. In 1870 there was an arson case brought against Henry White for unauthorised heather burning. Remanded in custody, White was only freed by the testimony of his neighbours who gave him an alibi.
In 1872 Francis Garth tried to settle the matter by producing a written agreement but while several farmers agreed, the eight tenants of Rev. John Winn refused to sign thereby creating two clear factions. The situation deteriorated into a full-scale feud.
In 1873 the pro-agreement tenants staged a “demonstration” by deliberately herding 200 sheep from the moor and along the road towards an area of grazing habitually used by their opponents. They were stopped by Thomas Hutchinson his allies, and an altercation ensued. Two days later Wilson White and his allies repeated the exercise having drafted in the support of the local constable. This was High Noon on Harkerside and resulted in six further litigations. The local press had a field day. The situation was only resolved when a Stinting Committee was finally convened, chaired by Francis Garth, the Hero of Harkerside.
This summary captures, I hope, the main points of the talk but does not reflect the painstaking detail which Will was able to bring to his subject. The talk was accompanied by some beautiful slides of the landscape and many ancient photographs of the protagonists. It is hoped that a publication will be produced when the research is complete.
