Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction......................................................................................1
1.1: Project background.................................................................................1
1.2: Project aim, research questions and objectives.....................................3
1.3: Scope of the project ...............................................................................4
1.4: Outline of document structure.................................................................6
Disk of data used in the project................................................Inside back cover
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Illustrations
Illus. 1.1: The Yorkshire Dales National Park and the eastern edge of the Lake
District National Park. ...................................................................................1
Illus. 1.2: The location of the Yorkshire Dales National Park on the Pennine
spine. Nearby national parks are shown for reference.................................2
Illus. 1.3: A simplified representation of the solid geology of the Yorkshire
Dales.............................................................................................................7
Illus. 1.4: A simplified representation of superficial geology deposits in the
Yorkshire Dales..............................................................................................8
Illus. 1.5: 25m land cover characterisation for the Yorkshire Dales and
surrounding area in 2007.............................................................................10
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Tables
iii
Chapter 1: Introduction
1.1: Project background
The Yorkshire Dales National Park is located in the north of England,
approximately 27 km to the north-west of Leeds and 23 km to the north-east of
Lancaster. It covers an area of upland considered as the Central Pennines, a
subset of the wider Pennines, a north-south ridge running for around 290 km
from the Midlands of England to the Southern Uplands in Scotland. (Illus. 1.1).
The National Park originally covered an area of approximately 1770 km2,
however as of the 1st August 2016, this increased to around 2190 km2 to
encompass more of the Howgill Fells to the north-west and the Barbondale
Fells to the west (Illus. 1.2). This thesis relates to the original extent of the
National Park.
Illus. 1.1: The location and extent of the Yorkshire Dales National Park on the Pennine spine.
Nearby national parks are shown for reference. The area shown does not include the 2016 extension.
Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2014 and Shuttle Radar
Topography Mission (SRTM) data ©NASA.
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Chapter 1: Introduction
Illus. 1.2: The Yorkshire Dales National Park and the eastern edge of the Lake District National Park.
National Park.
Contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown copyright and database right 2014 and Shuttle Radar
Topography Mission (SRTM) data ©NASA.
This PhD is part of an Arts and Humanities Research Council Collaborative
Doctoral Award (CDA) involving the University of Bradford, the Yorkshire Dales
National Park Authority and Roger Martlew of Dales Landscape Heritage (the
working name for the Yorkshire Dales Landscape Research Trust). It is one of
two complementary projects funded by the CDA, the other (Brown 2016) being
based around the use of GIS to study the context of the later prehistory of the
Yorkshire Dales within a European context.
The topics for the CDA were conceived in 2011 and recognised that the fieldsystems known from upland and marginal parts of the Yorkshire Dales are
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Chapter 1: Introduction
comparable with much better studied examples on Dartmoor. Although there
has been a marked increase in, usually community led, archaeological
investigation in the Yorkshire Dales in the last 10 years, the bulk of research
into the field-systems was undertaken in the late 19th and early 20th centuries,
without the benefit of modern scientific techniques or theoretical concepts (see
Chapter 2). While the Dartmoor Reaves are seen as being a primarily Bronze
Age system, the work previously undertaken in the Yorkshire Dales suggested
that the field systems here may have appeared somewhat later and this
apparent discrepancy was worthy of further investigation. The sheer scale and
extent of this site type within the Yorkshire Dales also affords them an
international importance.
1.2: Project aim, research questions and objectives
The overall aim of this project is:
To advance a new understanding of prehistory in the Yorkshire Dales through
the use of theoretical interpretative approaches, underpinned by targeted field
investigation and other spatial datasets.
The specific research questions for this PhD can be outlined as follows:
1. Do current approaches to the mapping of upland landscapes provide a
sufficient basis for understanding those landscapes?
2. What might we gain from an integrated approach to upland landscape
survey that combines surface mapping with extensive geophysical
investigation?
3. What can the landscape patterning of boundaries, settlements, monuments
and other features tell us about the character of the landscape through
time, and; how do we use this to tackle the problem of poor chronological
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Chapter 1: Introduction
resolution in upland landscapes?
A series of objectives have been established in order to meet this aim, where
these are primarily addressed in the text is given in brackets.
1. To use the existing literature to understand the background to current
thinking regarding prehistory in the Yorkshire Dales (Chapter 2)
2. To use some of the outcomes of previous research in the region to decide
upon the best survey techniques to implement in this project (Chapter 3)
3. To assess the effectiveness of the geophysical and other survey techniques
used in this project over extant features within an upland environment
(Chapter 4)
4. To better understand the nature and function of, and the relationship
between, extant monuments and previously unrecognised archaeological
features, through non-intrusive survey (Chapters 5)
5. To use the form, apparent function and relationships between the features
recorded during fieldwork, together with contemporary theoretical ideas, to
begin to establish the development of the Yorkshire Dales throughout
prehistory (Chapters 6 and 7)
6. To synthesise these ideas with material from other areas to further develop
a picture of the Yorkshire Dales during prehistory (Chapters 6 and 7)
7. To outline a possible a research agenda for the prehistoric period within the
Yorkshire Dales (Conclusions)
1.3: Scope of the project
This study began in an area termed East Sweet Side, near Grassington, which
had not benefited from recent archaeological field investigation (see Chapter
3).
The proximity to High Close Pasture (SAM 1004173) meant that any
conclusions drawn by this new project would complement the research already
undertaken and would further enhance our understanding of prehistory in this
part of Upper Wharfedale.. Martlew (2004; 2011a) studied the field-system
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Chapter 1: Introduction
and associated features in High Close Pasture, building upon the results of the
Yorkshire Dales Mapping Project (YDMP) (Horne and MacLeod 2001),
together with those from antiquarian and pre-war studies, as discussed in
Chapter 2.
Although this project set out to specifically investigate the field-systems that
characterise the prehistoric archaeology of the Yorkshire Dales, very soon after
the fieldwork began, it became obvious that within the survey area, the
recorded example represented only one small part of a funerary, agricultural
and domestic landscape, far more multi-faceted, and with much greater
temporal depth, than the YDMP transcription suggested. It was thus realised
that there existed an exciting opportunity to contextualise the emergence, use
and maintenance of this particular field-system against a broad framework of
other archaeological features and geophysical anomalies.
By considering the results of this analysis in conjunction with nearby
archaeological sites, significant landscape features, palaeoenvironmental data,
radiocarbon dates and comparative regions, it has been possible to create a
testable working hypothesis for the development of the survey area, Upper
Wharfedale and by extension, the wider Yorkshire Dales throughout prehistory.
Most significantly, this places the inception of the large-scale field-systems in
the middle Bronze Age, as opposed to the middle Iron Age date often quoted
(e.g. Fleming 2010: 145).
This project is innovative because it employed geophysical survey techniques
in an upland environment, littered with extant features, in combination with
non-standard survey methodologies. Broad-scale data collection allowed the
investigation of spatially extensive geophysical responses, potentially relating
to anthropogenic activities, at a landscape scale.
Although the magnetic
survey utilised a more conventional methodology, it was unusual because of its
application in an upland environment. The results obtained vastly exceeded
expectations and show that even over difficult terrain, this technique can
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Chapter 1: Introduction
identify field boundaries, significant areas of anthropogenic enhancement and
possible structural remains. Specific details of survey methodology and data
processing are outlined in Chapter 3.
1.4: Outline of document structure
An overview of the material contained in the following chapters of this thesis is
as follows:
Chapter 2: Contextualisation
The thesis begins by presenting the background material pertinent to this
research; an overview of the geology and pedology of the Yorkshire Dales,
together with a comprehensive literature review relating to prehistoric
archaeology in the Yorkshire Dales, the theory and practice of landscape
archaeology in Britain and the methods of site evaluation which are of
relevance to the project.
Chapter 3: Approaches
The precise methodologies and resources utilised by the work are outlined,
with survey techniques and sampling strategies for fieldwork also included.
Methods of data processing and interpretation are explained as necessary,
while the means of categorising and evaluating the walkover survey data are
discussed.
Chapter 4: Fieldwork results and baseline data
The extensive results from the walkover survey, the magnetic susceptibility
survey, electromagnetic induction (EMI) survey, magnetic survey, together with
additional information gleaned from LiDAR and photogrammetric datasets are
presented.
Chapter 5: A terrace through time
A chronological framework is proposed for the development of the survey area
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Chapter 1: Introduction
and wherever practicable, features and anomalies grouped into a series of
phases.
Chapter 6: An improved chronology?
The field-systems are discussed in the context of palynological data and
radiocarbon dates from both the Yorkshire Dales and other comparable
regions and a middle Bronze Age date suggested for their inception.
Chapter 7: A window onto the prehistory of the Yorkshire Dales
Using the proposed date of the field-systems as cornerstone, the evolution of
key elements within the survey area are discussed chronologically, beginning
in the early Neolithic and ending during the middle Iron Age. An outline is also
given for subsequent development. This discussion synthesises the empirical
datasets with theoretical ideas and strives to understand how prehistoric
society functioned both within the survey area and within the wider Yorkshire
Dales.
Chapter 8: Conclusions
Each of the research questions outlined above are addressed in turn and the
outcomes of the project discussed with relation to its primary aim.
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