Jim Brightman

Join us on a journey into the past. Discover the story
of a village and its people from the time of our earliest ancestors, through its medieval heyday and onto its place in the modern landscape of North Yorkshire.
Roads to the Past was a community archaeology and history project led
by the Thornton-le-Street History Group and funded by a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Between 2017 and 2019 a large group of dedicated volunteers and residents ventured into their village’s past. This is the story they uncovered.

Richmond School has a history spanning back over 600 years. From its medieval origins, to the building of the magnificent Gothic Revival Grammar School and through to the innovative 20th- and 21st-century architecture of the Darlington Road campus, the school is a pillar of the town. This book recounts the history of an institution which has provided a formative experience to generations of Richmond’s inhabitants.

The hill of Lea Wood stands, with its twin Bow Wood, on the east side of the Derwent Valley to the south of the industrial crucible of Cromford. It looms over the narrow defile of the Lea Brook and stands prominent over the villages around it. A known focus for medieval and post-medieval woodland industry, the summit of the hill is crowned by an enigmatic earthwork enclosure, hinting at activity in earlier centuries - and possibly millennia.

In spring 2017, a group of local volunteers, with support from the Heritage Lottery-funded DerwentWISE Landscape Partnership and Derbyshire County Council, mounted an archaeological investigation of the remains on Leawood Knoll. This volume tells the story of that project and the discoveries that were made.

Among the high moors of Nidderdale in North Yorkshire, the remains of low stone banks and walls have hidden for millennia. These farmsteads and homes of our prehistoric and Romano- British ancestors can give us an insight into how people lived in times long removed from our own. They often go unrecognised and unrecorded, however, lost among the moss and bracken.

This volume describes the results of work undertaken as a partnership between the Heritage Lottery-funded Upper Nidderdale Landscape Partnership and the Prehistoric Nidderdale project. Following extensive survey work, a team of volunteers excavated four Iron Age and Romano-British sites on the upland fringe. The results were surprising, informative and hugely valuable for our understanding of a period of Nidderdale’s past which is poorly understood.

The ruined settlement of Lodge lies at the head of Nidderdale on the eastern fringes of the Yorkshire Dales. It is now a remote haunt of romantic ruins, firing the imagination of walkers seeking the solitude and open spaces of the Pennine moors. Before the creation of the great Nidderdale reservoirs in the early 20th century, however, Lodge was a thriving hamlet on an early packhorse route to Coverdale and Wensleydale beyond. Having developed from a medieval grange farm tied to the great Cistercian house of Byland Abbey, Lodge represents over 700 years of Nidderdale history, fossilised in crumbling stonework and turf-covered walls.

The Lost Village of Lodge project was undertaken as part of the Heritage Lottery-funded Upper Nidderdale Landscape Partnership. During 2016, teams of volunteers took part in survey work and two weeks of excavations investigating one of the ruined farmsteads at Lodge. This volume presents the results of that work.

Derbyshire and the Peak District is the most heavily quarried area of the British Isles, due to its diverse geology and the richness of its mineral wealth, which has attracted settlement and industry for millennia.

This project characterised and analysed the archaeological resource in relation to aggregate bodies for Derbyshire and the Peak District through application of the landform element approach. The landform element approach seeks to partition the landscape by delimiting distinct geomorphological units and then identifying their archaeological associations, the degree of preservation and the type of evaluation and mitigation techniques that can be usefully applied.

With archaeological associations identified, it is possible to use this study to underpin decision-making and programmes of archaeological work in response to aggregate development.

The key areas studied by this project contain reserves of crushed rock aggregates, particularly Carboniferous and Magnesian Limestone, sand and gravel, and to a lesser extent crushed sandstone. The main sources of sand and gravel are in the impressive river valleys of south Derbyshire: the Trent and the lowerreaches of the Derwent and Dove. The Sherwood Sandstones to the north-west of Derby provide crushed rock aggregates together with sandstone aggregate derived from the Millstone Grit series rocks of the Peak District, though the main sources are the Carboniferous Limestone of the White Peak and the Magnesian Limestone in the north-east of the county.

As part of the redevelopment of a plot in the lower Ouseburn valley, Newcastle upon Tyne, an excavation was undertaken on land formerly occupied by the Ouseburn Bottle Works and, prior to this, by two potteries of at least local, if not national, renown: the Ouseburn Bridge Pottery-the original home of Maling pottery-and the Albion Pottery. Only fragmentary remains could be definitely ascribed to the potteries, though many of the better surviving furnaces, flues and other industrial furniture relating to the later bottle works displayed evidence for alteration and re-use. The excavation illustrated the potential complexity of such sites, where expediency results in the (often minor) conversion of elements of a broad industrial process to accommodate changes in the specific output of a works.

An archaeological excavation was conducted at the site of the Mercia Marina development, Findern Lane, Willington, Derbyshire.
Archaeological remains were excavated dating from most periods of prehistory including:
• possible Late Upper Palaeolithic stone tools recovered from the glacial sands and gravels which form the first natural substratum on the site.
• Mesolithic flints and a possible Mesolithic pit feature.
• Early Neolithic ‘midden pits’ that containing Carinated Bowl ceramics and a small amount of Impressed Ware ceramics together with a few lithics.
• Early Bronze Age funerary monuments in the form of two ring ditches, one of which was closely associated with two cremation pits.
• Early Bronze Age structural remains comprising four discrete post-built structures.
• a Middle Bronze Age pit containing ceramics.
• later prehistoric linear boundary features of probable Iron Age date that may be associated with a system of stock control.

Detailed analysis of the pottery and lithic assemblages has provided information relating to the changing character and use of this site over the millennia, whilst analysis of the pollen and botanical macrofossils has shed light on the environmental history.  The palaeoenvironmental evidence suggests that during the Bronze Age the site was part of a riparian landscape with stands of deciduous trees and pools of standing water in which both arable agriculture and herding of domestic animals took place. A comprehensive programme of radiocarbon dating has helped unravel the chronology of the various remains on the site and one of the more interesting outcomes has been the observation that the Early Bronze Age funerary remains appear to be contemporary with the adjacent structural remains which could relate to contemporary settlement or perhaps structures relating to funerary practice.

The archaeological features and small finds from the site add important new information to the wider story of prehistory both in the Trent Valley and the wider region. The data collected during this study, together with that from sites in the surrounding landscape, offer a significant opportunity for engaging with a wider audience and telling the story of early settlement and land use in the Trent Valley.

A full report on excavations undertaken in advance of hard rock quarrying close to an important multi-period landscape in the Derbyshire Peak District.

Prehistoric lithics and a few tiny prehistoric pottery sherds  indicate periods of occupation during the Mesolithic (c. 8000 BC – 4000 BC) and Neolithic (4000 BC – 2400 BC), with the Neolithic material perhaps representing an area of settlement somewhere within the vicinity of the site.

The principal discovery on site was a post-built structure with associated hearths. Radiocarbon dating has placed the structure in the 6th -7th centuries AD, a time when the Peak District may well have been a Brittonic or Anglo-Brittonic kingdom separate from the Kingdom of Mercia. This is the first scientifically-dated post-built structure belonging to this period in the region. Analysis of the form of the structure, alongside the palaeoenvironmental evidence adds to our understanding of the Early Medieval period in this area. However, no artefacts dating to this period were found on the site which means it is not possible to ascertain the cultural affiliation of its occupants.

Two Early Bronze Age dates obtained from within a posthole which appears to belong to this Early Medieval structure probably represent dates on residual material from pre-existing Early Bronze Age activity on the site. Construction of the Early Medieval structure appears to have disturbed earlier deposits that include Mesolithic, Neolithic and Early Bronze Age material.

An archaeological excavation was conducted by Archaeological Research Services Ltd on selected areas at the site of the Mercia Marina development, Findern Lane, Willington, Derbyshire. Investigation took the form of strip, map and sample. Archaeological remains were excavated dating from Upper Late Palaeolithic to later prehistoric. Detailed analyses of the pottery and lithic assemblages have provided information relating to the changing character and use of this site over millennia, and analyses of pollen and botanical macrofossils have shed light on the environmental history.

During March 2009 Archaeological Research Services Ltd undertook an earthwork survey of extant lead mining remains of
likely post-medieval date at New Venture Mine, near Bradwell, Derbyshire. In addition to providing an accurate measured record
of the remains, the survey corroborated previous observations made by the Peak District Mines Historical Society and identified a belland wall, visible on the early edition Ordnance Survey maps but later lost, which bounds the dewpond and water control ponds
to the south of the main rake.

In August 2011 Archaeological Research Services Ltd undertook an archaeological excavation in the grounds of Casterne Hall,
Ilam, Staffordshire, during groundworks for a new equestrian ménage. The grounds of Casterne Hall contain the partial earthwork remains of a deserted medieval village, and the features of key interest were two stone building platforms and their relationship with both a large pit and the wider earthwork enclosure which bounded the building platforms. The volume of pottery finds and animal bone from both within and above the structure was highly suggestive of domestic occupation and activity. The second platform was of a different construction and is more likely to represent an area of hard standing, though the material culture is very similar to that from the domestic structure suggesting contemporaneity. A large pit was stratigraphically sealed beneath one of the stone platforms testifying to at least two phases of activity associated with the deserted medieval hamlet. A radiocarbon date from the pit with a broad date range centred on the late 12th century AD, provided a terminus post quem for the visible earthwork remains and the pottery evidence places the domestic occupation in the 13th-14th centuries with possible abandonment occurring within the 14th century - the century within which the Black Death took place.

In October 2008 an archaeological excavation was undertaken in advance of construction work at a planned supermarket site off
Vivis Lane, Pickering. Originally known to have been the site of a coal depot with post-medieval walling still intact on the site
boundary, it was anticipated that archaeological remains would likely reveal information about the use of the site from the 17th
century onwards. The footings of several walls were uncovered along with substantial pits and a water channel, probably relating to the industrial uses of the site prior to the construction of the coal depot. The principal archaeological feature of interest, however, was a post-built structure cut into an earlier alluvial deposit. The structure was defined by four postholes with a fifth outlying posthole and a radiocarbon date of cal. AD 1010-1160 (95.4% confi dence) was obtained on charred hazel from one of the postholes, suggesting activity in the west of Pickering around the time of the Norman Conquest and potentially contemporary with the earlier motte and bailey castle 0.5km to the north of the site. A small assemblage of Mesolithic flintwork was also recovered in what is thought to be a residual context.

The Norham Castle linear earthwork evaluation was undertaken during February 2005 as an extension of the Till-Tweed
Geoarchaeology Project. The evaluation involved the excavation of a trench across an upstanding earthen bank which had been
tentatively suggested to be of late prehistoric origin, and which might form part of a large ‘hillfort’ (Pearson 2002), based on its
morphology and relationship with the medieval castle defences. The trench revealed the stratigraphy of the bank’s construction to
comprise a series of dumps of clay and stone capping, although no features were found set or cut into the crest of the bank. It was
not possible to obtain dating samples from any underlying land surface as the bank was built onto natural boulder clay after prior
removal of the topsoil. The only small finds came from the topsoil and were undiagnostic, with the exception of a small fragment of
medieval green-glazed pottery. A thin branch of wood was recovered from the primary dump of the bank’s construction layer and this sample returned a radiocarbon date of c. cal AD 1690-1920 at 95.4% confidence. The radiocarbon date provides a terminus post quem for the construction of the bank, placing it within the post-medieval to modern period, indicating that it is part of the remodelling of this area on the edge of Norham, possibly as part of the works for a market garden.

In April 2009, nine evaluation trenches were excavated as part of an application for planning permission in a cultivated field at the western extent of Norham Village, Northumberland. The evaluation revealed evidence of medieval activity in the southern section of the field, with pottery evidence dating the site to the mid to late medieval period. Prompted by these finds an open area excavation was undertaken, revealing a series of substantial sandstone walls, a hearth and a well, indicating the presence of a substantial medieval domestic dwelling.

Paper delivered at the 2017 CIfA Conference in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Representative of similar conservation processes globally, the UK National Parks manage the often competing interests of conservation and the needs, lifestyle and economy of residents. Whilst primary legislation and the Sandford Principle provide statutory underpinning and formal guidance for addressing conflicting issues within UK National Parks, the nuances of conservation management in protected areas means such matters are often significantly more complex in practice.
Within the Yorkshire Dales National Park (YDNP) the friction between cultural heritage and the modern rural economy is often symbolised by the prominent stone-built field barns: integral parts of a dispersed and largely defunct historical farming regime, yet monuments that now have considerable heritage and landscape importance in their own right. This paper will explore the approaches taken to managing the traditional farm building resource as part of a living landscape in the YDNP, whether through formal development management or ‘soft’ approaches such as community engagement. It will also explore the wider abstract and ethical issues raised by this tension between heritage conservation and the needs of the present.

Paper delivered at the CIfA 2015 Conference presenting the results of one of the National Importance Programme Pilot Projects commissioned by Historic England. The talk focusses on an investigation of the issues of identifying and managing landscape-scale nationally important sites.