Excavation of a pre-Conquest Cemetery at Addingham,West Yorkshire

EXCAVATIONS at Addingham in Wharfedale uncovered part of a cemetery which, on the evidence of radiocarbon analysis, can be dated to the 8th to 10th centuries A.D. At that period Addingham was an estate of the archbishops of York, and it was to here that Archbishop Wulfhere fled in 867 to escape the Danes. A total of 55 graves were investigated, yielding the remains of perhaps 80 individuals. Of these, about 40 wert undisturbed primary interments; the rest had been reburied in whole or part, leaving some graves empty and others containing several individuals. Later features included a ditch and a drying kiln which belonged to a post-Conquest manorial complex. Further details on the layout and components of the settlement have been gleaned from earthwork survey, geophysical prospection and documentary research, as well as from earlier excavations which until now remained unpublished.     

Three-dimensional recording by laser scanning of the petroglyphs at Rombald's Moor,West Yorkshire

Abstract

A variety of methods have been used to depict and document petroglyphs, from hand sketching to close-range photogrammetry. Most methods, however, record only a two-dimensional image, whereas petroglyphs are by their nature three-dimensional. Additionally, most methods suffer from inaccuracies resulting from the skill and subjectivity of the recorder or distortions imposed by the equipment and conditions under which the panel was viewed. Conventional three-dimensional recording techniques such as the use of traditional moulding and casting materials, may damage the petroglyph itself. An assessment of the various shortcomings of established rock art recording methods resulted in the field-testing of laser scanning with the objective of obtaining a quantitative, three-dimensional record of petroglyph panels and the creation of non-contact replicas. This paper presents the principles behind laser scanning and an account of field trial results of laser scanning rock art in situ at Rombald's Moor, West Yorkshire, England. The work presented was undertaken as part of the Rock Art Pilot Project commissioned by English Heritage in July 1999.     

Excavations at Houndhill,near Barnsley,Yorkshire

Abstract

A ‘cottage’ weaving industry was established at Houndhill, family seat of the Elmhirsts in Worsbrough, near Barnsley, during the mid-16th century. It ceased early in the 17th century but excavation has shown it was revived under new ownership in the late 18th century. During the 19th century the mill became a general farm store and was totally demolished in the 1930s to permit a garden extension. The excavation was planned to retain any remaining features for conservation as part of the historical interest of the residence.¹     

Clarke Hall,Wakefield; architectural innovations in 17th-century West Yorkshire

Abstract

Clarke Hall stands one mile north-east of Wakefield (SE 342222) at the side of the A642 Aberford Road. Believed to be of early Elizabethan date, the house was purchased by the West Riding County Council in 1971 for conversion into a schools museum. Over the following three years the writer undertook a programme of documentary research and excavation which established that the building was entirely renewed in the late 1670s, its materials and plan clearly illustrating the transformation from medieval to post-medieval building practices in West Yorkshire.     

Precision GPS Surveying at Medieval Cottam,East Yorkshire,England

Abstract

To help promote the use of centimeter and sub-centimeter level GPS for surveying archaeological Sites, a series of tests was conducted at the deserted medieval village of Cottam in East Yorkshire,England. In order to understand the capabilities of the technology, the GPS system was tested for speed, accuracy, and reliability and the results were compared with those from a conventional total station. Using the capabilities of the total station as a benchmark, the GPS system's accuracy and reliability were found to be acceptable. The test system, however, was found to be considerably slower than the total station and much more difficult to use with equivalent levels of accuracy     

Social meaning in the English lesser gentry house: a West Yorkshire study

This paper analyses the archaeological and documentary evidence from three West Yorkshire houses—Calverley Old Hall, Shibden Hall and Oakwell Hall—to re-evaluate narratives of gentry emulation in 16th- and 17th-century English housebuilding. Gentry houses have long been absorbed into the literature of elite country houses, with homes of the lesser gentry serving primarily as emulative examples of national architectural and social trends. This paper suggests a more nuanced interpretation of these homes as sites of multi-faceted household relationships, where the inhabitants consciously incorporated and resisted elite trends and used space to establish and maintain control.     

Private Profits – Public Drought: The Creation of a Crisis in Water Management for West Yorkshire

This paper examines the political and corporate constructions of the 1995–96 drought crisis in West Yorkshire, when an unprecedented public furore was provoked by the threat of water-supply cut-offs. A key outcome of this process was a profound crisis of confidence over the governance of water resources, which can be linked to the privatization of the industry and, more broadly, to the processes of redrawing the boundaries of the state. The water industry illustrates the contestability of neoliberal reforms seeking to inspire market-led growth with minimal government intervention. In particular, political dogma about the anticipated benefits of market competitiveness failed adequately to take into account public concern for the 'common good'.     

Mapping Commodities at Casselden Place, Melbourne

By the 1870s and 1880s Melbourne had emerged as Australia's primary centre of manufacturing. Factories and workshops produced a wide array of commodities, from drinks and foodstuffs, to furniture, machinery and building materials. Recent archaeological investigations at Casselden Place suggest that Melbourne was also an important destination for the import of commodities from international markets. Glass and stoneware containers from the site indicate the diversity of beverages, medicines, perfumes, condiments and other items routinely acquired by working people of an inner-city neighbourhood in the later-nineteenth century.     

Interpreting the Neolithic: The Monuments of North Yorkshire

Recent interpretations of the British Neolithic either consider the shared beliefs of this period or the short-term engagement of individuals with their material surroundings. This paper argues that, while both approaches provide exciting agenda, they fail to address the marked regional differences which exist within the range of monuments, and indeed have actually shifted Neolithic studies away from a consideration of such variability. A comparison of the monuments from North Yorkshire with similar evidence elsewhere in lowland England illustrates the value of an approach which concentrates on long-term trends in the continuity or transformation of social structures. It is proposed that the absence of causewayed enclosures and the early development of single-grave burials demonstrate a distinct social trajectory which continued with the construction of the later henges. The monuments are therefore seen to reflect long-term continuities in the social history of North Yorkshire.     

The Earls of Thanet and the Industrialisation of the Valley of Eller Beck at Skipton,North Yorkshire

The wooded valley of Eller Beck at Skipton in North Yorkshire became the focus for the early industrialisation of the town during the 18th century, as the Earls of Thanet pursued improvement of their estates. Initially, investment was directed towards the quarrying of limestone and its export via the Springs Canal. The quarrying interest had shifted further east to Haw Bank by 1785, and a network of dams and watercourses was then constructed to power a new cotton mill. The canal was extended concurrently, and a railway from Haw Bank to a new canal terminus was constructed, transforming the historic landscape in the valley beneath the north walls of Skipton Castle. Downstream from the cotton mill, enterprising new industry was established at the former manorial corn and fulling mills. Recreational use of the woodland has since become a significant component within the regional tourist economy, thereby initiating a discrete new industrial phase.     

The Yorkshire Rebellion of 1489 Reconsidered

Abstract

'The Clerical Population of the Northern Province in 1377–1381: a New Estimate'. Recent research has demonstrated the completeness and usefulness of the hitherto largely disregarded collectors' enrolments of the Clerical Poll Taxes of 1377–81 for the historian. This article makes use of a new edition of these enrolments and other recent research into the secular clergy and the religious houses of Northern England to draw up a new estimate of the numbers of clergy, secular and religious, in the York Province of the English Church. The estimate is compared with the last detailed estimate in the field, that of Josiah Cox Russell, whose estimates were published in the 1940s.