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     

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     

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.     

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.     

Re-used Boat Planking from a 13th-century Revetment in Doncaster,South Yorkshire

Abstract

AN EXCAVATION was undertaken during 1993–4 on a site at Low Fisher Gate, Doncaster. Urban archaeological deposits of 11th- to 18th-century date, together with evidence of an earlier course of the River Cheswold (the southern arm of the River Don), were uncovered. The excavations were among the largest ever to take place within Doncaster. Among the most significant finds was a riverside revetment, made from re-used portions of two medieval clinker-built boats. These have characteristics not recorded elsewhere which may represent features of a now lost, South Yorkshire boatbuilding tradition. This type of find is still rather rare and the Doncaster timbers add to knowledge of the variety of local vessels and construction features present in the medieval period. The rolls of fibrous material used to waterproof the vessels were also of interest for comparison with similar finds from England and Norway. The boat timbers have been fully conserved and are now on display in Doncaster Museum.     

Post-Roman crop production and processing: Archaeological evidence from Goldthorpe,South Yorkshire

The remains of a ditched field system dating from the late Iron Age to the early post-Roman period, and two associated corn drying ovens (dating to the 5th–6th centuries AD) were revealed during archaeological excavations at Goldthorpe, South Yorkshire. The site was excavated during 2012 and 2013, during which bulk environmental samples were taken in order to retrieve any surviving botanical remains from deposits associated with the corn drying ovens, and other features across the excavated area. Early post-Roman occupation is under-represented in the archaeological record, especially in northern England, as such human activity and subsistence during this period are currently not well understood. This paper combines evidence for the field system, the physical remains of the corn drying ovens and their associated botanical remains to further understand early post-Roman change and continuity in landscape use and crop production and processing practices.