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*****SWAAG_ID*****
527
Date Entered
20/05/2012
Updated on
20/05/2012
Recorded by
Tim Laurie
Category
Settlement
Record Type
Archaeology
Site Access
Public Access Land
Record Date
19/05/2019
Location
Little Rowleth Pasture. Lodge Green.
Civil Parish
Melbecks
Brit. National Grid
SD 95817 98438
Altitude
368m
Geology
Sandstone outcrp and talus slope below the Middle Limestone which forms Low Row pasture.
Record Name
Little Rowleth Pasture. Rectangular Structure No 3
Record Description
This rectangular structure is the third of a total of five similar house or shieling type dwellings with gable end entrances located on or below the 370m contour in steep, rock-strewn pasture in Little Rowleth Pasture between the unfenced road at Bents and Lodge Green. This example, which is reasonably well preserved, measures 12m*6m overall and is located on the contour in an area of degraded woodland marked by the presence of blackthorn thicket, thorn coppice and woodland indicators. Low Rowleth House No 3 is also interpreted as a pionneering dwelling of Pre-Conquest, Norse character.
See also SWAAG Record No 525 for further notes on the context of this open settlement.
Dimensions
12m*6m
Additional Notes
This Record is preliminary to a detailed survey of the whole of Little Rowleth Pasture by SWAAG Members as soon as can be arranged, in the coming months. The siting of these structures is of great interest. The shielings or houses, if this is what they are, are located on a steep high slope (at around the 370m contour) in what was recently woodland and which is, today, very poor rough rock strewn pasture. Immigrant norse farmers looking to settle at the head of Swaledale in a landscape where all the better land was already occupied may have needed to settle at first and until assimilated within the local population on the only land available, ie high, poor, marginal land which was then almost certainly woodland as the presence on this hillside of ancient relict thorn coppice, elder, bluebell, arum, primrose and dogs mercury all indicate. This open settlement is well situated to afford access to the good grazing available higher upslope on the on the Middle Limestone which outcrops above the sandstone. The presence of well defined trackways leading to the higher pastures reinforces a pastoral occupation here.
Image 1 ID
2920 Click image to enlarge
Image 1 Description
Rectangular house No 3. Note the well preserved gable end entrance.
