From Cairns to Craters: Conservation Heritage Assessment of Burbage Moors for the Future Report No 8 Dr Bill Bevan 2006 Moors for the Future is supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund The Partners are: English Nature, National Trust, Peak District National Park Authority, United Utilities, Severn Trent Water, Yorkshire Water, Sheffield City Council, Peak Park Moorland Owners and Tenants Association, Defra, Country Land and Business Association, National Farmers’ Union Project Manager: Chris Dean The Moors for the Future Partnership The Moorland Centre Fieldhead Edale Hope Valley Derbyshire S33 7ZA Tel/Fax: 01433 621656 email: [email protected] website: www.moorsforthefuture.org.uk CONTENTS Page Abstract 1 Introduction 2 Location, Geology, Topography and Soils 2 Summary of Heritage Features 3 Summary of Archaeological History 5 Condition of the Archaeological Heritage 25 Methods for Safeguarding the Archaeological Heritage 27 Interpreting the Heritage of Burbage 29 List of Heritage Features 30 Recommendations for Further Work 103 Acknowledgements 104 Bibliography 105 ILLUSTRATIONS Photographs and Drawings Page 1 Location of Burbage Survey Area. 2 2 Burbage Survey - areas covered by Archaeological Features Plans After Page 2 3 Winyards Nick cairn field 7 4 Carl Wark from the north-west 9 5 Millstone Edge was a major stone quarry from the Medieval period to the 20th century 13 6 Domed millstones below Carl Wark 14 7 Millstone blanks exposed from the ground at Mothers Cap Quarry 15 8 Large crushing stone below Burbage Edge 15 9 The Duke of Rutland’s Green Drive (the yellow line running through the bracken 19 below Burbage Edge) 10 World War 2 bullet scars used by climbers for bouldering 23 11 Footpath erosion on Carl Wark. Left: northern end of western rampart. Right: entrance 25 12 Carl Wark from the south-east 30 13 Carl Wark from Higger Tor showing natural scarp edge 33 14 The entrance to Carl Wark, showing build of southern wall 33 15 Build of the southern wall of Carl Wark 34 16 Carl Wark’s western rampart 34 17 Shelter adjacent to Carl Wark, looking south-west 37 18 Standing stone with cairn in background, Winyards Nick cairn field 38 19 Round house, looking west 39 20 Plan of Winyards Nick Burial Barrow 40 21 Propped part-carved millstone, north-east of Carl Wark 42 22 Plan of Toads Mouth Burial Barrow 51 23 Mothers Cap quarry 53 24 Millstone Edge quarry face 56 25 Quarry building at Millstone Edge 57 26 Bloomery waste mounds 63 27 Bloomery slag eroding from the top of a waste mound 64 28 Building from north-east 65 29 Mortar scar on a boulder 67 30 Chisel marks on a boulder 69 31 Burbage Quarry quarry face 71 32 Packhorse bridge 74 33 Ringinglow Roundhouse, an ornate 18th century toll house 85 Survey Theme Plans After page 1 Prehistory 5 2 Communication Routes 10 3 Industrial 12 4 Enclosure 16 5 Recreation 18 6 World War 2 21 Archaeological Features Plans After page 1 Higger Tor - Carl Wark 30 2 Millstone Edge - Toads Mouth 46 3 Upper Burbage Bridge – Burbage Edge 60 4 Burbage Edge – Lower Burbage Bridge 66 5 Ringinglow – Houndkirk Road 78 6 Houndkirk Hill 86 7 Fox House – Piper House 92 1 Abstract A total of 157 archaeological features and 19 artefacts findspots have been identified in Burbage by the current survey. Twenty features and all 19 findspots are recorded in the South Yorkshire or Derbyshire Sites and Monuments Record (SMR). This represents a 785% increase in known archaeological features as a result of the current survey. A further 6 sites recorded in the South Yorkshire and Derbyshire SMRs are considered not to be antiquities. Eight features are Scheduled Monuments, two are Listed Buildings. Other features may seem insignificant in their own right, but their importance lies in what they tell us about the overall historic landscape of Burbage. The earliest features date from prehistory. These include the later prehistoric enclosure on Carl Wark, later Neolithic/early Bronze Age burial barrows and ring cairns, Bronze to Iron Age cairnfields and a round building. There are a number of findspots of stone tools dating from the Mesolithic to the Bronze Age. During the Medieval period the survey area was within the manors of Hathersage and Dore. The network of long-distance packhorse routes and Millstone production originated in the Medieval period, and an iron-smelting bloomery complex was in operation. Millstone production expanded in the post-Medieval period, eventually ending in the mid-20th century. Packhorse routes were replaced with turnpikes between the mid-18th and early 19th centuries, and passage was barred by dry-stone walls built as a result of Parliamentary Enclosure of Hathersage and Dore in the early 19th century. Burbage was enclosed by two Parliamentary Acts. The Hathersage, Derwent and Outseats Act was passed in 1808, with the Award following in 1830. The Dore Act was passed in 1809 and the Award drawn up in 1822. This resulted in the creation of six new farmsteads and the physical enclosure of four moorland areas. The Duke of Rutland acquired the moorlands in the 1820s, building nearby Longshaw Lodge. He built a scenic drive along Burbage Valley and used the moors for grouse shooting. His tenants continued to pasture sheep on the moors, but this was limited to benefit the grouse. Rambling became an important aspect of the moorlands by the early 20th century, often pitching walkers and gamekeepers in confrontation with each other. Public access slowly increased after Sheffield City Corporation bought Rutland’s estate in 1927 for water, with the Sheffield Clarion Ramblers at the forefront of campaigning for access. Burbage played two roles in World War 2. A bomber decoy was built on Houndkirk Moor to deflect bombing raids from Sheffield and a number of military units used Burbage Valley for training between 1941 and 1945. 2 Introduction The archaeological survey of Burbage has been commissioned by the Moors for the Future Partnership to provide an audit of heritage features and a summary of the area’s archaeological history. The report is based on original fieldwork and documentary research. The aim of the survey is to provide essential information on the nature and condition of surviving archaeological features and the historical development of the area to further the conservation, public interpretation, accessibility and education aims of the Moors for the Future project. This report accompanies a GIS database of all sites included in the list of heritage features. The database is held by Moors for the Future and the Peak District National Park Authority. Location, Geology, Topography and Soils The Burbage survey area is located 2km to the south-west of the edge of the Sheffield city conurbation and 1.5km east of Hathersage village (Illustration 1). It lies at the intersection between the Eastern Moors and the High Peak, immediately north of where the east-west width of the unimproved moorland narrows to less than 1.5km. The vast majority of the area lies within the bounds of Sheffield city, while the very western extremity is within Derbyshire. It comprises Burbage Moor, Burbage Valley, Hathersage Moor and Houndkirk Moor (Illustration 2). Together, these form a block of land measuring approximately 10km2 centred on NGR. 4270 3819. Illustration 1. Location of Burbage survey area. The whole survey area lies above Millstone Grit (Aitkenhead et al 2002), and includes three different topographies. 3 The high, heather-dominated plateau of Burbage and Houndkirk Moors forms the eastern half of the area. Reaching to a height of 438m above sea level, the top of the plateau has thin soils with outcropping millstone bedrock and boulder fields. The plateau rises steeply from the east, where it is dissected by two watercourses which drain extensive areas of wet bog on the plateau. A more gradual slope rises from the south, while the west is bounded by Burbage Edge. Burbage Edge is a southern extension of Stanage Edge and forms the eastern rim of the natural bowl-like amphitheatre that is Burbage Valley. The Valley hangs above the eastern side of the Derwent Valley between 300m and 400m above sea level. The western rim consists of a less precipitous ridge for most of its length, turning into Millstone Edge towards the south. Gently sloping valley sides descend towards Burbage Brook, the watercourse that runs through the valley, draining higher moorland to the north into the River Derwent. Flat-topped and dramatic millstone outcrops called Higger Tor (438m above sea level), Carl Wark (380m above sea level) and Over Owler Tor (380m above sea level) rise above the valley sides. The Millstone edges and outcrops create vertical scarp edges backed by outcropping bedrock and boulder fields. Boulders are scattered across the slopes below the scarps. The outcrops and many of the boulders below the edges are rounded from weathering, though in places more blocky, less weathered material exists on the ground surface. Vegetation is a mix of heather, bracken and coarse grasses. West of Millstone Edge we find the upper valley side of the Derwent Valley. A relatively steep drop below the ridge gives away to a more gently inclined shelf. Most of this area has been enclosed and improvement attempted. The centre of Burbage Valley is dominated by a conifer plantation, planted by Sheffield City Council between 1968 and 1971. Summary of Heritage Features A total of 157 archaeological features and 19 artefacts findspots have been identified in Burbage by the current survey. Twenty features and all 19 findspots are recorded in the South Yorkshire or Derbyshire Sites and Monuments Record (SMR). This represents a 785% increase in known archaeological features as a result of the current survey.