Archaeology, Conservation and the Late Twentieth- Century Village Landscape: with Particular Reference to Westmorland and North Lancashire in Northwest England

Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites

ISSN: 1350-5033 (Print) 1753-5522 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ycma20

Archaeology, conservation and the late twentieth- century village landscape: With particular reference to Westmorland and North Lancashire in northwest England

Tom Clare

To cite this article: Tom Clare (1996) Archaeology, conservation and the late twentieth- century village landscape: With particular reference to Westmorland and North Lancashire in northwest England, Conservation and Management of Archaeological Sites, 1:3, 169-188, DOI: 10.1179/135050396793136937

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1179/135050396793136937

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Download by: [The University of Manchester Library] Date: 12 October 2016, At: 05:45 CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES (1996) volume 1 pages 169-188

Archaeology, conservation and the late twentieth-century village landscape With particular reference to Westmorland and North Lancashire in northwest England

TOM CLARE

ABSTRACT

This paper argues that the present landscape and village is of archaeological significance and is needed both to understand and to preserve a representative sample of the past. It explores the relationship between archaeological data and monument types, and landscape character. Landscape assessment, including attribute analysis, is advocated as an essential archaeological method separate from the process of value judgement and selectivity. It concludes that function and process are as important as period in determining conservation strategies, and the potential role of sustainable development is discussed. The importance of village plan forms, vernacular architecture, field and landholding patterns is stressed, together with the need to recognize the historical importance of industrial villages.

Since the pioneering work of Hoskins [1] and landscape, the historical significance of those Beresford and Hurst [2],there can be few who are components and the conservation issues they not aware of the deserted medieval village (DMV) pose. and its contribution to the English landscape but, notwithstanding the work of Roberts [3,4] and COMPONENTS AND CHARACTER Taylor [5],archaeological work on deserted villages has not been matched by study of existing The importance of attributes to characterization of settlements. The underlying premise of this paper the resource is, however, that preservation of 'a representative sample' of the past for future generations, as the There are perhaps three principal reasons for Monuments Protection Programme (MPP) intends seeking to preserve the past: the need for future [6], requires the conservation of late twentieth- generations to be able to study their own past and century sites and landscapes for future the origins of their environment; the intrinsic generations. For that reason it explores the values of having a landscape of variable age; and relationship" between archaeological data and because it gives a sense of place and serves to objectives, and those of landscape assessment distinguish one area from another. Implicit in all such as the Countryside Character Programme [7, three is the need to retain physical, visible remains and Appendix here]. In particular, it describes of the past within the present landscape. Focusing those components that contribute to the character on those components, or attributes, which define pf the late twentieth-century village and associated the 'character' of the landscape or settlement also

has the advantage of allowing the targeting of their protection for future generations; and in the conservation resources [8,9]. Archaeological and case of Conway and Caernarvon their designation landscape conservation share common as World Heritage Sites. The inherent danger is requirements; both need to know how a landscape that conservation becomes simply the has reached its present form, and which aspects management or preservation of the quaint or of that form and which of its components are romantic - like the eighteenth-century grandee most. important to its character and ecology and, building a 'noble ruin' to 'grace' the skyline seen therefore, which are most deserving of from his modern house. 'It may be comforting for preservation [10]. us to consider that "conservatism" in landscape taste, and our predilection for the past, seem Attributes and the identification of the (inhabited prerequisite to providing us with the reference medieval village J points which apparently we need to sustain our cultural continuity. Unfortunately, and all too The process of (potential) change by which the often, this need degenerates into a nostalgic medieval village evolved into the present one has hankering for a landscape ideal of some bygone been neatly encapsulated in diagrammatic form age resulting in pure cliche' [11]. by Brian Roberts [3].It is, however, a process that The alternative, which is to identify landscapes also applies to the whole landscape and implicit considered representative of a particular period, in it is. the probability that, while some villages is not, however, without problems. In the first may have changed little since medieval times, place the basis of such an approach is still the others will have changed dramatically. In theory, value judgement of the kind that lies behind therefore, attribute analysis should allow the environmental assessment in general [12]. classification,· without preconception or forced Secondly, each 'Tudor farm' todaywas a Georgian categorization, of those living settlements with a farm, a Victorian one, an Edwardian one and is a character and fabric predominantly of one 'type' late twentieth-century one. For this reason there or period. It should, for example, allow the are methodological advantages in recognizing identification of 'inhabited medieval villages': a that such a farm is primarily a functioning attribute term in the MPP list of type sites. of the late twentieth-century landscape, and that Of course there can be no late twentieth- the first level of data gathering and classification century settlement that is an inhabited medieval should be of present landscape attributes. village per se. However, there is a sense in which inhabited medieval villages might be said to exist. What archaeologists seek to o 10Km 1. Arkholme '------l 2. Cliburn conjure up in the imagination by the terms 3. Crook 4. Crosby Ravensworth 'medieval church', 'Tudor farmhouse' or 5. GreatAsby 6. Great Strickland 'Georgian farmhouse' is a structure that 7. Knock 8. Maulds Meaburn 11 9. Natland has changed little since it was built in 10. Newby 11. Ravenstonedale medieval, Tudor or Georgian times. In this 12. RosgiU 13. Shap sense, and this sense only, the term 14. Tebay 15.Waitby 'inhabited medieval village' can be used of 16. Warton 17. Yealand those settlements that have changed little in the last five hundred years. It is certainly in this sense that York, Conway, Caernarvon and Chester are sometimes described as 'medieval cities', a term that is unlikely to be used for Carlisle or London. It is the number of narrow winding. streets and early buildings that allows use of the term, which makes them tourist destinations and which requires Figure I. The study area, showing settlements. THE VILLAGE LANDSCAPE 171

a b

c d

Figure 2. The differing character of some villages: a) Crook; b) Natland; c) Warton; d) Newby.

Secondary classification based on date of origin of recognizing landscape or monument types is can then be made, either to allow recognition of based on a classification of attributes. those parts of the twentieth-century landscape that are predominantly of an earlier period, or the VISIBLE ATIRIBUTES WITH HISTORICAL construction of data sets for a single period. It is, SIGNIFICANCE however, necessary to note that such data sets can themselves be organized either to include The relationship of attributes to visible character attributes existing at that time but of earlier date, can be demonstrated within the study area of this or only those structures erected during that period. paper (Fig. 1) by a comparison of the village For example, every stone circle surviving today 'cores' in Crook, Natland, Warton and Newby was part of the landscape of Roman Britain, (Fig. 2). They are visibly different because in though maps of Roman Britain rarely record such some (Warton and Newby) the buildings are structures. arranged either side of the road, while in others The identification, for conservation purposes, they are arranged on one side only (Crook) or of a typical Georgian or Tudor farm cannot, around a green (Natland). It might also be noted however, be based on date alone. The functioning that the buildings in Warton are terraced, like 'farm' included enclosures, lanes, trees and woods those of Crook but unlike those· of Newby and as well as buildings [13], not the buildings alone. Natland, which stand in their own plots. Again, By analogy, it is the grouping of such attributes, however, there are differences between the of whatever date, that formed the functioning buildings in Newby and Natland. Within Newby, village landscape and created landscape diversity. for example, most of the pre-1850 houses - and Equally it is the absence of some attributes that the emphasis is important - are adjacent to farm allow postmedieval villages to be recognized. buildings and possess a long rectangular plan The essential point here is that the methodology parallel to the main street. In Natland, by contrast, 172 TOM CLARE

most houses are post-1850 and wholly domestic part of this study area have been described in purpose, although two older farm units with elsewhere [14 for vernacular architecture; 3,15,16 long rectangular forms do occur within the village for plan forms]. Here it is sufficient to note that: core, just as there are modem houses in Newby replete with PVC 'up and over' garage doors. 1 The use of particular materials, such as brick It is evident from this comparison that a number rather than stone, or slate rather than thatch, of features corresponding to attributes - the affected the appearance of villages, influenced grouping of houses into rows, the number of building forms and had historical meaning. rows, the building of houses as terraces or as Within the study area, for example, the use of farms, and the presence of a green - contribute to brick is almost wholly nineteenth century or the distinctiveness of villages and thus to a sense later in date with the earliest examples being in of place. Moreover, some of the attributes, such areas close to railways. as the form of the buildings, appear to have a 2 Some vernacular forms, such as the cross-passage historical and functional meaning and are thus house [17], may be medieval in date, even important in their own right. though the extant examples appear to be later. 3 The fabric of apparently nineteenth-century Vernacular architecture and village morphology buildings may contain much earlier evidence and archaeological artefacts. In particular, Both the vernacular architecture and the plan gardens can contain middens. forms of those villages constituting the northern 4 Many villages possess the earthwork remains

a b

c d Figure 3. Earthwork remains of former houses at a) Newby and b) Maulds Meaburn; c) ruins of a cross-passage house at Waitby; d) a strip enclosure and access track, north of Shap. THE VILLAGE LANDSCAPE 173

of former buildings and, in several cases, ruins The possibility that Maulds Meaburn is a village (Fig. 3). that has - for whatever reason - shifted, or grown, southwards with time is suggested by Sometimes, as at Newby (Fig. 3a) and Maulds almost all of the earthwork platforms being Meaburn (Fig. 3b), these earthworks occupy the concentrated towards the northern end of the whole street side of a field; elsewhere they might settlement rather than occurring in isolated plots only be individual plots between extant structures. between extant buildings, a pattern. that. might While these sites provide an important opportunity have been expected if only random decay had to preserve and/ or investigate early building occurred. When the changes occurred is not clear forms and the medieval archaeology of those but the first edition Ordnance Survey map (Fig. 4) villages that survived into the late twentieth shows that, by 1840, all the strip enclosures lay century, their extent also suggests that some behind the extant houses, with none behind the villages, such as Maulds Meaburn, were once area of earthworks. larger than now or that 'shifting' has occurred Maulds Meaburn illustrates three general through time. Another possibility is that some problems concerning the morphology of the settlements were originally polyfocal [5, for the villages. Firstly, without excavation it is often not process in general]. possible to demonstrate contemporaneity of all earthworks and thus that they belong to a single event or single period monument. Secondly, and related to that, it is often not possible to be certain what the original village plan form was; those recorded on the first Ordnance Survey maps may or may not bear a close relationship to the

settlement's original morphology. While, for example, Brian Roberts [18,19] has suggested a twelfth-century date for the appearance of the 'planned' linear villages in the study area, Winchester [20] has argued that some village morphologies may represent a later reorganization of the settlements. Clearly there is a need to treat each example on its own and to differentiate, in discussion, between the act of nucleation and the form resulting from that process. Such a differentiation is consistent with the methodology, argued for above, of first describing the attribute (in this case the plan form), with the allocation of ' date at the next stage. Caution must, therefore, also be exercised in inferring medieval events from distributions of nineteenth-century plan forms. Thirdly, there is the question· of the relationship of village layout to its fields and to manorial arrangements .

Fields. and backlane o I km I A number of villages with a linear plan possess· a Figure 4. The strip enclosure landscape at Maulds backlane and its existence in earthwork· form at Meaburnas recorded on the first Ordnance Survey Maulds Meaburn (Fig. 3b) suggests it is an early Map c. 1840. Much of the pattern remains today. if not original component of the village layout. There, one detail in particular requires further 174 TOM CLARE

b 0 I km

,-I ----11

Figure 5. The plan forms of a) Great Asby and b) Warton, as recorded on the first Ordnance Survey Map c. 1840, a o 1 km showing the line of the back lanes (arrowed). I 1 comment: the backlane has a slight 'dogleg', they continue the lines (and, therefore, width) of suggesting it was constructed at the end of the adjacent tofts. This can be seen in the existing tofts (those enclosed parcels of land earthwork remains at Maulds Meaburn (Fig. 3b) within which each dwelling stood) and that these and Newby. In both cases, however, the were not laid out within an area already defined chronological relationship of the earthwork by abacklane. Although it is also apparent that remains is not clear, although the extant strip the sequence at Maulds Meaburn is complicated, boundaries do cross the former backlane in a this interpretation would explain why other number of places. This suggests either that the backlanes have a sinuous alignment. strips themselves (as landholdings) are later than Elsewhere, as at Newby (Fig.3a), Great Asby the backlane or that the process of enclosure (of (Fig. Sa) and Warton (Fig. Sb) the backlane existing strip holdings) was later. survives and/or can be recognized on only one It is generally accepted that the strips - as land side of the village, but whether this arrangement holdings - are of medieval date [11,21-23 for is original is not clear. If, however, it is original discussion of examples elsewhere].· Although it is then it may reflect the fact that these villages tempting to interpret the Westmorland ones as originally consisted of only one row (that on the twelfth century in date [18], it is necessary, as side with the backlane), or that there was a already noted, to draw a distinction between the tenurial differentiation between the two sides of process of enclosure and the arrangement of the village and only one social group possessed holdings. Whatever its date, and reason, the (required) a backlane to separate their tofts from process of enclosure represented a social or the fields beyond. economic arrangement/change from that which A distinctive landscape feature is the presence, maintained the 'open field system' so often held beyond the backlane, of strip enclosures. In to characterize the English medieval village some cases, as at Newby (Fig. 3a), they are landscape. To understand the latter requires, inordinately narrow, but in many other examples therefore, the understanding of the strip enclosure THE VILLAGE LANDSCAPE 175

landsca pes and the protection of them as strips and the strip enclosures, while landscape distinctive monument types. assessment would be primarily interested in both It is, however, also necessary to recognize that strip and non-strip enclosures rather than the the strip enclosures may have operated alongside earthworks. unenclosed strips: with an individual holding the land behind his/her toft in an enclosure while Church and hall farming land further away in an open field. When these open strips were eventually enclosed it was Roberts [3]has drawn attention to the presence of often by fields of very different shape (Fig. 6). 'magnate farmstead and church cores' as a feature The same arrangement can be seen at Newby, of the medieval village. However, within the reflected in both the distribution of strip enclosures study area it is by no means certain that all and in the landholding patterns (Fig. 7). The fact villages possessed such structures. While, for that the strip enclosures there occur only on the example, the classic arrangement exists at Cliburn side with the (earthwork) backlane, and that their and Crosby Ravensworth, at Warton (Fig. Sb) a owners also held land behind the other side of variation existed in that the position of the manor the village may, however, also be taken as house was taken by the 'rectory', the manor evidence for a different tenurial arrangement house being the castle of Mourholme some either side of the main street, as evidence that the distance to the east. Elsewhere, however, villages original village plan form was a single row or that appear to have possessed either only one or the whole of the southern side was abandoned neither of these features. For example, despite its early in the life of the settlement. size, Maulds Meaburn did not possess a church, Whatever the precise interpretation it is clear just as Newby did not. It is thus evident that

that historical process is represented in the late church and manor house are attributes of status twentieth-century landscape by both enclosure and do not represent attributes of village function and landholding patterns and that a single, former perse. functioning landscape can today be represented Equally, the relationship of Warton to the by two or more visibly different landscapes. One castle of Mourholme demonstrates that church consequence of the existence of both functioning and manor house could be attributes of the and relict features is, however, that different medieval landscape that were independent of the management practices may be adopted by different nucleated village. Indeed, it is possible that the organizations. Conventional archaeology, for location of such sites may predate the creation of example, would be concerned with the earthwork the villages: that they reflect a landscape of dispersed settlement. It is, therefore, possible to argue that it is the location or spatial pattern, rather than the fabric, of the existing monument types which is of greatest historical, landscape significance.

Earlier landscapes

In this context, it is necessary to note that beyond the village cores are the remains of individual, dispersed farmsteads. Some of these appear to be of 'native' or 'Romano-British' type [24-26]. Many of the sites made familiar in those sources are earthworks but cropmark sites have been recorded Figure 6. Earthworks and enclosures southeast of Great Asby (for the location see Fig. 5). The farmstead, in increasing numbers. Not surprisingly, the latter centre, is a Scheduled Ancient Monument; the are most frequent on lower ground and, like the remaining landscape was not previously recorded. earthworks, are usually found beyond the 176 TOM CLARE

Land farmed from Greengill Sike a .~. 'Land ..fa..rm.ed ,from Greengill Sik.e b:!i+ + Land farmed from Newby Head Land farmed from Newby Head Land farmed from < 1Km away Land owned by Lord of Manor Land farmed from 1-4Kms away

Land farmed from < 1Km away • !iW< Ulnd fanned from .-8Kms •••• , Figure 7. The pattern of landholding in Newby: a) 1838; o 1 km and b) 1995. I I intensively farmed land of the villages, suggesting fields at Ravenstonedale (Fig. 8) were indeed the others may have been ploughed away entirely or descendants of Romano-British settlements [24] been obscured by ridge and furrow. Some, or all, rather than late medieval expansions [l2]. of these may be those farmsteads abandoned for Nevertheless, the contrast between such areas of life in the nucleated villages but their date(s) dispersed settlement and that of nucleated villages remain to be· established. requires the latter to be regarded as an artefact of It can, however, be demonstrated that, by the a particular socioeconomic system. This end .of .the medieval period, there was a conclusion, that the nucleated villages do contemporary landscape of dispersed farms represent a particular and distinctive means of beyond the fields of the nucleated village. One environmental exploitation, is supported by the such landscape was mapped at Ravenstonedale fact that, within the study area, all the nucleated shbrtlyafter·1561 (Fig. 8). That record shows that villages are located on grade 3 agricultural land, some· extant, earthworks previously." interpreted with the areas of dispersed settlement as Romano-British farms [24] are of late medieval corresponding to land of grade 4 or 5 (as defined date [see also 16J.The Ravenstonedale map also by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, shows that two small groups of unprepossessing where grade 5 is the poorest and grade 1 the latetwentieth~century trees are in fact the remains best). of an unrecognized ancient woodland: part of the medieval village ·landscape. Other attributes of landscape and historical The pattern offarmsteads and villages is thus significance a complex· one· and in parts of the study area the settlement pattern appears to have always been a Many of the lanes and footpaths of the late dispersed one. It is thus possible that some of the twentieth-century landscape must also be regarded dispersed farms recorded beyond, the village as historical artefacts, their alignment, if not THE VILLAGE LANDSCAPE 177

described above. Equally, the head-dyke or ring fence, which separated the enclosed and unenclosed land, can be regarded as a separate monument, and some of twelfth-century date have been identified within the Lake District part of Westmorland. It is, however, important to recognize that it is the line rather than the extant fabric of the head-dyke that can be shown to be twelfth century in date. Moreover, a concomitant of preserving the earliest known head-dyke as evidence of the date of the practice is that those still operating in the late twentieth century must also be valued. In short, there is a need to recognize and conserve, alongside period assemblages, those individual attributes - whether artefacts or monuments, whether relict or still functioning - which form or formed distinctive land use systems and which demonstrate continuity of function through time.

Figure 8. Ravenstonedale Deer Park: a late sixteenth- century plan. The nucleated village is at the bottom. construction, being settled in medieval or earlier times. Here, however, attention is drawn to one particular type of routeway - the outgang, drift or droveway - which connected the village core to the unenclosed grazing land beyond the village fields and those of the dispersed farms. Eighteenth- century maps of the study area show how integral these routeways were to the overall function of the village and individual farms, and a number have survived (Fig. 9), especially where the high ground remains unenclosed. They are, however, not exclusively medieval in origin and can be found in prehistoric contexts where, together with the associated settlement nucleus, they form 'banjo settlements' [22,27, for example]. It is thus necessary to recognize that certain components of the landscape are indicative of particular land use practices as much as a particular • Land unenclosed in 1995 o Ikm '-period of time and that some of those practices changed little over millennia. In particular, the ITI3 Land enclosed since 1775 unenclosed common is one such survival and an Figure 9. The unenclosed common and droveways in integral part of the strip enclosure landscape Crosby Ravensworth parish c. 1951. 178 TOM CLARE

In this context, it might be noted that most aimed to identify those villages in which the extant pounds or pinfolds (for gathering stray majority of attributes were of eighteenth-century animals), ..cockpits, archery butts, maypoles, date or earlier. However, as discussed elsewhere crosses and stocks, are of postmedieval date. But in this paper, there is a need to recognize that does date really matter? They, too, are evidence function is as important to historical meaning of the fU!1-ctioningof dynamic communities across as period ascription. period b!oundaries. 4 It is essential to recognize that values of environmental assessment can be attached CLASSIFICATION USING ATTRIBUTES either by 'knowledgeable specialists' and/ or by 'lay people' [12]. The Countryside That the above attributes, which have historical Commission [9]·advocates the. preparation of meaning, can be used to classify and differentiate Village Design Statements by both groups. late twentieth-century villages is being 5 Values may, therefore, change with time. demonstrated by the author elsewhere [28]. Four points are, however, of relevance here. Firstly, These caveats are, as Johnson [12] demonstrates, the grouping of the attributes demonstrates the common and fundamental to the whole process existence of two .types of late twentieth-century of environmental assessment and conservation. settlement landscapes: one of. dispersed farms Thus the proponents of the first (English) Ancient with small nucleated cores of predominantly Monuments Act wrote: eighteenth- or nineteenth-century date; one of nucleated villages of medieval origin associated Surprise has frequently been expressed that we have ... with strip enclosures. Secondly, the aggregate omitted ancient Castles, Abbeys and other similar remains. On consideration, however, it will, I think, be area occupied by the latter landscape requires it felt that medieval monuments require to be dealt with to be considered a Regional Landscape within the in a different manner. In the first place, the expense terminology of the Countryside Commission [8]. would be much greater, and ought to be borne partly Thirdly, the analysis was able to use the abundance by local funds and individual liberality. Secondly, as of attributes to identify those settlements of a repairs would from time to time be required, questions of style and taste would arise, with which no central particular. period. For example, the villages of Commission could, I think, satisfactorily deal; and as to Rosgill and Knock were grouped. with deserted which local opinion ought to be consulted. [29] medieval villages (DMVs) as being of predominantly eighteenth century or earlier date. The conservation issues discussed below must Fourthly, therefore, the analysis of attributes can be seen within the context of these caveats. be used to identify villages for conservation purposes. CONSERVATION ISSUES Several caveats must, however, be added to the above: The relative importance oj period, junction and character Multivariate analysis of attributes does not suggest Rosgill and Knock, rather than Crook, The multivariate analysis of attributes referred to should be conserved. The identification of above did not, however, differentiate between all particular villages for conservation is a nucleated, linear villages. For example, Warton secondary step based on differential value (with terraced buildings) and Newby (with being attached to the attributes. buildings in their own plots) were grouped 2 This paper, like the Monuments Protection together. This is because the form, style and Programme, assumes that historical meaning purpose of the buildings in the villages were not has a value. recorded and used. It is, however, evident from 3 That assumption precedes and is reflected. in Fig. 2 that such attributes do have a critical role the attributes selected for recording and in landscape character and must, therefore, be analysis. In particular, the analysis undertaken recorded· and used in future studies. THE VILLAGE LANDSCAPE 179

some of the latter are Scheduled to preserve a distinctive monument type, both for future· scientific analysis and as a distinctive component of the present landscape, so some of the individual earthwork tofts in some villages must be protected. It is also the abundance of such gaps and their earthworks which help differentiate one late twentieth-century village from another, and which differentiates them, as successful medieval villages, from the failed ones. In reality, 'deserted' and 'shrunken' villages are parts of a spectrum of settlement, so preservation of one type as Figure 10. A typical cross-passage house at Great representative of the past requires preservation Musgrave. Although dated 1657, it is unlisted. of the other types. One type of village, distinguished from the The importance of vernacular architecture thus earlier agrarian villages by differences in attributes, requires value to be attached to attributes of style is exemplified by the nineteenth-century railway and materials as much as, perhaps more than, settlement of Tebay (Fig. 11). Like the earlier period. It also requires recognition of anomalies linear villages it represents a particular - and in the listing of buildings (Fig. 10) and, in particular, important - stage in the evolution of mankind acknowledgement that most, if not all, Grade I and the landscape. It will, however, be evident Listed Buildings are 'great houses' or the work of that the term 'village', when used to describe such particular architects. Building conservation is, it a settlement, is referring to size, not function. appears, closely allied to appreciation of art, but What distinguishes Tebay from villages like the maintenance of both distinctive landscapes Warton or Maulds Meaburn is not general plan and a representative sample of the past requires form, for all three possess rows, but architecture us to attach equal value to the best vernacular and the absence of strip enclosures. Retention of types [cf. 9]. Without such an approach there will the latter, together with any associated droveways be no context within which to appreciate the and unenclosed common, is thus essential to the historical importance of the 'great house'. maintenance of the historical integrity and In the case of individual earthworks existing historical meaning of those villages which began between extant buildings within village cores, life in medieval times. A concomitant of this is the there has been a presumption that they should need to recognise that those DMVs which have not be protected by Scheduling as they are not adjacent remains of contemporary field systems extensive enough. This relates to a question are more important for future study and already noted: is the conservation process preservation than those where only the earthwork concerned with the preservation of areas tofts survive, albeit that the latter might be valued representative of a particular period, or is it also as 'interesting' components of the present, visible concerned with a particular process such as landscape. village decay/change? The point to be made here is that understanding the evolution of the village Accommodating change and development in the in general, and why some villages succeeded and village cores some failed, requires recognition of the scientific importance of the individual earthwork within There is a need for the development control the living village. process to recognize that the fabric of many While it is possible to argue that an appropriate houses may be older than previously thought, a response is to allow destruction of such areas recognition that requires closer scrutiny and providing there is 'recording in advance of evaluation of alterations and minor extensions development' - 'preservation by record' - the and, in some instances, Spot Listing. same argument can be used of any DMV. Just as However, not all development requires 180 TOM CLARE

communities. Nevertheless, it must be recognized that such moves may add to the cost of new buildings and that the provision of 'affordable housing' is also a key to achieving, and maintaining, viable rural communities. In this context, the use of good-quality render and/or traditional whitewash would seem to have much to commend it in allowing new buildings to be constructed relatively cheaply and in the local tradition - within this particular study area. In many cases it is not only the building materials or finish which makes a structure seem out of place in the village, it is the style and form Figure II. Terraced houses in 'new' Tebay, built in the of the individual building that is wrong. Here it is nineteenth century to serve the railways. Tebay was a easy to point to the bungalow and those houses railway junction and also the point at which a second sporting double garages with 'up and over' doors steam engine had to be added to haul trains over Shap of PVC; but what of the Victorian edifices that Summit on the main West Coast, London-Glasgow now add to the 'charm' of some villages like Line. Crosby Ravensworth? Were they not equally alien planning approval. Farm activities, for example, when first built? Moreover, within one can include the erection of structures without geographical area, style sometimes changed with planning permission, 'smooth out' awkward period and 'class' so that, today, villages might bumps and hollows, and widen fields and include 'fine' examples of Georgian architecture trackways. The potential damage caused by erected by the yeoman farmer or Church alongside domestic gardens has, however, rarely been eighteenth-century terraced cottages. Here, the recognized, although digging there could destroy existence of these nonvernacular buildings can evidence such as former middens and unrecorded be seen to have significant historical meaning, to buildings. represent a particular stage in the continuity of The second major issue which must be village life and the development of present village addressed is how to preserve the overall fabric of character. the village: those attributes, such as plan form It is thus possible to argue that the construction and building styles, which give a sense of place of modern houses to a common design, whether and also have historical meaning. The importance the development is in Essex, the Cotswolds or the of these has already been argued but they have Highlands of Scotland, is acceptable as only recently been appreciated [9]. Within the representing simply the current phase of village study area, for example, traditional rendered life, one in which regional identities are subsumed stonework has been replaced by fine pointing, a by transnational media and cultural perceptions process that does, however, allow former and outlooks. alterations to be revealed. The need to reassess Idiosyncrasy can also be a factor, leading to, the place and value of local materials is, however, for example, the construction of a building more most clearly demonstrated by the use of appropriate to Nevada than wet Westmorland. unrendered brick, reconstituted/artificial sandstone Such processes continue the process of building or 'Lakeland stone' in areas dominated by limestone 'follies' or 'Victorian piles' alongside vernacular pavement and limestone walls (Fig. 12). cottages. However, while such structures might A case can, therefore, be made, on both be acceptable historically, they are unacceptable historical and amenity grounds, for the if the preservation of distinctive regional reintroduction or greater use of local materials. landscapes is a primary objective of development Such a development would also contribute to control and government policy. achieving wider objectives of sustainability and It appears, therefore, that there are two means thus maintenance of viable, vibrant rural by which late twentieth-century development THE VILLAGE LANDSCAPE 181

either as an adjunct to Conservation Area designation or to identify amenity land. One consequence of basing such policies on visual value is, however, that some buildings and areas within the historic village core are excluded from proactive planning. Consideration should, therefore, be given to drawing Conservation Area and planning policy boundaries around the historic core of the settlement rather than around some extant buildings, and the former backlane (or its equivalent) is an obvious boundary. The effect of this would be to identify the whole of the historic core - standing structures whether listed or not, gardens, earthworks and open spaces - as a single archaeological site within which any alterations, digging etc. may reveal archaeological information and where relevant planning policies would operate. All of the above arrangements may allow individual new developments to be accommodated within the villages without Figure 12. New, brick houses in Shap village. The village destroying their original, perceived form, but is located in an area of outcropping limestone (note reviews of rural housing needs indicate a the limestone, dry-stone wall in the foreground), 250m requirement for larger numbers of new houses, above sea level. which will only be capable of being met by the can be accommodated while maintaining regional construction of 'estates'. How can they be character. The first is to use local materials. The accommodated without destroying the character second is to develop - encourage - local of the individual village? One possibility, as architectural forms. Within the Lake District part suggested in South Lakeland, is to build a new of Westmorland, for example, there are a number village. Another is to locate new 'estates' in those of early twentieth- century buildings valued as villages which have 'little character' as quantified adding to the distinctiveness of the area, which by, for example, multivariate analysis. Such strategies, are the designs of one architect. Similarly, in however, risk exposing those villages selected for some parts of Europe, such as the Tyrol, new conservation to increased stagnation. Nevertheless, buildings are constructed in traditional vernacular targeting of selected villages for infrastructure is style. That many such areas correspond to tourist already occurring independently of conservation destinations is, perhaps, not wholly fortuitous. issues, and it is within that wider context that the New buildings that contribute to regional conservation decisions must be taken. distinctiveness can be seen as an economic asset. In a number of linear villages, such as Arkholme The development problem is, however, not and Great Asby, small estates have already been one of architectural design alone but one of constructed in the form of 'closes' or 'cuI de sacs' location and village morphology. Does, for within former tofts and· crofts. An alternative example, the value of maintaining a village's solution is to plan expansion at one end of the linear plan form take precedence over buried village, preferably that furthest away from the archaeology, by requiring new development to be highest concentrations of earthworks. This would by 'infill'? Clearly each case must be judged on its effectively continue the historical process of merits but the basic need is to have considered this 'shift' within the villages, leaving one part with a question and to have proactive planning guidance. high conservation value. Most Local Plans in England do contain some It is, however, clear that these practices will form of 'zoning', but this has been undertaken only be successful in integrating new development 182 TOM CLARE

if the layout- and overall form of the village - (Fig. 4), those further away might have remained respects the 'backlane' where the latter still forms 'open' (Fig. 6). If, therefore, the historical meaning the limit of the built-up area. The reason for this of the landscape is to be retained, it is necessary is not merely to retain something of the original to maintain the strip enclosures around the villages, village plan but to allow for the maintenance of the strip earthworks beyond and the non-strip the integrity of village and fields. Policy 2.46 of enclosures overlying those earthworks. In the new Eden District Local Plan has much to particular, such discrete areas need to be commend it: 'The extension of residential curtilage recognized .in the preparation of Landscape into agricultural land .constitutes development Strategy Areas [8]. which must be the subject of an .application for Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) planning permission'. designation and the Countryside Stewardship The danger in using the backlane in this way Initiative may be seen as means to achieve is that it creates two separate areas which, practical management of such areas. The problem historically, were interdependent and which is that they rely on the farmer/owner to 'opt in'; should, therefore, be conserved as representative they do not provide a means for the conservation of a single and particular land use system. On the bodies to target landscape from the 'outside'. The other hand, it recognizes that the two areas had latter, prescriptive approach is, however, different functions, albeit that they were predicated on the assumptions that society, interdependent. The backlane also corresponds advised by specialists, places a value upon - in broad terms - to current administrative particular attributes and wishes to see them distinctions, e.g. between the Department of the retained [l2]. It is an objective that requires more Environment ('planners') and the Ministry. of honest discussion than has occurred in the past Agriculture ('farmers'). This distinction must be when distinctions have been made between seen as confirming the logic of using the backlane 'conservation' and 'preservation', and when as a boundary for policies, but there is a conservation policies have been qualified by concomitant need to develop policies and a statements that 'they do not preclude change'. funded .conservation strategy which literally However, to accept that change can occur, albeit crosses both landscape and bureaucratic slowly, is to accept that, incrementally, all valued boundaries. One such approach could be that of attributes such as strip enclosure boundaries can Village Design Statements, as described by the disappear eventually. What then does it matter Countryside Commission [9]. whether they disappear now or in a hundred years? Why not let the contemporary castle or Conserving· the landscape beyond the village core listed building also disappear? In defence of the idea that conservation does In all parts of the study area many strip enclosures not preclude change, it can be argued that such now survive only as earthworks, and it is those a process was fundamental to the creation of the earthworks, together with the still functioning present diversity of monuments and landscapes boundaries, which form the original, whole field and is thus essential to the maintenance of such system of the village. It can thus be argued that diversity. It also recognizes that the values that continued loss. of extant field boundaries does society places upon its heritage may change with not matter, that the system could be conserved time. Against such arguments, however, is the for future generations as entirely an earthwork fact that current agricultural practices are not one. This approach fails, however, to recognize maintaining diversity, rather they are reducing it. that with modern farm practice boundaries are Equally, until society changes its values there is often completely removed, that they do not a need to preserve particular cherished monuments survive as earthworks. More importantly, it fails and landscapes. This objective was met, in the to recognize the existence of an important, if late nineteenth century, by adopting the stance discrete, historical pattern, namely that, while the that, where preservation in perpetuity was strip holdings around the village were enclosed considered desirable, ownership should be in THE VILLAGE LANDSCAPE 183

either the hands of the State or in that of another environmental management nor the economic body, such as the National Trust, dedicated to aspirations of many small farmers. Were such a that objective. practice adopted, many farms would disappear There is a need to review, in the late twentieth and there would be an increase in the dereliction century, whether such an approach has worked of field boundaries. It is, therefore, proposed that and whether other or additional approaches there should be a more robust alliance between might now be appropriate. How, if village strip farming and conservation than that which simply enclosure landscapes are an important part of our accepts 'farmers are the curators of the past, and the Monuments Protection Programme countryside'. The need is to recognize that, in an is concerned to 'preseroe a representative sample economic sector not wholly market led, there is of the past' (my italics), are they to be retained in a (conservation and social) need for prescriptive perpetuity until such time as society decides farming, for people to be able to opt into the otherwise? The simplest solution would be to prescription and for that prescription to be the schedule them. Significantly, such an approach primary objective of nonmarket-funded allows for change to occur subject to the approval agriculture. of society as expressed by the Secretary of State However, it is also necessary to recognize that for the Environment. However, there are two the basic change that rural settlement has limitations in such an approach. Firstly, scheduling undergone in the last fifty years may offer does not require maintenance of the monument, additional and new opportunities for conservation. it only precludes (by penalizing) damage. In particular, attention is drawn to one Secondly, it is·concerned with built attributes, so consequence of all the villages now having less the unenclosed commons and outgangs, which than 50%of their workforce engaged in agriculture: were integral to the functioning of the whole external monies are available. Most importantly,

landscape, are unlikely to be included. some of this externally earned income is available In· this context it is possible to argue that the to support smallholdings, the very kind of unit advantage of both the ESA and Countryside which is most suited to the maintenance, through Stewardship schemes is that they allow for such 'farming', of the strip enclosure landscape. In the symbiotic relationships, where they exist. In case of Newby, however, the current pattern of particular, it can be argued that maintaining landholding (Fig. 7) reflects that trend as well as traditional land use systems is the most cost- the retention of some small farm units. In Yealand effective means of achieving landscape Redmayne (Fig. 13), however, many former conservation. Moreover, reintroducing traditional smallholdings were split up, with the crofts west land use practices and forces would appear to of the main street being retained as residential have four other, related, advantages. Firstly, it curtilages (areas belonging to and adjacent to would allow for change to occur: a change of individual dwellings), while the land to the east detail but not of character. Secondly, it would not was acquired by a number of larger farms. Local requite· .decisions to be made about which topography may, however, have made Yealand landscape is more valued than another, which an exception and that example should not be should be targeted for conservation. Thirdly, it is taken as invalidating the urgent need to reassess sustainable and, fourthly, it is not interventionist the implications for countryside conservation, or prescriptive. However, as already noted, it rural and social policy and sustainability, of cannot guarantee to preserve those elements that breaking up small farm units for sale in two lots: society and science might wish to protect. Nor, one a residential unit and the other farmland. for the foreseeable future, is such farming likely to be anything other than interventionist. Almost Ensuring an adequate database certainly itwould require redirected public monies. On the other hand, unbridled, market-led Both academic research and prescriptive farming would deliver, within the study area, conservation (whether proactive planning, neither the conservation objectives of Scheduling, ESAs or other mechanisms) require 184 TOM CLARE

'monument' types for conservation purposes, and that spatial attributes- such as the width-to-Iength ratio of fields, and the location of lordship· or church sites - also serve to distinguish one monument or landscape from another. One other example of the need to widen conventional approaches to archaeological data is provided by the landscape north of Shap viUage,where there are fine earthwork remains of former strips and one narrow enclosure (Fig. 3d), which must be considered a fossilized medieval holding. Here the past intrudes into the present in several ways and, while the earthwork remains are the kind of evidence usually entered into SMRs, the enclosure is less likely to be so recorded. However, there are two reasons for regarding these particular landscape attributes as historically important. Firstly, the extant, .enclosed lane draws attention to the fact that the

main road running north from the village has moved and that there is a previously unrecorded earthwork predecessor of the present main road directly adjacent o I km I I to the strip enclosure. Secondly, it is possible to regard the strip enclosure as Figure 13. The village of Yealand Redmayne, as recorded on the a representative of the unenclosed first Ordnance Survey Map, c. 1840. Note the strip enclosures on medieval strip landscape or, together the west side on the main street. Many are now preserved as with the other large and contemporary residential· curtilage boundaries. enclosures, as evidence of the historical processes by which open strips were an adequate database. While, as already· noted, aggregated in the postmedieval period. Here, as there is a need to record data by conventional elsewhere, the temporal landscape can be seen to archaeological means, e.g. by period, it is apparent be a seamless· garment, one· in which it ·is not that the normal Sites and Monuments Record always practical to recognize individual (SMR) does not include all relevant material. For monuments. example, at the time of writing, neither the village There are, however, problems in classifying cores nor the field systems are recorded per se in the village strip enclosure areas as 'synchronous the SMRs of· Cumbria and Lancashire. Again, a relict cultural landscapes' , as defined by Darvill et recent archaeological survey recorded a number al. [30].In particular, there is a need to ensure that of linear earthworks - former strip enclosure the emphasis placed upon 'a particular horizon', boundaries - as archaeological sites, but the as a major characteristic of that landscape type, extant, still functioning boundaries were not should not be taken to mean 'period' in the identified as of archaeological interest. The latter narrow sense often used by archaeologists, for example reinforces the fact that function as much most village landscapes have two main horizons, as period must be a major factor in determining which relate to function and which cross THE VILLAGE LANDSCAPE 185

conventional period boundaries. The first horizon nucleated villages and strip enclosures. While corresponds to that period - phase of these might be called 'synchronous relict cultural environmental exploitation - when the landscapes' they represent a particular process of countryside was farmed in strips by almost all the landscape exploitation rather than a single, inhabitants of the village. The second relates to conventional period. Their functioning also that period - stage - when farming was no longer required the exploitation of unenclosed common undertaken by the whole village but by a. small land which, because of its lack of built attributes, number of consolidated units, all, some or none is likely to be identified as a different landscape of which might be within the village core. The type. It is, therefore, necessary to recognize corollary of this is that the recording of current that, if the preservation of a representative landholdings must form part of the id~ntification sample of the past includes the preservation of of landscape types for conservation purposes. functional land use systems, it will be necessary When this is undertaken (Fig. 7), a further to conserve several, different landscape question is raised: how many strip holdings must character areas. be lost for the landscape to be described as Characterization of the village landscape by 'relict'? Figs 3a and 3b show that such a process the grouping of attributes has, however, the has. been going on for centuries. The problem, advantage of allowing quantification of the however, only occurs when data has to be resource and the modelling of future change. grouped into predetermined .monument or Equally, focusing on the particular attribute allows landscape types with predetermined values. If the precise targeting of conservation. and! or the classification is derived from TWINSPAN management measures. Historical! archaeological grouping (multivariate analysis [4])of the attributes analysis of. the attributes of the· late. twentieth- no such problem arises. There the attributes century landscape, alongside conventional themselves might be said to define the landscape archaeological methods, also has the advantage types and the. valuing and naming of them is a of allowing recognition of new monument types. separate, secondary process. One such is the strip enclosure landscape noted It is, therefore, essential that the gathering of above. As a variant of the classic Midlands open archaeological data and decision-making should field system it represents the process of change include the attributes of the present landscape, and continuity across conventional period icientifying and grouping those features and boundaries, and recognition of such processes is aspects with historical meaning. In such a process, surely essential to the interpretation of other, and the Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) will all, archaeological data. consist of material selected from that much wider Study of the late twentieth-century landscape database and data added from sources other than thus provides a disciplined framework within landscape mapping. While, therefore, SMRs will which to collect archaeological data. It requires, be selective databases reflecting value judgements, for example, recognition of the nineteenth- century they will, nevertheless, contain information industrial village as an important monument type relevant to the interpretation and understanding and demonstrates that, in the past, archaeologists of the whole landscape. have selectively and arbitrarily collected 'sites and monuments', entering into the database the CONCLUSION earthwork remains of a former hedge but not its contemporary, still functioning counterpart. The Many of the attributes that give 'character' to the methodology of archaeological analysis thus late twentieth-century landscape are of requires· a distinction to be ,drawn between the archaeological interest and their grouping by collection and description of data, and its dating multivariate analysis is a useful tool in recognizing and valuing. Moreover, such a .two-stage discrete areas for conservation purposes. Of these, methodology allows the recognition and study of one of the most .distinctive landscapes with continuity and function on the one hand, and, on historical meaning is that characterized by the other, the grouping of data either into 186 TOM CLARE

landscape character areas and/or period Tom Clare is the former County Archaeologist landscapes. for Cumbria. He is senior lecturer in landscape Nevertheless, it remains the case that selectivity and environmentaLq-fchaeology at Liverpool John of data gathering· and analysis derives from the Moores University, ..UK. inherent and general problem. of environmental assessment, namely that the value placed upon Contact address: Biological and Earth Sciences, such data is that determined by specialists and/or Liverpool John Moores University, Byrom St, interest groups alone. This has implications for Liverpool L3 3AF. Tel: +44 151 231 2121 ext. 2245. conservation policies and the concept of Fax: +44 151 298 1014. preserving representative samples. That society places value upon landscape quality needs to be ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS honestly recognized as. a factor in conservation policies. The Monuments Protection Programme, Maps and photographs are by the author, except: Figs 3 for example, allows/requires prominent burial and 6, author/Cumbria SMR; Fig. 8, reproduced with permission of the Cumbria Record Office; Figs 4, 5 and 13 mounds be scored more highly than others, to reproduced from (Fig. 7 based on) the first Ordnance even though the scientific interest of both may be Survey six inch map, Fig. 9 based on the 1961 Ordnance the same. Equally, society places a value upon Survey 1:25000 map, with the permission of the Controller the presence of ruins in the landscape and this of Her Majesty's Stationery Office, Crown copyright. needs to be recognized in village studies. Scientific analysis of the village and its landscape requires REFERENCES the conservation and study of both the deserted medieval village with its associated ridge and Hoskins, W.G. The Making of the English Landscape. furrow and the late twentieth-century village Penguin, London (1955). 2 Beresford, M.W.and Hurst,J.G. (eds). DesertedMedieval landscape. Villages. Lutterworth, London (1971). This requirement reflects the fact that the 3 Roberts, B.K. The Making of the English Village. village represented, and in some areas may still Longman, Harlow (1987). represent, a particular cultural and economic 4 Roberts, B.K. Nucleation and dispersion: distribution horizon in the exploitation of the environment. It maps as a research tool. In: Aston, M., Austin, D. and Dyer, C. The Rural Settlement of Medieval England: is an artefact not solely of medieval date. Indeed, Studies Dedicated toMaurice Beresford andjohn Hurst. its postmedieval history is often as long as its Blackwell, London (1989) pp. 59-76. medieval one and as such it spanned almost the 5 Taylor, C.C.Polyfocal settlement and the English village. whole of the millennium now drawing to a close. Medieval Archaeology 21 (1987) 89-93. Similarly, in many areas the 'open field system' 6 Startin, B. Preservation and the· academically viable sample. Antiquity 67 (1993) 421-426. operated long after the end of the medieval 7 Brooke; D. The Countryside Character Programme. period: Here. the pattern of landholding was an Landscape Research 19(3) (1994) 128-132. important historical attribute and there is a case 8 Landscape Assessment Guidance. The· Countryside to be made for maintaining such patterns where Commission, Northampton (1993). they occur. Thus conservation, planning, social 9 Design in the Countryside Experiments. The Countryside Commission, Cheltenham (1994). and· economic policies, including sustainable 10 Fairclough, G. Landscapes from the past - only human development, will all have a role to play· in the nature. English Heritage's approach to historic preservation of the village landscape as a cultural landscapes. Landscape Issues, 11(1) (1994) 64-72. monument type representative of a particular 11 Astill, G. and Grant, A. The Countryside of Medieval horizon in the development of mankind. While, England. Blackwell, London (1988). 12 Johnson, A. The good, the bad and the ugly: science, however, historic patterns of land ownership and aesthetics and environmental assessment. Biodiversity village character might be maintained by the and Conservation 4 (1995) 758-766. influx of 'new, external money' into the villages, 13 Clare, T. and Bunce, RG.H. The historical and ecological the process will only be one of preserving the role of trees in a landscape in the English Lake District. character of the landscape not its historical Submitted for publication. 14 Brunskill, RW. VernacularArchitecture of the Lake functioning. Or will it? Counties. Faber and Faber, London (1974). THE VILLAGE LANDSCAPE 187

15 Roberts, B.K. Five Westmorland settlements: a APPENDIX comparative study. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological TERMS DERIVING FROM THE LEGAL Society XCIII (1993) 131-144. FRAMEWORK WITHIN ENGLAND OR THE 16 Roberts, B.K. Some relict landscapes in Westmorland: a reconsideration. Archaeologicaljournal150 (1993) WORK OF STATUTORY BODIES 433-455. 17 Brunskill, R.W.The development of the small house in the Eden Valley from 1650-1840. Transactions of the Conservation Areas Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and The Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Archaeological Society LIII (1953) 160-189. Act 1990 consolidated earlier legislation. The areas 18 Roberts, B.K.Norman village plantations and long strip should be 'of special architectural or historic interest fields in Northern England. Geographisca Annaler, the character and appearance of which it is desirable to 70B (1988) 169-177. preserve or enhance' [s.69(1)(a)]. However, Circular 8/ 19 Roberts, B.K. Rural settlement and regional contrasts: 87, para 54, adds that: 'They will often be centred on questions of continuity and colonisation. Rural History listed buildings, but not always. Pleasant groups of 1(1) (1990) 51~72. other buildings, open spaces, trees, an historic street 20 Winchester, A.].L. Landscape and Society in Medieval pattern, a village green or features of historic or Cumbria.]. Donald, Edinburgh (1987). archaeological interest may also contribute to the 21 Hall, D. The origins of open-field agriculture - the special character of an area'. archaeological fieldwork evidence. In: Rowley, T. (ed.) The Origins of Open Field Agriculture. Croom Helm, Countryside Character Programme London (1981). Organised by the Countryside Commission, the 22 Harvey, M. The origin of planned field systems in Programme is intended to map the diversity of the Holderness, Yorks. In: Rowley, T. (ed.) The Origins of English landscape using a variety of techniques. In Open Field Agriculture. Croom Helm, London (1981). particular, it has used both subjective description and 23 Sheppard, J.A. Field systems of Yorkshire. In: Baker attribute analysis on a lkm2 basis, the stated objective and Butlin (eds) Studies of Field Systems in the British being 'to draw on the strengths of both in a unique Isles. Cambridge University Press (1973). combination of electronic data handling, professional 24 Higham, N.J. Settlement and land-use in North Cumbria judgement, and public perception' [7]. in the first millennium AD: a type case study for the Highland Zone. Unpublished PhD thesis, Manchester Countryside Stewardship (1977). The purpose of the scheme is 'to help reverse the 25 Higham, N.]. The Northern Counties to AD 1000. declining quality of some of our most valued English Longman, Harlow (1986). landscapes, countryside features and the wildlife habitats 26 Westmorland. Royal Commission on Historical they support ... without creating new designations'. It Monuments, London (1936). combines cohservation with improved public access. 27 Bewley, R.H. Excavations on two crop-marked sites in Special grants are available for specified targets such as the Solway Plain, Cumbria. Transactions of the 'chalk and limestone grasslands ... historic landscapes Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and ... old orchards ... hedgerow resoration' . Pioneered by Archaeological Society XCII (1992) 23-48. the Countryside Commission, this scheme has now 28 Clare,T. A classification of villages in Westmorland and been transferred to the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries North Lancashire using multivariate analysis. Submitted and Food (MAFF). for publication. 29 Lubbock,]. Preface. In: Kains-Jackson, C.P. OurAncient Environmentally Sensitive Areas (ESA) Monuments and the Land Around Them. Elliot Stock, This scheme, first introduced in 1987 by the Ministry of London (1880). Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF),aims 'to help 30 Darvill, T, Gerrard, C and Startin, B. Identifying and protect those areas where the landscape, wildlife or protecting historic landscapes. Antiquity 67 (1993) historic interest are of national importance, from the 563-74. changes brought about by the· development. of more intensive farming methods'. Within the designated areas, farmers may opt to join the scheme, being offered payments 'to carry out agricultural practices which conserve or improve the landscape ... and historical features' in a prescriptive agreement.

Listed Buildings The Planning (ListedBuildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 states that the Secretary of State for the 188 TOM CLARE

Environment 'shall compile lists of such buildings, or with partners; give ... a better informed position to approve, with or without modifications, such lists influence more effectively other's land use policy and compiled by ... other persons or bodies of persons' activity'. which are of 'special architectural or historic interest'. Within the lists the buildings or structures are graded 0, Scheduled Ancient Monuments 11*and II), with the first two grades (about 6% of the The Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act total) being deemed the most important and, in practice, 1979, which consolidated previous legislation, provides likely to attract grant aid. However, all Listed Buildings for the Secretary of State for the Environment to must be maintained by their owners, i.e. they should compile lists, or schedules, of those sites which he not be allowed to decay, and all material changes to considers to be of national importance. It is this latter the building require permission (Listed Building characteristic that makes a Scheduled Ancient Monument Consent). different from all other ancient monuments, and there is no appeal against scheduling. In addition, the owner Monuments Protection Programme (MPP) must apply to the Secretary of State for permission to English Heritage, formed in ·1984 as the main public undertake any work on site. body responsible for management of the archaeological and building heritage, and official government adviser, Sites and Monuments Record (SMR) has launched a Monuments Protection Programme to A database recording the location and character of bring the Schedule of Ancient Monuments up to date reported or known sites and artefacts, which can include and to provide improved guidance on protection. The those now destroyed or lost. There is one such Record programme is examining records of 450,000 sites and for each county,. or equivalent area, in England. They findspots already known in England, doing new survey contain greater detail than the National Monuments work and research, and consulting widely to identify Record maintained by the Royal Commission on Historic remains meriting protection. At the same time, those Monuments. Planning Policy Guidance Note 16, issued monuments already scheduled are being reviewed, by the Department of the Environment, advocates their and protected areas revised as necessary. maintenance by local authorities as an essential tool to guide decision-making.

National Trust This charity, independent of central government, was Spot Listing set up in 1895 'to preserve places of historic interest or It is recognized that the importance of a particular natural beauty permanently for the nation to enjoy'. It building or structure may not have previously been has the unique statutory power 'to declare land listed for a number of reasons. Spot Listing allows for inalienable - such land cannot be sold, mortgaged or such buildings to be added to· the list and for anyone compulsorily purchased against the Trust's wishes to ask the Secretary of State to do so. without special parliamentary procedure'. Village Design Statements Regional Landscape Conservation Strategy These are described in the Countryside Commission's Closely linked to the Countryside Character Programme, publication Design in the Countryside Experiments [9]. this Countryside Commission strategy is intended to They arise from recognition 'that new development determine future 'landscape ambitions and develop a must reflect and respect regional diversity and local strategy to achieve this'. In particular, it is intended to: distinctiveness'. Although essentially undertaken as a 'improve ... understanding of factors influencing ... partnership between· residents and planners, it is regional landscapes; determine, in discussion with suggested that 'the production of a VDS is most likely others, what kind of landscapes we want and how to to be led by a village community with the input and achieve this; guide the Commission's policy advice and· information from the local planning development and operations decisions, including authority', the aim being to 'provide specific guidance resource planning; ensure productive communication to future applicants'.