ORE Open Research Exeter TITLE The Historic Landscapes of the Severn Estuary Levels AUTHORS Rippon, Stephen DEPOSITED IN ORE 25 April 2008 This version available at http://hdl.handle.net/10036/24173 COPYRIGHT AND REUSE Open Research Exeter makes this work available in accordance with publisher policies. A NOTE ON VERSIONS The version presented here may differ from the published version. If citing, you are advised to consult the published version for pagination, volume/issue and date of publication Archaeology-in theSevern Estuary 11 (2000),1i9-i35 THE HISTORIC LANDSCAPES OF THE SE,VERI\E.STUARY LEVELS By StephenRippon The deepalluvial sequencesthat make up the SevernEstuary Levels comprisea seriesof stratified landscapesdating Jrom earlyprehi,story through to thepresent day. Most of theselandscapes are deeply buried, and, whilst exceptionally 'historic well-preserved,are largely inaccessibleand so ill-understood.It is only with the landscape',that lies on the surface of the Levels, that we can really start to reconstruct and analyse what thesepast landscapeswere like. However, although the enormously diverse historic landscapeis itself an important source of information, itsfull potential is only achievedthrough its integration with associatedarchaeological and documentatyevidence. This presentsmany challengesand whilst much has beenachieved in the last tenyears, there is a long way to go before we can write a comprehensivehistory of the SevernLevels. Two techniquesare vital. Historic landscapecharacterisation focuses on the key character defining featttres of dffirent landscapesand can suggestthe processes that may have led to their creation.This is almost invariably a complexstory as mostlandscapes combinefeatures from a numberof dffirent periods, thoughretrogressiveanalysis can disentangle this palimpsest. In the past ten years, both techniqueshave been successfullyapptied to various oJ' the Severnwetlands, although attention hasfocused upon the wholly cultural process of reclamation; thepotentialll.t significant role played by certain features of the natural environment,including the belt oJ-sanddunes that fringe much of the Somersetcoast, has been neglected.Elaborate models have also been constructerJ,based largely on landscapemorphology, and there is a desperateneed to test thesehypotheses throttghfieldwork. Above all there is a need to move beyondsimple landscapecharcterisation towards more detailedpalaeogeographies. Introduction logical, palaeoenvironmental,and documentary resources,it is perhaps Despitethe long history of archaeologicaland surprisingthat until recently few attempts palaeoenvironmentalinvestigations in thepeatlands weremade to combineall three.Indeed, it was only in the 1990sthat the value of Somerset,the remarkablyrich archaeologyof the of what is arguablythe richest resourceof all - the historic Severn Estuary as a whole only came to be landscape(the presentpattern of fields, roads, recognisedfrom the 1970s.Following the pioneering settlementsetc.) - startedto be recognised.This work of John and Bryony Coles in the Somerset paper will review some of the developmentsin Levels,subsequent discoveries elsewhere around the historic landscapestudies around the Severn,while Estuaryhave maintained the region'snationai if not a case-study,revisiting the Caldicot Level in South international profile. These finds are significant in East Wales,will iliustrate how we can progress themselves,but in coming from a wetland environ- beyond simple historic landscapecharacterisation menttheir value is enhancedby the integrityof their towardsmore detailedpalaeogeographies. context:their associationwith other contemporary landscapefeatures and palaeo-environmental evidence(e.g. Bell et al. 2000; Nayling 1998; Coastal wetlands: the range of Nayiing andCaseldine 1997).In themedieval period, opportunities documentarymaterial provides yet anothersource The presentappearance of the SevernLevels is of information, and the abundant archives of almost entirely due to the work of some 60 Glastonbury Abbey for example, whose estates generationsofhuman communitiesover the pasttwo included large tracts of the SomersetLevels, have millennia, with a freshwater,largely agricuitural, also made a major contributionto the development landscapebeing createdfrom a wide range of of agrarianhistory (e.g.Harriscn 1997;Keil 1964). intertidal and perimarine environments. That Consideringthe richness of these archaeo- mankind shouldchose to transform the iandscanein -, r46 Rippon this way is not simply an issuelbr wetland the problem of flooding rs to moclifythe landscape. archaeolo-eistsand historians.The reasonsbehind for example through the constructionof lou, environmentalchange on this scalehave implications embankmentsto protect crops from surnmer for any scholar sfudying theseperiods, in that the flooding, but without the intentionof providingyear_ 'ring' 'summer reasonswhy wetlands were manipulatedto this round flood defence.Such or dikes, extent must reflect wider economic,social and certainiy existed in the Netherlandsand Gerrnany demographictrends. (Bazelmanset al. 1999;Lambert 1911,94; Mayhew 'infield' As describedin moredetail elsewhere (Rippon 1973,48), and the enclosuresidentified on 2000a),the rich ecologicalmosaics that coastal the SevernLevels may haveperformed a very similar wetland environments contain offer a very wide function (Figures 1 and 4; Rippon 2000a).While 'summer range of natural resourcesthat were exploitedby such dikes' will provide someprotection, human communitiesthroughout prehistory. These they existed in what remained an intertidal resourceswould haveinciuded fishing, wildfowling, environment and in order to realise fully the the grazing of livestock, and the opportunity for agricultural potential of coastalwetlands, the producing salt by boiling seawater, and could be landscapeneeds to be transformedthrough reciam_ exploited without significantly changingthe natural ation.This involvesthe constructionof a seawall to environment.Experiments in the Netherlandsand keep the tides peffnanently at bay, and led to an Germany(Bottema et aL.1 9 80 ; YanZetst et al. 1976), intertidalenvironment becoming wholly freshwater aiongwith palaeoenvironmentalevidence from both andwith a managedwater table. This sequencefrom Britain and the continenthave shown that it is even exploitation, through modifi cation, to transformation possibleto grow crops on a high intertidal marsh, appearsto have occurred in both Britain and though such environmentsare not ideally suitedto mainland Europe (e.g. Bazelmanset al. 1999; agriculture(Behre and Jacomet1991; Behre et al. Crowsonet a|.2000; Rippon 2000b, 169-77),and 1J9f; Crowsonet a|.2000; Korber-Grohne1981; asthe historiclandscape oftoday was createdthrough Pals 1999 Yan Zerst 1914;1989). One solutionto a combinationof theseprocesses, it containswithin 'infield' Figt'tre I : The early medieval at Vole, in Brent on the Somerset Levels (see Turner et al.fig. I this volume Jbr location). These oval-shaped enclosures are characteristic of the highea coastal parts of the Severn Levels and would appear to have been the earliest reclamations in an otherwise open and relatively feature-less marsh. A key issue is 'ring' 'summer' whether they pre-dated the construction of a sea wall (ie were analogous to the continental or dikes, or whether they were simply the earliest areos to be enclosed in an erea recently protected from tidal inundation bv embankment.salong the coast and major tidal rivers. --r 1 1'l Historic Landscapesof the SevernEstuary L-t / its fabric valuableevidence for the changingways survival of ridge and furrow in a few areascertainly in which humancommunities decided to utilisetheir supports the documentaryevidence for fairiy environment. extensivearable cultivation, at leastfrom the 11,hto 14thcenfuries (Allen 1992;Rippon 1996, fig. Reclamation: high cost, high risk but 52; 2000a,229-34),while arableyields and land values high return were far higher than on the adjacent drylands was the Reclamation key processin the creationof (Harrison 1991).The archaeologicalevidence for iandscape the historic and as such is deservingof arablecultivation on the Levels is slim, suchis the further attention.There has been some debatein lack of large-scaleexcavation and palaeoenviron- yearsabout the recent adoptionof new agricuhural mentalsampiing from medievalsettlements, though and the technology context in which agricultural resultsfrom Seabank(Insole 1999)and Rockingham occurred (Astiil innovation and Langdon 1991). Farm (Locock and Lawier 2000, 100) on the provides Reclamation oneexample. The costs,risks Avonmouth Levels and Puxton in North Somerset benefitsof that approach and to landscapeutilisation (Julie Jones,unpublished data) suggest that wheat, been considered have in detail elsewhere(Rippon bariey,beans, and possibly oats were cultivated. The In summary,the 2000a). rich natural resourcesof significance of the legumes is consideredfurther coastalwetlands are lost oncethe areais embanked below. drained,representing the and first cost of reclam- Despite the apparentextent of arable cultiv- The capitalcost ation. of constructingflood defences ation,all the SevernLevels retained extensive areas is also enonnous,and once built, the seawalls and of pasturewell into the medieval period. This is drainagesystems required regular maintenance: reflectedin the fabric of the historic landscapeby cost another of reclamation.Even well maintained the extensive network of often funnel-shaped floodprotections