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The brigantia archaeological practice FARM CONSERVATION SCHEME ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY IN KINGSDALE, NORTH YORKSHIRE (Yorkshire Dales National Park) A report to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority November, 2000 CONTENTS 1. Introduction to the Survey Area 2. Methodology 3. Note on Place-Names 4. List of Place-Names 5. Bibliography 6. Note on Dry-Stone walls 7. List of Selected Photographs 8. List of Colour Slides (in project archive) 9. Site Record Sheets 10. Stone Wall Record Sheets 11. Drawings 12. Selected Photographs 1. INTRODUCTION TO THE SURVEY AREA. 1.1 The land surveyed in this report includes 1260ha of upper Kingsdale and a smaller area to the north and west of the village of Thornton in Lonsdale. Kingsdale lies within the parish of Thornton in Lonsdale on the western edge of the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The survey area extends to the watershed on both the eastern and western sides of the valley. It is bounded on the eastern side by the summit ridge of Whernside, over High Pike, Combe Scar and West Fell and reaches a maximum altitude of 700m aOD. This line also repre- sents the parish boundary between Thornton in Lonsdale and Ingleton. The land below the ridge is character- ised by tussocky moorland on millstone grit and Yoredale Series geology; which gives way to a carboniferous limestone escarpment at approximately 350m aOD. Much of this grassland is open or divided into very large enclosures. The north western extent of the survey area runs along the northern summit ridge of Gregareth, at a altitude of 620m aOD; south of this, the western boundary is marked by the road in the valley bottom. 1.2 The valley has a relatively shallow U-shaped profile with a flat valley floor, the clays, sands and grav- els of which are the remnants of a late glacial lake dammed at its southern end by terminal moraine. The braided channels of the former course of Kingsdale Beck are still very evident, meandering across the flood plain. The beck is now canalised along much of its length, from Kingsdale Head Farm to Keld Head, the result of nineteenth century enclosure awards (Fig. 5) 1.3 The valley includes two farmsteads, Kingsdale Head and Braida Garth. Kingsdale Head is situated,, as the name suggests, at the valley head at an altitude of 303m aOD, at the confluence of Long Gill, Buck Beck and Backstone Gill, which thereafter become Kingsdale Beck. Braida Garth is situated approximately half way down the valley on a river terrace at a height of 290m aOD. Both farmhouses are of nineteenth century date with contemporary or later outbuildings. 1.4 The survey also included a small area to the north and west of Thornton in Lonsdale village. The land here is generally low-lying, reaching a maximum height of 190m aOD on Banks Hill and characterised by south facing improved pasture. FIELD EVIDENCE. 1.5 The survey area included thirty-three previously recorded sites: of these eighteen had been verified by field investigation and the remainder were the result of documentary information taken from the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map of 1851. This survey has identified a further twenty-seven sites; of which the greatest concentration is situated between the two farms, Braida Garth and Kingsdale Head, on or just below the scar, on the east side of the valley and at an altitude of between 280m and 330m aOD. 1.6 The area of the survey situated to the north and east of the village of Thornton in Lonsdale yielded little in the way of new sites, but rather verified the absence of two of the sites recorded from the 1st edition Ordnance Survey map. The land here is relatively low-lying and much improved. Many of the stone wall field boundaries have been removed and replaced by fences. The earliest features present are the lynchets on the south side of Banks Hill, otherwise all features are post-mediaeval in date. PREHISTORIC SITES 1.7 The scope of the survey did not allow for detailed fieldwalking which might reveal the scatters of flint which are likely to be the only surviving evidence of Mesolithic activity in the area. It is nevertheless likely, a priori, that such material exists in the Kingsdale area: the distinctive narrow-blade tradition of the Pennine later Mesolithic is abundant in the general area. 1.8 In the absence of any known inhabited cave sites in the valley, the scheduled Neolithic / Early Bronze Age ring cairn known as Apron Full of Stones (BGS 31) is our earliest evidence for settlement in Kingsdale. Located at a height of 285m aOD on a river terrace above Kingsdale Beck, the cairn was excavated in 1972 by Alan King (King:1978). Structurally it was found to be simple and of a single period, with a boulder kerb. It was noted that the gritstones and sandstones of which the cairn body was built were graded in size, with the larger towards the base. King suggests an early Bronze Age date for the monument, but the specific results of the excavation were meagre: a cremation unaccompanied by grave goods and two possible grave pits, one of which may have had a stone lining, were empty. Finds were limited to a collection of flints. It seems equally possible that the origins of the monument may be Neolithic. Despite the lack of a ditch, it could be argued that the structure as much resembles a small henge-type monument as it does other ring cairns of the limestone zone (the large henge at Mayburgh is similarly ditchless, built of boulders and in a riverside position). This interpre- tation might be supported by the difficulty which exists in showing the site to be primarily funereal in nature and perhaps also by its relatively low-lying riverside location (Turnbull:1993). IRON AGE / ROMANO BRITISH SITES 1.9 Ten new sites of a probable Iron Age / Romano-British date have been identified during this survey, in the form of small circular enclosures and associated field systems. The greatest concentration of these is around Low Brown Hills Pasture which includes BGS 4,5,6 on the valley floor, BGS 15 on Low Brown Hill and BGS 12 and 14 beside Gaze Gill. 1.10 BGS 4,5 and 6 (Fig. 11) are situated on unimproved land in the valley bottom, beside a former chan- nel of Kingsdale Beck (Fig. 5) and are interpreted as part of a hut circle settlement, BGS 5 and BGS 6 being linked by the remains of a limestone rubble wall, which extends for some distance south-east of BGS 6 along the bank of the former beck. The enclosures are constructed of limestone rubble standing to a maximum height of 0.42m and a 1m width at the base. Although there are no discernible features to the east, the vegetation there becomes increasingly dense and marshy, making identification difficult. The dimensions of the enclosures are roughly equal, at about 8.5m to 9.5m diameter. 1.11 The best example of this type of site within the survey area is BGS 15 (Fig. 15), situated in a ele- vated position (320m aOD) on Low Brown Hills Pasture. The large enclosure includes at least three and proba- bly five hut circles on its north and west perimeter, built onto the large enclosure wall. The part of the south side of the large enclosure is no longer visible due to blanket peat coverage. The hut circles are generally smaller than those of BGS 4,5 and 6 with diameters of 6m-8m. 1.12 BGS 14 (Fig. 14) situated beside Gaze Gill consists of two limestone rubble enclosures, the most north-easterly of which includes an annexe on its north-east side, (similar to that at BGS 5) and loose limestone rubble banks extending from it to the north and south-east. The enclosures are generally less regular in shape than BGS 4,5 and 6 with diameters of 6m-8.25m and appear to be more like BGS 15. 1.13 Two further hut circles were identified at the south-western extent of Long Scar, BGS 20 and 22 (Figs. 17 and 18). The remains of both are fairly slight and include limestone rubble banks extending from them (in the case of BGS 22, some 50m directly eastwards to the base of the scar). BGS 24 (Fig. 19) on the edge of Georges Scar is similar in dimensions to BGS 20 and 22 with a 9m diameter and also includes rubble banks extending a few metres to the north and east. A further very slight enclosure was identified approxi- mately 50m to the south-east. Isolated fragments of limestone rubble banks are also discernible in the immedi- ate area, but these were felt to be too slight to make a positive identification. 1.14 In a fairly isolated position, at a height of 380m aOD above Long Gill, a further possible hut circle settlement (KHS 1) (Fig. 24) was identified. The most easterly of the three enclosures has a diameter of only 5m and includes an interior cell built into its south-west wall, the space within being only 1.5m in diameter. The enclosure has a entrance on its western side, facing down the slope, and a limestone rubble bank extending down from it towards a further enclosure. This second low limestone rubble enclosure is squarish in shape and approximately 15m across, but missing its south and part of its west sides. A further 15m to the west is a circu- lar pile of limestone rubble 5m in diameter.

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