Chapter 5: Medieval Period Resource Assessment Chapter 5 The Medieval Period Resource Assessment by Caron Newman With contributions by David Cranstone, Chris Crowe, Andrew Davison, Julie Edwards, Geoff Egan, Andrew Fielding, Mary Higham, Elizabeth Huckerby, Mark Leah, Jennifer Lewis, Mike Morris, North West Medieval Pottery Research Group, Michael Nevell, Rachel Newman, Richard Newman, Rob Philpott, Norman Redhead, Peter Ryder, Nick Thorpe, John Trippier, Simon Ward, Rhys Williams, Ian Whyte and Jason Wood. Introduction shown how research can be productive even in these areas. In eastern Lancashire much of the Medieval The region has benefited from a number of major settlement pattern is obscured by later development, research initiatives. These include multi-disciplinary and here the evidence is primarily presented by his- investigations at Norton Priory, the moated site of torical research completed 50 years ago or more Old Abbey Farm Risley, the Rows in Chester and the (Tupling 1927; Shaw 1956). deserted village of Tatton. These sites all lie in the The region’s SMRs for the Medieval period are south of the region, illustrating one of a number of dominated by rural sites. In total there are around biases and challenges inherent in the nature of the 6500 records for the Medieval period, of which over region’s settlement pattern and the character of its half are rural sites. Many of the SMR entries for ur- geography. Indeed, the most recent synthesis of Me- ban sites relate to Chester and Carlisle, particularly dieval landscape in the North West does not include defensive and ecclesiastical features. 21% of the en- Cumbria in its definition of the region (Higham tries can be considered higher status sites, either cas- 2004b). Whilst the degree of nucleation and disper- tles, defensible buildings, moated sites or parks. sion within the settlement pattern is not entirely geo- Around 550 SMR entries, or 8.5% of the total, are graphically related, there are clear differences be- findspots. In addition, the Portable Antiquities tween the Medieval settlement geography and typol- Scheme database holds another 906 findspots for the ogy in Cheshire to that in Cumbria. The intervening North West (March 2006), most of which (456) are area to an extent shades from the south to the north. from Cheshire and Lancashire (264). This general view is complicated, however, by a broad east to west settlement trend reflecting a Rural Settlement and Land-use movement away from lowland to upland (Winchester 1993) and by numerous more local variations. In ad- Research has concentrated traditionally on nucleated dition archaeological research into both Medieval villages and moated sites. Only in Cumbria has there rural and urban settlement is hampered by the partial been much archaeological research into dispersed destruction of the evidence through 19th and 20th settlements and these have tended to be transitional, century urbanisation and industrialisation, removing seasonally occupied habitations (Lambert 1996; Hair both above and below ground evidence in a belt in- & Newman 1999). In Cumbria and elsewhere in the corporating much of north Cheshire, south Lanca- region valuable research into such settlements has shire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester. Docu- been undertaken by historical geographers (Atkin mentary-based reconstruction of Medieval landscape 1985; M C Higham 1996; Winchester 2000b). Only in Merseyside (Lewis and Cowell 2002), along with for the very late Medieval period in the uplands has Lewis’s work (2000) on surviving earthworks of the permanent dispersed settlement been investigated in West Derby Hundred, and Nevell and Walker’s re- detail (Winchester 2000b), though more limited his- search (1998) into the buildings of Tameside, have torical investigations have been undertaken of Archaeology North West Vol 8 (issue 18 for 2006) 115 The Archaeology of North West England Cheshire’s dispersed settlements (N J Higham 1987). able to place the nucleated settlement that developed Excavation for the most part has been concentrated at Tatton Old Hall in the 13th century within a con- in the south of the region, especially on moated sites. tinuum of landscape development (N J Higham One of the larger excavations of Medieval settlement 2000). Elsewhere, the lack of archaeological study of remains undertaken in the region is at Tatton Park the wider Medieval landscape has meant that agricul- (Ch) (N J Higham 2000). Very few of the site com- ture, for example, has remained the province of his- parisons made in the publication of this site are from torians and historical geographers (Singleton 1963; the region, however, because most comparable pro- Watson 1989; Youd 1962), although the county- jects have been undertaken elsewhere, and the region based Historic Landscape Characterisation (HLC) lacks a major archaeological research project such as programmes have mapped elements of Medieval field Wharram Percy in Yorkshire, Raunds in Northamp- systems. Similarly, there have only been a few ar- tonshire or Shapwick in Somerset (Wrathmell 2003, chaeological investigations of other Medieval land- 364). use activities such as fishing and hunting. Deer parks, With the exception of Tatton (Ch), there has been for example, are a common feature across the North little attempt to place settlements within their wider West region, but few have been studied from an ar- Medieval landscape or to examine the interrelation- chaeological perspective. They can be identified as ship of settlements and their agricultural systems. A landscape features within the HLCs, and at Dalton territorial framework not only provides a context for (C), part of the park boundary has been traced on the understanding Medieval settlement but can provide ground (R Newman pers comm). Using documentary the research structure within which a settlement or evidence and field observation, the boundary of Bur- settlement pattern can be investigated (Harvey 1996, ton-in-Lonsdale Chase, partly within the Forest of 34). At Tatton, the excavations lay at the core of a Bowland, has also been traced (M C Higham 1994). project which examined the development of the Within Morecambe Bay, a complex series of fishtraps manor and its settlements in relation to the tenurial has recently been uncovered at Cowp Scar (C; Fig exploitation of the landscape. Multi-period in scope 5.1). The structures comprise stone and timber walls, and multi-disciplinary in technique, the project was with ponds and sluices, covering an area of approxi- Fig 5.1 Medieval stone and timber fishtraps at Cowp Scar, on the north side of Morecambe Bay, Cumbria. The arms of the traps are several hundred metres in length (Cowp Scar Research Group). 116 Archaeology North West Vol 8 (issue 18 for 2006) Chapter 5: Medieval Period Resource Assessment Fig 5.2 Maulds Meaburn Medieval Village, Crosby Ravensworth, Cumbria (Cumbria County Council). mately 275m by 350m, with further stone structures Survey maps, has allowed settlement density, nuclea- still being revealed. Radiocarbon dates suggest that tion and dispersion to be portrayed (Roberts & some of the traps were operating in the 14th century, Wrathmell 2000a) and appears representative of the but continued in use into the post-Medieval period (J Medieval settlement pattern. This shows large tracts Manning pers comm). without settlement in the uplands and a generally The issues and approaches put forward by the Me- high density of dispersed settlement elsewhere. Areas dieval Settlement Research Group are relevant to the of dispersed settlement have been correlated with region and form a context within which to assess areas of surviving woodland in the late Anglo-Saxon Medieval rural settlement research within the region period (Roberts & Wrathmell 2000b, 87-8), which thus far (Wrathmell 2003). These include: the neces- correspond with the ancient landscape zone defined sity to recognise the significance of dispersed settle- by Oliver Rackham (1986) and contrast sharply with ments and avoid an over-concentration on nuclea- the planned landscapes of Roberts and Wrathmell’s tions; the study of settlements within their estates Central Province in the Midlands. Certainly, the and the context of their territories; multi-period re- North West region contained many forests and search and a focus on periods of transition; the study chases, not necessarily wooded, suggesting that the of local vernacular architecture, and finally, interdisci- model of a closely planned landscape of open fields plinary programmes of research. All these issues had around a nucleated village centre is not generally ap- already contributed to research in the region, includ- plicable. Away from the uplands the only areas where ing an outline research agenda for Medieval settle- dispersed settlement density is not high or very high ment studies in Lancashire (R Newman 1996a, 120- is along the Solway coast and in parts of west Cum- 3). They were at least partially embodied in the Tat- bria (Roberts & Wrathmell 2000a). Even so, in those ton Park project (N J Higham 2000), and informed parts characterised by dispersion, the settlement pat- the approach to the investigation of the moated site tern was often mixed with significant numbers of at Risley (Ch) (Heawood et al, 2004). nucleated village-type settlements (Fig 5.2) existing alongside isolated farms and small hamlets, for exam- Settlement Pattern ple in the Manchester area, the Wirral, the West Lan- cashire Plain, along the Morecambe Bay littoral and The recent mapping of rural settlement in the 19th in the Eden valley. Whilst many hamlets and farms century, as depicted on the first edition Ordnance were associated with curvilinear field enclosures, Archaeology North West Vol 8 (issue 18 for 2006) 117 The Archaeology of North West England Fig 5.3 Medieval earthworks at Dallam Park, Milnthorpe, Cumbria (Egerton Lea). characteristic of assarting, townships characterised by as the features excavated at Hackthorpe (C), where it dispersed settlements, particularly in the Greater was not possible to associate Medieval pottery with Manchester and east Lancashire areas, were often securely dated contexts (Johnson 2004).