Survey update - week two
Week two of the survey began and ended in High Wood, which
extends north from Arklid Great Wood. The topography of High Wood has presented
some challenges, as it is situated on the hillside above Nibthwaite and is so
steep in places (not least the slope on which we concluded Tuesday’s survey!) that
it has required a flexible approach to covering the ground at times. One things
has not changed, and that is the archaeology encountered. With nearly 50
features currently recorded, it has generated over half the total survey data
gathered in weeks 1 & 2. The wood offers lovely views across
Lake Coniston from it’s elevated position, and when visiting on Friday
morning John from the National Park suggested it may have been one of the
locations that inspired Arthur Ransome, writing in ‘Swallows and Amazons’, to
describe the woods twinkling at night with the all the lights from the charcoal
burners stacks. This is a delightful image, quite fitting for what has proved
to be a delightful little wood. All is peaceful and serene in High Wood these
days, with only the melody of birdsong and the whisper of the wind disturbing
the soothing silence, but what a different place it must have been when Ransome
was writing.
The 1850 OS map records several tracks entering and
crossing the wood. Interestingly not all feature on the 1890s edition
which might suggest they were no longer being used. The surveys have detected
these tracks following the alignment shown on the mid 19th C
map, and in places scored deeply into the bank through the passage of many
people and pack animals into the wood. They take a sinuous course to counter
the slope, zig-zagging back and forth in a series of switchbacks perhaps
suggesting packhorse transport methods rather than carts. In addition to those
recorded on the early OS, the survey has detected other unrecorded tracks
creating quite a network in total. The tracks invariably lead to pitsteads
as they wind through the trees. Some pitsteads are located on the line of the
track itself raising the possibility the tracks were being extended as one
pitstead ceased to be used and was replaced by another further into the
wood.
The 1850 map also records an area on the highest
ground that appears to be moorland scrub rather than woodland. The
boundary wall can be traced and just outside it was found the hearth structure
and footprint of a woodsman’s hut near a charcoal pitstead. Interestingly,
further walls, at times only visible as moss-covered lines of low tumbled
stones have been found that are not shown on any historic maps. Is it possible
whatever boundary or division they de-marked may have ceased to function even
before the 1st edition was made? It will be very interesting to see
how the line of these walls sub-divide the wood and how they relate to the
pitstead and hut distribution. Might we see a picture of the divisions
within the wood from a time prior to comprehensive mapping!
The northern boundary of High Wood follows the line of
the burn which lies in a small but steep-sided gorge - much too
perilous to survey! During lunch near the stream on Friday the distinct
level top of a pitstead seemed distantly visible through the trees on the far
bank. With a reasonable place to cross identified, and a promise extorted
that if she didn’t return her lunch could be divided between the remainder
of the crew, Clare made a rapid walkover that put GPS points on 3 further
pitsteads, a wall and track in this small area.
What a hive of activity this wood must have been! It
requires only a small leap of imagination to conjure how numerous those ‘twinkling
lights’ must have been to Ransome, and countless others, who glanced up
at the dark wooded slopes from the valley below.
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