Bagdale

Looking across Westerdale towards New House Farm.

Looking NW, there is a buried stone trod nearby.

View from the top of the steep road that climbs up Top End out of Westerdale.

Although a much brandied term, believe it or not there are only a handful of prehistoric fortified sites recorded within the North York Moors. All, with one exception, are ‘Promontory Forts‘, the exception being Round Hill in Westerdale. These Promontory Forts are generally located on the Cleveland and Hambleton Hills: Eston Nab, Roulston Scar, Boltby Scar, Live Moor. They date from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age, at various times in the millennium before the Romans came. Their position on the cliff edges and promontories suggest there primary purpose was defensive, a place of protection for a community at night and in times of emergency. Round Hill is technically a mutivallate hillfort, which means having two or more lines of earthwork ditches. Although it’s on a hill, it is in the upper reaches of a spur of Westerdale and is surrounded by higher moors. It resembles a little brother to the well-known Maiden Castle in Dorset, and would have been clearly visible from within the surrounding dale. A high status residence and statement of local power. The site is entirely on private farmland so an opportunity to visit was not to be missed. Like Maiden Castle, the best photographed would be from above using a drone. Furthermore a band of trees covers most of the ditches. On the north east side these are discontinuous which can be partially explained by a staggered, more defendable, entrance. The defences would be expected to have consisted of a series of imposing ramparts as well as the deep ditches. A palisade would have topped the ramparts. Today, there is no evidence of these ramparts on the inside of the ditches but the fortified area has been well ploughed over the millennia. This morning, a large bull and his cows and calves protected this central plateau. Within this fortified area there would likely have been dwellings, shelters for livestock and storage areas for food and weaponry. The site is located on the main ironstone seam and field walking has produced evidence of low temperature slag, a characteristic of early iron smelting. No archaeological exploration has ever been done. A 16th-century document refers to the hill as ‘Burnt Oak Hill’. The same document also names the collection of farmsteads along the upper east side of the dale as ‘Trowsdale’. Both names have now been lost to history. From my blog Link Sources: The official blog for the North York Moors National Park. Available at: Link [Accessed 26 Aug. 2021] Wilson, Carol M. "Westerdale: the origins and development of a medieval settlement". ISBN 978-0-9565779-2-4 2013

Although a much brandied term, believe it or not there are only a handful of prehistoric fortified sites recorded within the North York Moors. All, with one exception, are ‘Promontory Forts‘, the exception being Round Hill in Westerdale. These Promontory Forts are generally located on the Cleveland and Hambleton Hills: Eston Nab, Roulston Scar, Boltby Scar, Live Moor. They date from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age, at various times in the millennium before the Romans came. Their position on the cliff edges and promontories suggest there primary purpose was defensive, a place of protection for a community at night and in times of emergency. Round Hill is technically a mutivallate hillfort, which means having two or more lines of earthwork ditches. Although it’s on a hill, it is in the upper reaches of a spur of Westerdale and is surrounded by higher moors. It resembles a little brother to the well-known Maiden Castle in Dorset, and would have been clearly visible from within the surrounding dale. A high status residence and statement of local power. The site is entirely on private farmland so an opportunity to visit was not to be missed. Like Maiden Castle, the best photographed would be from above using a drone. Furthermore a band of trees covers most of the ditches. On the north east side these are discontinuous which can be partially explained by a staggered, more defendable, entrance. The defences would be expected to have consisted of a series of imposing ramparts as well as the deep ditches. A palisade would have topped the ramparts. Today, there is no evidence of these ramparts on the inside of the ditches but the fortified area has been well ploughed over the millennia. This morning, a large bull and his cows and calves protected this central plateau. Within this fortified area there would likely have been dwellings, shelters for livestock and storage areas for food and weaponry. The site is located on the main ironstone seam and field walking has produced evidence of low temperature slag, a characteristic of early iron smelting. No archaeological exploration has ever been done. A 16th-century document refers to the hill as ‘Burnt Oak Hill’. The same document also names the collection of farmsteads along the upper east side of the dale as ‘Trowsdale’. Both names have now been lost to history. From my blog Link Sources: The official blog for the North York Moors National Park. Available at: Link [Accessed 26 Aug. 2021] Wilson, Carol M. "Westerdale: the origins and development of a medieval settlement". ISBN 978-0-9565779-2-4 2013

Although a much brandied term, believe it or not there are only a handful of prehistoric fortified sites recorded within the North York Moors. All, with one exception, are ‘Promontory Forts‘, the exception being Round Hill in Westerdale. These Promontory Forts are generally located on the Cleveland and Hambleton Hills: Eston Nab, Roulston Scar, Boltby Scar, Live Moor. They date from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age, at various times in the millennium before the Romans came. Their position on the cliff edges and promontories suggest there primary purpose was defensive, a place of protection for a community at night and in times of emergency. Round Hill is technically a mutivallate hillfort, which means having two or more lines of earthwork ditches. Although it’s on a hill, it is in the upper reaches of a spur of Westerdale and is surrounded by higher moors. It resembles a little brother to the well-known Maiden Castle in Dorset, and would have been clearly visible from within the surrounding dale. A high status residence and statement of local power. The site is entirely on private farmland so an opportunity to visit was not to be missed. Like Maiden Castle, the best photographed would be from above using a drone. Furthermore a band of trees covers most of the ditches. On the north east side these are discontinuous which can be partially explained by a staggered, more defendable, entrance. The defences would be expected to have consisted of a series of imposing ramparts as well as the deep ditches. A palisade would have topped the ramparts. Today, there is no evidence of these ramparts on the inside of the ditches but the fortified area has been well ploughed over the millennia. This morning, a large bull and his cows and calves protected this central plateau. Within this fortified area there would likely have been dwellings, shelters for livestock and storage areas for food and weaponry. The site is located on the main ironstone seam and field walking has produced evidence of low temperature slag, a characteristic of early iron smelting. No archaeological exploration has ever been done. A 16th-century document refers to the hill as ‘Burnt Oak Hill’. The same document also names the collection of farmsteads along the upper east side of the dale as ‘Trowsdale’. Both names have now been lost to history. From my blog Link Sources: The official blog for the North York Moors National Park. Available at: Link [Accessed 26 Aug. 2021] Wilson, Carol M. "Westerdale: the origins and development of a medieval settlement". ISBN 978-0-9565779-2-4 2013

Although a much brandied term, believe it or not there are only a handful of prehistoric fortified sites recorded within the North York Moors. All, with one exception, are ‘Promontory Forts‘, the exception being Round Hill in Westerdale. These Promontory Forts are generally located on the Cleveland and Hambleton Hills: Eston Nab, Roulston Scar, Boltby Scar, Live Moor. They date from the Late Bronze Age to the Iron Age, at various times in the millennium before the Romans came. Their position on the cliff edges and promontories suggest there primary purpose was defensive, a place of protection for a community at night and in times of emergency. Round Hill is technically a mutivallate hillfort, which means having two or more lines of earthwork ditches. Although it’s on a hill, it is in the upper reaches of a spur of Westerdale and is surrounded by higher moors. It resembles a little brother to the well-known Maiden Castle in Dorset, and would have been clearly visible from within the surrounding dale. A high status residence and statement of local power. The site is entirely on private farmland so an opportunity to visit was not to be missed. Like Maiden Castle, the best photographed would be from above using a drone. Furthermore a band of trees covers most of the ditches. On the north east side these are discontinuous which can be partially explained by a staggered, more defendable, entrance. The defences would be expected to have consisted of a series of imposing ramparts as well as the deep ditches. A palisade would have topped the ramparts. Today, there is no evidence of these ramparts on the inside of the ditches but the fortified area has been well ploughed over the millennia. This morning, a large bull and his cows and calves protected this central plateau. Within this fortified area there would likely have been dwellings, shelters for livestock and storage areas for food and weaponry. The site is located on the main ironstone seam and field walking has produced evidence of low temperature slag, a characteristic of early iron smelting. No archaeological exploration has ever been done. A 16th-century document refers to the hill as ‘Burnt Oak Hill’. The same document also names the collection of farmsteads along the upper east side of the dale as ‘Trowsdale’. Both names have now been lost to history. From my blog Link Sources: The official blog for the North York Moors National Park. Available at: Link [Accessed 26 Aug. 2021] Wilson, Carol M. "Westerdale: the origins and development of a medieval settlement". ISBN 978-0-9565779-2-4 2013

The hill fort is just visible on the right.

Perhaps in oldest walling in the dale.

Parish Boundary Marker 12 metres northwest of New Road north of Carr House. On the boundary of Westerdale and Danby parishes. Inscribed D and W on opposite faces. Milestone Society National ID: YN_WESDAN26pb

Parish Boundary Marker 40 metres southeast of New Road north of Carr House. On the boundary of Westerdale and Danby parishes. Inscribed D and W on opposite faces. Milestone Society National ID: YN_WESDAN27pb

An unfamiliar view of the lower portion of Westerdale, taken whilst being buffeted by Storm Malik, the latest of this winter’s storm. I am on what is named as Grange Bank on the old O.S. map, descending into the dale after a slog over Baysdale Moor. The photo gives a good overview of the medieval settlement area known as Lingcote End. It may be hard to appreciate as we speed through the modern village on the way up to Rosedale Head, but Westerdale is known as a poly-focal settlement. That is, there are several distinct settlement clusters of dispersed farmsteads. One of these was Lingcote End, a name recorded in a 1539 charter but probably older. The first element of the name probably refers to a cottage in the heather, whilst the ‘End’ is a settlement. The name is not on modern O.S. maps but ‘Lingcote End Gate’ is named on the 1952 6″ edition. The nearest farm, on the right, is Grange Farm, thought to have been the grange of Baysdale Abbey. Next, continuing right to left on a contour, is Hawthorn House. This was named as ‘Hawthorn Hurste’ in 1539. Next is Stocking House, recorded as a close ‘Stockynge’ in the charter. Finally there is Crown House, almost hidden by trees. The four farms occupy a bowl facing south-east, so catching the morning sun but sheltered from the prevailing south-westerlies. It was certainly sheltered as I made my way back into Baysdale along the modern Public Bridleway which links the farms. For sources and references see my blog Link

I suppose it would be petty of me to whine about this anthropogenic change to the moors created by mowing of the heather moorland. I should be thankful that this moor is no longer being burned and great plumes of smoke waft across the skyline but I fear the random patches of the old black swiddens did seem more pleasing than this new chequerboard effect. ‘Swiddens’, as you may recall, are the burnt patches of heather, and swiddening is a centuries old practice, pre-dating its ‘modern’ purpose of promoting the growth of young heather as food for the grouse chicks. It was the first step in turf graving, the cutting and gathering of the underlying peat for use as fuel, a practice no longer in use. In a record of the manor court of Fylingdales of 1682, the burnt moor looked “like a quilt that had been worked’’. Swiddening also provided an opportunity to gather the ling ‘gouldens’, the name of the partly-burnt storks, tie them in bundles and send them into towns to be sold as ‘kindling’. A task usually carried out by the older women. It may take up to fourteen years for a new growth of heather to become established after a burn, however during this time the swidden may be colonised by a variety of other plants. It’ll be interesting to see what the recovery and diversity of mowed heather is like. Diversity is of course the enemy of grouse management. In a hard to read dialect poem by the Yorkshire poet, Stanley Umpleby (1887-1953), the task of swiddening is depicted: Hoo can a poor fella ‘at’s choak’d up wi’ smeek I’ t’toon, where he’s sattled ti addle his keak. Fergit his au’d frinnds, an’ hoo all used ti sing Awaay ower t’moors bonnin’ swiddens o’ ling. An’ noo we ‘a’e March here. Ah knaw they’ll be, Oor Jack, Bill an’ Tommy. Aye! all theer bud me. An’ if war wiv ’em Ah seear Ah a’ud sing, Awaay ower t’moors bonnin’ swiddens o’ ling. For sources and references see my blog Link

The grassy area at Hob Hole.