Medieval Farmstead (Ingram)
Centred NT 966164. To the south-east of the earthworks that comprise the settlement of Greave's Ash (NT 91 NE 1) are a series of other enclosures and remains of buildings.
The enclosures, although incomplete to the south where obliterated by the plough, are of rectilinear or irregular form and bounded by stony banks. At least four rectangular building steadings can be identified, with many large undressed stones in the foundations.
The character of these features is quite different from the settlement to the immediate north and the sharper profiled of the banks indicate a later date for the southern earthworks.
The remains appear to be those of a deserted hamlet. The date and reason for depopulation could not be ascertained. (1)
The complex of steadings and cultivation plots was probably more extensive than is now apparent allowing for modern destruction and the remains noted by MacLauchlan in the plantation to the west (see NT 91 NE 1). It is questionable whether it attained hamlet status, but
it is undoubtedly part of the pattern of medieval and later occupation prevalent in the area. Surveyed at 1:2500. (2)
Situated at NT 96771643 on a gentle south facing slope are the remains of three rectangular buildings and a contemporary field system. (See enlargement).
The buildings are now visible as turf and bracken covered wall footings, all about 0.5m high measuring 11m by 5m; 21m by 6m and 18.5m by 4.5m; the latter two being sub-divided. There may possibly be more beneath the dense bracken.
The field system to the north and west is still clearly discernible, marked by well made stony banks and lynchets though no definite field sizes are evident. It has been destroyed to the south by modern ploughing.
The whole seems to be the remains of a small farmstead and field system most probably medieval. Surveyed at 1:10,000.
(NB As it is situated to the immediate south of the Iron Age/Romano-British settlements of Greaves Ash (NT 91 NE 1) it is most probable that this area was not originally cultivated at that time, and later utilised through the medieval period up to modern times, but there is no definite evidence for this. See NT 91 NE 48). (3)
The field system is now recorded separately.
At 265m OD, on the S-facing lower slopes of Grieve's Ash, lie the remains of three rectangular buildings which may originally have formed part of a small shieling settlement (perhaps with NT 9616/8)
or a farmstead. Of the group, the westernmost building is the best preserved, the E building ruinous but recognisable, but the N example is particularly disturbed, consisting of one intact room with a detached end wall, suggesting that originally it consisted of two rooms; the E structure may have had up to four. All three buildings are aligned approximately E-W, and are constructed of roughly coursed boulder
walls still standing to a height of 0.4m and now spread up to 1.8m wide. The largest building is that to the E which is now 25m long by 6m wide; the W building is 20m by 6m, while the fragmentary N
example is only 12m by 6m (all dimensions taken across the walls). The scanty evidence for entrances occurs in the S walls of the two better preserved examples. No adjacent earthworks would appear to be associated with these buildings, the field system [NT 9616/11-45] being probably prehistoric and associated with the Greaves Ash settlements (NT 91 NE 1). (4a)
The enclosures, although incomplete to the south where obliterated by the plough, are of rectilinear or irregular form and bounded by stony banks. At least four rectangular building steadings can be identified, with many large undressed stones in the foundations.
The character of these features is quite different from the settlement to the immediate north and the sharper profiled of the banks indicate a later date for the southern earthworks.
The remains appear to be those of a deserted hamlet. The date and reason for depopulation could not be ascertained. (1)
The complex of steadings and cultivation plots was probably more extensive than is now apparent allowing for modern destruction and the remains noted by MacLauchlan in the plantation to the west (see NT 91 NE 1). It is questionable whether it attained hamlet status, but
it is undoubtedly part of the pattern of medieval and later occupation prevalent in the area. Surveyed at 1:2500. (2)
Situated at NT 96771643 on a gentle south facing slope are the remains of three rectangular buildings and a contemporary field system. (See enlargement).
The buildings are now visible as turf and bracken covered wall footings, all about 0.5m high measuring 11m by 5m; 21m by 6m and 18.5m by 4.5m; the latter two being sub-divided. There may possibly be more beneath the dense bracken.
The field system to the north and west is still clearly discernible, marked by well made stony banks and lynchets though no definite field sizes are evident. It has been destroyed to the south by modern ploughing.
The whole seems to be the remains of a small farmstead and field system most probably medieval. Surveyed at 1:10,000.
(NB As it is situated to the immediate south of the Iron Age/Romano-British settlements of Greaves Ash (NT 91 NE 1) it is most probable that this area was not originally cultivated at that time, and later utilised through the medieval period up to modern times, but there is no definite evidence for this. See NT 91 NE 48). (3)
The field system is now recorded separately.
At 265m OD, on the S-facing lower slopes of Grieve's Ash, lie the remains of three rectangular buildings which may originally have formed part of a small shieling settlement (perhaps with NT 9616/8)
or a farmstead. Of the group, the westernmost building is the best preserved, the E building ruinous but recognisable, but the N example is particularly disturbed, consisting of one intact room with a detached end wall, suggesting that originally it consisted of two rooms; the E structure may have had up to four. All three buildings are aligned approximately E-W, and are constructed of roughly coursed boulder
walls still standing to a height of 0.4m and now spread up to 1.8m wide. The largest building is that to the E which is now 25m long by 6m wide; the W building is 20m by 6m, while the fragmentary N
example is only 12m by 6m (all dimensions taken across the walls). The scanty evidence for entrances occurs in the S walls of the two better preserved examples. No adjacent earthworks would appear to be associated with these buildings, the field system [NT 9616/11-45] being probably prehistoric and associated with the Greaves Ash settlements (NT 91 NE 1). (4a)
N1266
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1957; E Geary
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1976; I S Sainsbury
MEASURED SURVEY, RCHME: SE Cheviots Project ; RCHME
HISTORIC AREA ASSESSMENT, Ingram Village Atlas (HISTORIC BERWICK VILLAGE ATLAS) ; The Archaeological Practice Ltd
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1976; I S Sainsbury
MEASURED SURVEY, RCHME: SE Cheviots Project ; RCHME
HISTORIC AREA ASSESSMENT, Ingram Village Atlas (HISTORIC BERWICK VILLAGE ATLAS) ; The Archaeological Practice Ltd
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