Great Ryle Medieval Village (Alnham)
Area NU 021126 Two pasture fields of Great Ryle show evidence of depopulation in that stony banks divide the land into crofts - with smaller enclosures and platforms representing the buried foundations of buildings.
Enquiries revealed no significant field names and the reasons for and date of depopulation could not be ascertained. Site discovered during field investigation. (1)
Minor depopulation. Surveyed at 1:2500. (2)
No change to previous field reports. As shown on attached illustration the depopulation is too sporadic and insignificant to warrant further action. (3)
Visible on aerial photographs. (4)
Earthworks indicative of desertion, visible on aerial photographs. (5)
Great Ryle deserted medieval village. (6)
Documentary evidence: 1270, 1296, 1336, 1665, 1821. Earthworks of enclosures and possible building sites were noted at NU 021126, south of the road and at NU 021127, behind the cottages. An enclosure lies in the corner of the field at NU 018126; relating to it is a much larger area of enclosed broad ridge and furrow cultivation. (7)
The village of Great Ryle is first recorded in a Pipe Roll of 1177. The manor subsequently changed ownership several times, and in the Survey of 1541 a pele tower was recorded. The modern farm complex now overlies much of the village, and even in the 1890s little of the medieval village seems to have survived (5a, 70-1). However, the present survey has recorded several small irregular enclosures
[NU 0212/2A,2B,2C and 3] which may represent the peripheral tofts and crofts of the village. These are enclosed by turf-covered banks up to 2.5 m wide and surviving up to 0.7 m in height. A small U-shaped enclosure [NU 0212/4] no more than 10.0 m by 9.0 m overall, and standing to a height of 0.5 m, lies downslope from one of the crofts [NU 0212/3], and is now partly disturbed by a later field boundary [NU 0212/5]. This site, if not a small sub-enclosure could possibly be a former house. Trackways can still be seen running between the crofts and the fields [eg between NU 0212/2 A and B], but no pattern can be discerned to enable the original plan of the village to be reconstructed. (8a)(7)
Enquiries revealed no significant field names and the reasons for and date of depopulation could not be ascertained. Site discovered during field investigation. (1)
Minor depopulation. Surveyed at 1:2500. (2)
No change to previous field reports. As shown on attached illustration the depopulation is too sporadic and insignificant to warrant further action. (3)
Visible on aerial photographs. (4)
Earthworks indicative of desertion, visible on aerial photographs. (5)
Great Ryle deserted medieval village. (6)
Documentary evidence: 1270, 1296, 1336, 1665, 1821. Earthworks of enclosures and possible building sites were noted at NU 021126, south of the road and at NU 021127, behind the cottages. An enclosure lies in the corner of the field at NU 018126; relating to it is a much larger area of enclosed broad ridge and furrow cultivation. (7)
The village of Great Ryle is first recorded in a Pipe Roll of 1177. The manor subsequently changed ownership several times, and in the Survey of 1541 a pele tower was recorded. The modern farm complex now overlies much of the village, and even in the 1890s little of the medieval village seems to have survived (5a, 70-1). However, the present survey has recorded several small irregular enclosures
[NU 0212/2A,2B,2C and 3] which may represent the peripheral tofts and crofts of the village. These are enclosed by turf-covered banks up to 2.5 m wide and surviving up to 0.7 m in height. A small U-shaped enclosure [NU 0212/4] no more than 10.0 m by 9.0 m overall, and standing to a height of 0.5 m, lies downslope from one of the crofts [NU 0212/3], and is now partly disturbed by a later field boundary [NU 0212/5]. This site, if not a small sub-enclosure could possibly be a former house. Trackways can still be seen running between the crofts and the fields [eg between NU 0212/2 A and B], but no pattern can be discerned to enable the original plan of the village to be reconstructed. (8a)(7)
N3211
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1957; D A Davies
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1969; B H Pritchard
MEASURED SURVEY, RCHME: SE Cheviots Project ; RCHME
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1969; B H Pritchard
MEASURED SURVEY, RCHME: SE Cheviots Project ; RCHME
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