14th October 2009

For the past three weeks the field survey team have been feeling the autumn weather closing in as we have continued to plot the details of the increasingly intriguing earthworks at High Close. Still using a combination of GPS, measuring tapes and alidade, we are gradually pulling together the complex of features across the field. And we are constantly surprised by the complexity of the site – how many times have we planned a quick survey of a small area of the field and found that we have had to spend ages walking around a single feature, puzzling over the best way to represent it on our plans.

Struggling to extract a peg from the ground!

However, the plans are coming along very well, and we’ve been very lucky with the weather so far. The thistles haven’t beaten us – we’ve had great fun trampling them down out of the way of our tape measures, and pulling the thistle spines out of our trousers!

Jane Lunnon, UWHG Archivist

Wednesday 23rd September 2009

Another fine and at times sunny day at High Close, although quite windy which caused problems with the tapes from time to time. The cows were however the major problem. Ruth should never have said that they had lost interest.

Roger has more audience than he bargained for

At lunch time they targeted the unguarded GPS system, nudged it out of position and dribbled slime all over the carrying cases. Alan was the next victim when they decided to eat his flags, since they outnumbered him twelve to one they had munched several before Roger went to help. It is a pity no one managed to photograph Roger running after a cow with an orange flag in its mouth.

In spite of the cows the work progressed. Alison continued her lonely perambulation examining the walls and apart from Helen substituting for the missing Janis the survey teams continued from where they left off last week.

The complexity of the different phases and the sheer number of features in this enclosure mean that progress is slower than we had hoped. However a plot of the southern end of the area is now taking shape, although more willing volunteers to help with the work would be very welcome.

Pat

Wednesday 16th September 2009

No blog since 2 September does not mean that nothing has been happening at High Close – just that everybody has been too busy with other things as well!

However we have been back surveying on both Wednesdays - 9th and 16th! We are all making steady progress in our respective areas. Jane, Pat and Ruth continue trying to make sense of their large rectangle of straight (ish) and definitely sinuous banks, with a few mounds thrown in for good measure. David and Phil continue to make progress with the alidade and Alan and Ann are plotting yet more banks with the GPS.

The field looks very pretty with flags of red, orange, green and yellow in strategic places! Alison meanwhile continues to disappear up the hill, to investigate yet more of the walls. Pauline and Janis are also now to be found higher up the field - silhouetted on the skyline!
The extra Saturday planned by Roger seemed to be the day when everyone was busy with other things, so on an absolutely perfect September day Ruth and Roger managed to finish all the bits and pieces at the southern end of the field.
The bullocks appear to have lost interest in us, having decided that the tapes and flags are not really any good to eat, but they are still very curious about Roger’s new vehicle, which they continue to investigate on a regular basis!
The weather now has a definite Autumnal nip – how many more Wednesdays will we be able to continue, before it breaks, I wonder.

Ruth Spencer, UWHG Chairman

Wednesday 2 September 2009

And so, with a summer of archaeological excavations and holidays behind us, we're back at High Close for the autumn session of field surveys. With the weather suitably autumnal, 11 of us set to work picking up the threads of where we left off, way back in May. A team of three finished the drawings for the corner they had begun in the spring, while two others marched off with the GPS to take a series of readings over the west side of the field. Alison re-acquainted herself with the drystone walls, following up on her interesting investigations of orthostats and possibly mediaeval boundaries. David considered where to start with the alidade and helped Roger set up the fixed reference points, while Ruth, Jane and Pat investigated a new patch for detailed topographical survey. Having selected our area and decided on the logistics of the survey in this new area, we established the base lines. Eventually, the herd of bullocks who had expressed great curiosity throughout the morning in our work, and had followed us around like faithful dogs, had become bored with us, and decided to wander off. By early afternoon it was getting very gloomy overhead and a downpour threatened. So we packed up and headed back for Grassington, just managing to get into our cars as the heavens opened and heavy rain came down. Still, we had made a good start and felt we were certainly back in the swing of things again.

29 March 2009

We arrived at High Close again today as a party of 12.

We gathered around to hear Roger explain the use the total station – a theodolite with added distance measurement capabilities. The complexities of the trigonometry associated with its operation however, failed to impress us as we slowly began to feel the cold creeping up on us.

Setting out maker flags © Jane Lunnon

We were glad to get moving again and warm up, working on the plans we had started at the last field session. The sun even came out for awhile although it clouded over again later in the afternoon. Eager to complete our drawings, two teams worked hard to make some sense of the complex earthworks in our allocated parts of the field. Marking out the main features with flags we happily measured and drew and hachured all day. Working in a sea of coloured flags we made good progress although it wasn’t always easy working out which linear earthwork was built earlier or later than the next, and defining the breaks of slope was not always clear either.

Lower down the field, Roger used the total station with Ian as helper, and David J. worked on the alidade with Phil’s help.

Roger working with the total station © Jane Lunnon

Alison went off on another long ramble along the enclosure wall, and on to neighbouring walls, examining them in detail for clues to their history. She returned in the afternoon quite excited about some fine examples of walls she’d found nearby.

Despite the good progress the drawings weren’t quite completed – we simply ran out of time. Some of us will just have to turn up at the Saturday session due to take place in a couple of weeks, and finish it then!

Apart from that we can now look forward to the next phase of the project – with some indoor sessions involving oral history, and the resumption of field surveying in the autumn. In the meantime, several of us will be busy enough over the summer working on excavations elsewhere.

Roger explaining the mysteries of the Total Station by Helen

http://www.uwhg.org.uk/projects/high_close/high_close.html

And the Yorkshire Dales Landscape Research Trust website at http://www.ydlrt.co.uk/high_close/high_close.html

Jane Lunnon

High Close Workshops

Surveying
Two survey workshops will be held in High Close pasture, Grassington, on Wednesday April 29 and Saturday May 9. While both are open to anyone, the Wednesday will be of particular interest to those who already have some experience

The Saturday will cover basic techniques for anyone new to earthwork surveying, or wishing to improve their skills (please let me know via info@ydlrt.co.uk if you would like to join this workshop). Meet at 10am at High Close (along Intake Lane from Chapel St.).

Oral history
A preliminary meeting on Oral History recording will be held on Wednesday June 3, 10am – 1pm (venue to be confirmed).
Autumn Surveying Season
The autumn survey programme in High Close will begin on Wednesday September 2, and will continue (weather permitting) to Wednesday October 21. There will be two Saturday sessions on September 12 and October 3.

Wednesday morning meetings from October 28 to December 16 will be held indoors, with the option of fieldwork if any survey days have been cancelled due to bad weather. Field surveys will be processed and drawn up for publication, and oral history recording will take place. Reserve dates in January and February will be available to tie up any loose ends.

Evening meetings
These will be held on alternate Tuesdays from October 13 to December 8, starting again on January 12. The final date in March will depend on the number of sessions built into a day-school to mark the conclusion of the project.
These sessions, with occasional guest speakers, will cover Iron Age and Roman archaeology in the North, providing a general context for the work in High Close pasture and linking the survey to the landscape project at Chapel House Wood, Kilnsey.

Further details of the autumn programme will be circulated nearer the time. You are very welcome to join any or all of the above events!

Wednesday 1st April

Roger's fan club © Jane Lunnon

A beautiful, warm and sunny day for April Fool’s Day. As we approached High Close we were highly entertained by watching a flock of sheep literally running rings round Roger and his vehicle, which needless to say, caused us all great amusement!

Roger & the 2 Davids, Alan attempting to hide from Pat © Jane Lunnon

When the sheep decided that they were wasting their time, we settled down to the work of the day – good old surveying. The two David’s got together over the alidade; Alison wandered off to do a final check on the 1.9kms of wall, and Alan proceeded to make life difficult for the rest of us, by stationing the GPS just where we wanted to put our flags for the surveying!

David and the dreaded alidade! © Jane Lunnon

The six remaining members divided into 2 teams, one team being allocated the oval shaped area at the southern end of High Close, and the other, the adjoining rectangular area with adjacent fields just to the north-west.

It was good to be back to surveying ground structures again, but as we proceeded, we realised just how complicated these areas are! Having worked consistently all day, with only a short break for lunch, both teams had only managed to do just over half their area. We all agreed that this project is going to take a long time to complete and will certainly last more than a lifetime for a number of us!

Ruth in deep concentration mode © Alan Williams

Pauline with Helen & Sue © Alan Williams

Sadly we missed our customary ‘cream tea’ at the end of the day, but all agreed it had been a good day.

Ruth

The UWHG line dancing team © Jane Lunnon