Deserted Medieval Settlement on Rowhope Burn (Alnham)
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Description
.....The remains of this deserted medieval village are aligned along a ridge and river terraces on both sides of the Rowhope Burn at about 240 m OD, and comprise the foundations of some twenty-three buildings [NT 9615/37-56], some within or attached to garths, others free-standing. The remains are slight and now overgrown, and on the S side of the burn land improvement has further reduced a large number of structures. House NT 9615/37 is that fully excavated by PJ Dixon (Dixon house 1). The excavation is still open and the walls survive as slight, stony rises; there are spoil heaps to the E and W. House NT 9615/38 is that partially dug by Dixon (Dixon no 2). It measures 17.5 m by 3.1 m within a wall spread to 1.5 m wide and 0.3 m high; no entrance is visible. No 39, which adjoins a rectangular garth, has an apsidal N end; it measures 16.8 m by 3.3 m within a turf-covered wall spread to 1.5 m wide and reduced to a height of 0.2 m. It is sub-divided into two rooms by a cross-wall; no entrance can be identified. Building 40 is very vague, not more than 0.15 m in maximum height, with no trace of an entrance. It is approximately 16.0 m by 3.2 m, the wall where visible being about 1.2 m wide. A cross wall divides it into two rooms. No 41, also very reduced and not more than 0.1 m high, is divided into two unequal compartments, the smaller E room being apsidal. It measures 8.3 m by 3.2 m, the wall spread to a width of 1.2 m; a gap in the W end wall may be an entrance. A dog-legged field bank connects 41 to 40. No 42 is severely reduced, particularly at the E end, and the wall thickness is indeterminate. It measures about 13.7 m by 2.8 m within a wall at best 0.1 m high. Within a sub- ectangular enclosure [NT 9615/43] are three buildings (A-C) and numerous rickles of stone, boulders and banks testifying to buried structures too amorphous to assign date or function. The enclosing banks appear to be of more than one period, and some of them are more massive than those commonly found in medieval villages. This and the amount of stone debris in the interior may indicate earlier occupation, possibly a prehistoric enclosed settlement....... -
Owner
Keys to the Past (Durham & Northumbria County Councils) -
Source
Local (Co-Curate) -
License
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Further information
Link: https://keystothepast.info/search-records/results-of-search/results-of-search-2/site-details/?PRN=N1261
Resource type: Text/Website
Added by: Simon Cotterill
Last modified: 1 hour, 23 minutes ago
Viewed: 9 times
Picture Taken: Unknown -
Co-Curate tags
