Reasons for Designation
A warren is an area of land set aside for the breeding and management of
rabbits or hares in order to provide a constant supply of fresh meat and
skins. Although the hare is an indigenous species, the tradition of warren
construction and use dates from the 12th century, following the introduction
of rabbits into England from the continent. Warrens usually contain a number
of purpose-built breeding places known as pillow mounds or rabbit buries,
which were intended to centralise the colony and make catching the animals
easier, whether using nets, ferrets or dogs. The mounds vary in design
although rarely exceeding 0.7m in height. Earlier monuments such as burial
mounds, boundary features and mottes were sometimes reused as breeding places.
The mounds are usually surrounded by ditches and contain underlying channels
or are situated on sloping ground to facilitate drainage. The interior of the
mound may also contain nesting places constructed of stone slabs or cut into
the underlying subsoil or bedrock.
A typical warren may contain between one and forty pillow mounds or rabbit
buries and occupy an area up to c.600ha. Many warrens were enclosed by a bank,
hedge or wall intended to contain and protect the stock. Other features
associated with the warren include vermin traps (usually a dead-fall mechanism
within a small tunnel), and more rarely traps for the warren stock (known in
Yorkshire as `types') which could contain the animals unharmed and allow for
selective culling. Larger warrens might include living quarters for the
warrener who kept charge of the site, sometimes surrounded by an enclosed
garden and outbuildings.
Early warrens were mostly associated with the higher levels of society;
however, they gradually spread in popularity so that by the 16th and 17th
centuries they were a common feature on most manors and estates throughout the
country. Warrens continued in use until fairly recent times, finally declining
in the face of 19th and 20th century changes in agricultural practice, and the
onset of myxomatosis. Warrens are found in all parts of England, the earliest
examples lying in the southern part of the country. Approximately 1,000 -
2,000 examples are known nationally with concentrations in upland areas, on
heathland and in coastal zones. The profits from a successfully managed warren
could, however, be considerable and many areas in lowland England were set
aside for warrens at the expense of agricultural land. Although relatively
common, warrens are important for their associations with other classes of
monument, including various forms of settlement, deer parks, field systems and
fishponds. They may also provide evidence of the economy of both secular and
ecclesiastical estates. All well preserved medieval examples are considered
worthy of protection. A sample of well preserved sites of later date will also
merit protection.
Despite limited excavation of some of the pillow mounds, the warren at Everage
Clough 450m north east of New Copy Farm survives reasonably well and is a good
example of a small unenclosed type of this class of monument. Excavation has
shown that environmental evidence is preserved within the pillow mounds,
upon the old landsurface beneath the mounds, and within the fills of the
ditches surrounding the mounds.
Details
The monument, which is in three areas of protection, includes a small
unenclosed medieval warren situated in Copy Wood on either side of Everage
Clough 450m north east of New Copy Farm, and on the hillside to the west of
Copy Wood. The warren includes eight pillow mounds, low oblong-shaped mounds
of soil and stones in which hares or rabbits lived and were bred and managed
for their fresh meat and fur.
The pillow mounds vary in size from between 6.7m to 20.7m long and 4.9m to
9.1m wide, with the highest mound surviving up to approximately 1m high. They
are each surrounded by shallow ditches up to 0.9m wide which originally aided
drainage. Rabbit warrens gradually spread in popularity during the medieval
period and by the 16th/17th centuries they were common on most manors and
estates throughout the country. Although no documentary sources relating to
the warren at Everage Clough are known, its location close to the medieval
manor of Towneley Hall, approximately 800m to the north, is interpreted as
indicating that the warren originally formed part of the Towneley estate.
Limited excavation of three of the pillow mounds in 1951 found environment
evidence for bracken, pine and birch together with buried soil representing
the old land surface.
A modern drystone wall is excluded from the scheduling, although the ground
beneath it is included.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
