Summary
Smithy Beck settlement 1.43km north-west of Low Gillerthwaite consists of two separate scheduled areas; one containing five medieval or early post-medieval buildings and the archaeologically sensitive ground between them, the other containing a single building of similar date.
Reasons for Designation
Smithy Beck settlement 1.43km north-west of Low Gillerthwaite is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: the buildings comprising the settlement survive well and contain a range of features;
* Potential: despite being located within forestry the relatively undisturbed nature of this monument increases the survival of artefactural evidence. Additionally the settlement has the potential for increasing our understanding of medieval settlement in the Ennerdale Valley;
* Group Value: the settlement appears to be associated with other contemporary medieval monuments within the Ennerdale Valley;
* Documentation: our understanding of this settlement and its contribution to settlement in Ennerdale is significantly enhanced by the archaeological surveys undertaken in 1995-97 and in 2003.
History
Medieval settlements are richly diverse in form, character and date and can range from peasant houses and single farms to hamlets and affluent large villages. This area of Cumbria is characterised by dispersed hamlets and farmsteads, but with some larger nucleated settlements in well-defined agriculturally favoured areas, established after the Norman Conquest. Traces of seasonal settlements or shielings, dominate the high, wet and windy uplands, where surrounding communities grazed their livestock during the summer months. Settlement is sparse, but villages and hamlets occasionally appear in the valleys. Higher up, above the medieval fields enclosed by the stone walls known as head-dykes, are traces of medieval settlements in farmlands since abandoned. Dispersed settlements vary enormously but where they survive as earthworks their distinguishing features may include roads and minor tracks, platforms on which stood houses and other buildings such as barns, enclosed crofts and small enclosed paddocks. In areas where stone was used for building, the outline of building foundations may still be clearly visible.
In 1925-6 the Forestry Commission began manual tree planting on almost 3640ha of land in Ennerdale. The medieval or early post-medieval settlement remains here were scheduled in November 1972 in recognition of their importance - as Cumbria 383, Settlement on Bank of Smithy Beck.
Smithy Beck settlement 1.43km NW of Low Gillerthwaite forms part of a multi-period historic landscape which represents long term management and exploitation of the Ennerdale Valley from the Bronze Age to the present day. It was recorded during archaeological surveys of the valley between 1995-7 and in 2003.
Details
The monument is divided into two separate areas of protection and includes the upstanding and buried remains of five rectangular buildings forming that part of Smithy Beck settlement centred at NY12651496 together with the archaeologically sensitive ground between the buildings, as well as a single similar rectangular building located at NY12911495. The protected areas are located immediately to the south of Smithy Beck.
Three of the buildings are double-walled, two are set within surrounding enclosures and one may have been set within a surrounding enclosure, much of which is not now visible as a surface feature. The buildings and their surrounding walls and enclosures stand up to 1.1m high and vary in size between 11m-23.7m long by 4m-22.6m wide. Two of the double-walled buildings were partially excavated in 1962/3. One of these revealed a compacted clay floor, a series of post holes between the inner and outer walls suggesting the presence of roof supports, small quantities of slate suggesting slate roofing, and the neck of a wine bottle dated to some time between 1650 and 1740. The other building revealed a circular structure in one corner of the building containing ash and charcoal which is thought to have been an oven or flue. Partial excavation of a similar building in that part of Smithy Beck settlement centred nearby at NY13191493 found pottery dating to late medieval and early post-medieval periods. All the buildings in the Smithy Beck settlements have been tentatively identified as miner's long houses occupied in the late medieval/early post-medieval period and are thought to have been associated with Smithy Beck bloomery and its associated earthworks located a short distance down the hillside. The long house at NY12581495 has latterly been used as a post-medieval sheepfold.
Extent of Scheduling
The scheduling includes the upstanding and buried remains of six medieval/early post-medieval buildings forming that part of Smithy Beck settlement approximately 1.43km north west of Low Gillerthwaite. The monument is divided into two separate areas; one centred at NY12651496 containing five of the buildings together with the archaeologically sensitive ground between the buildings as surveyed by Lancaster University Archaeological Unit between 1995-97, the other centred at NY12911495 containing a single building forming part of the same settlement and surveyed at the same time.
The boundary of the larger western area follows the south bank of Smithy Beck on the monument's north side then completes a circuit of the monument by running 10m beyond the west, south and east sides of outermost buildings. The boundary of the smaller eastern area follows the south bank of Smithy Beck then completes a circuit of the monument by including a 10m boundary on all other sides of the building.
All field boundaries, an information board, a mound of stones identified as the spoil heap from the 1960's excavation, and the surfaces of a footpath and all forestry roads are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath all these features is included.
