Reasons for Designation
Shielings are small seasonally occupied huts which were built to provide
shelter for herdsmen who tended animals grazing summer pasture on upland or
marshland. These huts reflect a system called transhumance, whereby stock was
moved in spring from lowland pasture around the permanently occupied farms to
communal upland grazing during the warmer summer months. Settlement patterns
reflecting transhumance are known from the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC)
onwards. However, the construction of herdsmen's huts in a form distinctive
from the normal dwelling houses of farms, only appears from the early medieval
period onwards (from AD 450), when the practice of transhumance is also known
from documentary sources and, notably, place-name studies. Their construction
appears to cease at the end of the 16th century. Shielings vary in size but
are commonly small and may occur singly or in groups. They have a simple sub-
rectangular or ovoid plan normally defined by drystone walling, although
occasional turf-built structures are known, and the huts are sometimes
surrounded by a ditch. Most examples have a single undivided interior but two
roomed examples are known. Some examples have adjacent ancillary structures,
such as pens, and may be associated with a midden. Some are also contained
within a small ovoid enclosure. Shielings are reasonably common in the uplands
but frequently represent the only evidence for medieval settlement and farming
practice here. Those examples which survive well and which help illustrate
medieval land use in an area are considered to be nationally important.
Details
The monument includes the upstanding and buried remains of a partly mutilated
stone built medieval shieling located on the south bank of the White Lyne 130m
WSW of its confluence with Little Hare Grain. It is one of a larger group of
24 shielings strung out for approximately 800m along the valley floor of the
White Lyne which were surveyed by the Royal Commission on the Historical
Monuments of England in 1970 prior to afforestation of the area. The shieling
is a rectangular hut which measures 8.2m by 3.7m with walls up to 0.4m high,
and has its long axis aligned east-west. There is an entrance in the
shieling's south side a little to the west of centre. The eastern end of the
shieling has been damaged by river action. Documentary sources indicate that
the Bewcastle Fells were first used by the Lords of Burgh on Solway in the
13th century to summer their cattle and build `shields and cabins'. This
custom continued into the 17th century.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
27793
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals Other
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
End of official list entry
