| Description | BY to complete from personal files... The stream, Alcomden Water, flows down the side valley of Walshaw Dean, broadening out into a small but sheltered meadow just above its confluence with Hebden Water. It is conjectured that this topographical situation was the reason for the establishment of a farm here, Alcomden, which is well documented from the 16th.century onwards; it is entirely possible that this originated as a vaccary like so many others in the high Pennines but there is yet no doc. support for this. A number of other farms appeared by the 18th 19th centuries (Holme Tops, Upper and Lower Baitings, New House) forming a loose cluster. Abandonment was perhaps intitiated by the collapse of the dual economy of weaving and farming due to industrialisation lower down the main valleys (BY), and was completed with the construction of the Walshaw Dean reservoirs and the establishment of water catchment areas. The farm buildings named above are all ruined, some nearly disappeared; fragmentary building and field walls remain including some remarkable orthostat walling immediately north of Alcomden Farm. The landscape was disturbed in part (but not seriously) by operations associated with the construction of the Walshaw Dean reservoirs; these include a railway running up through Holme and puddling fields to the north west or west of Alcomden (near Baitings). The modern water authority metalled track has sliced through some of the fields and through or by the site of New House. This whole landscape is a very well preserved relict landscape of this type (some others, such as Widdop PRN xxxx, are partly under the reservoirs); its relatively small scale and good documentation for the post medieval period and partial public accessibility (the Pennine Way runs along the modern track), make it a good candidate for further investigation. It is conjectured that this site offers one of the best, clearly defined opportunities and potential for investigating the establishment of farming (vaccaries et simil.) in the high Pennines and for following the development and decline of the dual economy up to its final abandonment in the early 20th century. BY to supply documentation and further notes. |