| Description | 'Cairn' Features, Myers Wood. Grid reference provided marks the centre of the group.
Cairn like features were identified by Karl Lunn (WYAAS) during a visit to archaeological assess the medieval iron working site at Myers Wood (PRN 6913) in January 2014. The photographic images of the cairn features are held by (Lunn, K.R. (WYAAS). 2014. \\WYJS HER FS01\HERPhotos\Thurstonland\PRN 13159. Saville Wood cairn like features. SE1858712171. K.R. Lunn 14.01.2014).
The features occur in open mature woodland on a level area at the top of a north facing slope. Two low mounds and a pile of boulders were identified. They were situated in 30m area around the grid reference provided by this record. The images depict a wide mound c.0.5m high composed of course gravel to cobble sized sub angular blocks of sandstone, a shorter mound of similar composition and discrete group of small boulder sized sub angular blocks.
The features have the appearance of prehistoric clearance cairns, small scale extraction is also prevalent in these woods from the medieval period onwards (see the record relating to the Medieval iron working 320m to the north east. PRN 6913).
Cairn and bank features were also identified by the Huddersfield and District Archaeological Society (HDAS) and reported to WYAS, August, 1996. See PRN 1043 for further information.
Saville Wood was surveyed by the Huddersfield and District Archaeological Society during the winter months of 2006 to carry out a level one survey. The prime objective was to help English Heritage determine the extent of the proposed scheduled area centred on the medieval iron making site in the adjoining Myers Wood [see PRN 6193]. The interim report, summarised below, provides possbile explanations for the features:
Piles of stones have been recorded throughout the wood. Some seem to have been in place for a long time. Possible explanations are ground clearance for tree planting, stone gathering for wall building, searching for iron ores in medieval times and activity associated with the nearby mental hospital whose patients helped to maintain the estate. The possibility of ancient burials has not been ruled out. It is significant that Myers Wood does not have similar stone piles.
There are small, unmapped quarries in the wood which could have provided stone for local needs for a long period up to the 19th century. One appears to have the remains of a stone structure. There are also many hollows and depressions where small scale quarrying was carried out, possibly for local dry stone wall construction.
The Storthes Hall estate seems to be an unrecorded example of the fashion for landscaping popular during the 17th and 18th century. Although overgrown, there are identifiable stone and water features, particularly in the valley between Saville Wood and Myers Wood. The, so called, 'fish ponds' and associated water channels direct water though stone lined streams and cascades to the valley bottom. The extent of the landscaping and whether the many water channels present in other parts of the wood were part of it, is not yet determined.
There is evidence of large scale charcoal production in the wood. This could be linked to medieval iron production activities in Myers Wood or the Grange at Tymberwood. There are also several features including quarrying and extensive water management which could date to the medieval period but there is, so far, no datable evidence.
(Clay, G. and Hesselwood, J. (Huddersfield and District Archaeological Society). 2006. 'Saville Wood survey interim report'). |