Into the shadows

Victoria Franklin – Conservation Graduate Trainee

Thanks to archaeologists and historians we know a lot about the people who lived and worked in the historic landscape, but less about the shape and ecology of the landscape. There have been a lot of theories by ecologists such as Frans Vera and George Peterken, who suggest that the landscape was fluid with more wood pasture rather than the closed canopy dense woodlands we’re more familiar with today.

Historic woodlands were a hub of life, providing fodder for livestock and materials for villagers, farmers, tanners, blacksmiths, carpenters, broom whittlers and charcoal makers. Trees were even a source for medicine, for example the bark of Pedunculate Oak Quercus robur was used as an antiseptic and Ash Fraxinus excelsior was steeped into tea and used to aid kidney problems. This eco-cultural hub seems a far cry from how we see woods today, often used as a place of tranquillity, for bird watching or to seek refuge from everyday life.

Over the past year I’ve been researching ‘Shadow Woods’ – areas where there was woodland in the past that is no longer there. These, now shadows of a former landscape, can be identified in a number of ways. As a starting point for the search, the Doomsday Book and historic Tithe and Enclosure maps can give an indication of how the landscape once looked. Researching old place and field names such as ‘Hagg’ meaning an area where trees were felled or ‘Hollin’ historically a word for Holly or browse, also give clues as to the location of previously wooded areas.

With permission from land managers, we followed up on potential sites by surveying for any ancient woodland indicator species, ground flora that has colonised over generations and gives an indication that the area has been continually wooded for a considerable length of time. These species will change from woodland to woodland and throughout the country, but include Bluebells Hyacinthoides non-scripta, Honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum, Ramsons Allium ursinum, Wood sorrel ‎Oxalis acetosella, Early purple orchids Orchis mascula, Primroses Primula vulgaris and Climbing corydalis Ceratocapnos claviculata. These plants continue to flower long after the surrounding woodland has gone. The residual flora and soils in these spaces are irreplaceable.  

Primroses Primula vulgaris, Wood anemone Anemonoides nemorosa amongst bracken and Hawthorn Crataegus monogyna scrub. Copyright NYMNPA.

Early purple orchids Orchis mascula and Primroses Primula vulgaris, strong evidence that the area is a Shadow Woodland. Copyright NYMNPA

Any remaining veteran and ancient trees were surveyed for signs of being worked, which gives another glimpse into the past history of the wood. Coppiced trees such as willow were cut at the base when they are relatively young and the wood was used to make fences and shelters. Pollarded trees were cut just above the trunk to provide timber and fodder for animals leaving the tree alive to produce more wood in future years. An historically pollarded tree can be identified by having multiple branches.

Historically coppiced Willow. Copyright NYMNPA.

Ancient and Veteran trees are home to a whole host of deadwood beetles, fungi, lichen mosses and plants that cannot live anywhere else. These trees, botanical indicators and the soil of ancient and shadow woods are irreplaceable micro-habitats that have taken generations to create, once lost they will be gone forever.

The Shadow Wood sites surveyed within the North York Moors National Park were all in upland locations, many in remoter areas with little human disturbance since they were worked woodlands. The majority of these sites have been classed as grassland or as scattered parkland with a small amount of ancient or veteran trees. This classification strengthens the idea that the historic landscape was often open wood pasture rather than closed canopy woodlands.  

The hope is that identified sites can be targeted for woodland creation in the North York Moors National Park, therefore continuing and restoring life in these magical habitats, that are not only home to some amazing species and important trees but are a little bit of folklore too.

Shadow woodland in the North York Moors. Copyright NYMNPA.

The Shadow Woods project within the North York Moors National Park has only been possible due to the dedicated work of Professor Ian Rotherham. His book Shadow Woods: a search for lost landscapes and publication Shadow Woods and Ghosts Survey Guide by C. Handley and I. D. Rotherham have provided invaluable research into these almost lost landscapes.

Keeping it old style

Clair Shields – Planning Officer (Policy and Building Conservation)

The traditional black and white ‘finger post’ signposts in the North York Moors have become a cherished part of our landscape. In order to maintain and conserve these cultural features for future generations to enjoy, at the end of last year Building Conservation officers at the National Park Authority asked parishes and residents to let us know about these signs so they could be mapped and recorded on our Geographic Information System (GIS). The idea was to gain a better understanding of where the signposts are and their current condition. Many signposts are obvious, such as at modern road junctions, however others can be more hidden such as where they are located on old roads which are less used today. Local people looking out for signs during daily exercise was a useful survey method during lockdowns.

At the same time we were able to refurbish a few of the signs most in need of restoration using a locally experienced contractor – this will help ensure the longevity of these iconic features. The long term aim is to restore them all.

There is a vast array of different practical purposes to the signs; some make reference to the old North Riding District (pre North Yorkshire County Council), others warn of steep inclines, point towards historic monuments like a roman road or indicate public route ways and distances. Officers are keen to conserve the variety of designs and styles.

The work over winter was looking to continue previous work carried out by the Authority and the North York Moors, Coast and Hills LEADER Programme. This time there were limited funds available through the Anglo American Woodsmith Project Section 106 compensation and mitigation agreement.

Here is an example at Egton Bridge where signage has been recently consolidated.

 

Reconnecting people to the near and far past

Paul Thompson – Ryevitalise Programme Officer

Ryevitalise is reaching out with its ‘Rye Reflections – inspired by the river’ project. We’re currently putting a call out for people to send in their memories of wildlife encounters, past activities and changes in land management practices so we can record these experiences before these precious memories are lost.  We want to document change that has happened within the living memory of our communities, providing a framework that shaped how we connect with our local landscape today and how our children will connect with this landscape in the future.

We will share these memories with local school students, encouraging them to compare these experiences with their own, highlighting the differences and similarities and inspiring them to protect our catchment habitats in the longer term.

I’m really excited about Rye Reflections, and what we might find out about the landscape we think we know so well.  I remember seeing hedgehogs regularly in my garden, and my car number plate used to get covered in dead flies in the 90’s, but these are no longer common sights in 2020.  I can’t wait to hear what memories our local community have about growing up and living around the catchment of the river Rye.  I hope to share these stories and help people reconnect with nature and the river.

If you have any wildlife memories, old photographs, journals or other records that might help us inspire the next generation of landscape guardians – please get in touch with me by email or post (North York Moors NPA, The Old Vicarage, Bondgate, Helmsley, York, YO62 5BP).

And that’s not all…we’re already underway with Rediscovering the Rye project …

Amy Carrick – Ryevitalise Education & Engagement Officer

Humans have lived with, and adapted the Rye from the earliest times. The story of how and why humans adapted their environments can be traced through the ages; from low-impact exploitation in Bilsdale during the Mesolithic era, to the beginnings of dramatic alterations and clearances for cultivation purposes in the Neolithic era. Current land managers have inherited these changes which bring about the opportunity to learn about these old practices, especially the use of the flowing waters of the Rye for farming, metal extraction and working. There is documentary evidence of the manipulation of the Rye by the monks of Rievaulx Abbey, including a long-established ‘canals’ theory. Land in Bilsdale belonged to the Abbey as an important grange site with a prototype blast furnace at Laskill and was the location of the quarries for which much of abbey’s construction relied. Dissolution destruction of this technically advanced furnace (c. 1530s) is suggested by metallurgical expert Gerry McDonnell to have delayed the Industrial Revolution by 250 years.

On the earth science side, there is a complicated story of how the Rye runs along various complex geologies, impacting on the unusual behaviour of the water; disappearing down sinkholes, bubbling up unexpectedly at springs, flash floods and how communities have managed to adapt to the unexpected ways of the river.

But where to start? We needed to design a project to enhance our understanding of the Ryevitalise landscape through river science and field investigation but also provides a unique and engaging way for our volunteers to engage with archaeology.  Which lead us to….LiDAR! LiDAR (Light Detecting and Ranging) is a relatively new technique that records ‘lumps and bumps’ on the ground using a laser mounted aeroplane. LiDAR data, originally commissioned by the Environment Agency for non-archaeological purposes, is available in most areas of the Ryevitalise catchment. This data can be processed into LiDAR maps that show the ground surface in amazing detail beneath the trees and vegetation, including previously unrecorded archaeological features.

So with our 30 eager volunteers and academics from Durham and York Universities Ryevitalise hase set about this exciting project, the initial stages of which can usefully be done at home! Volunteers will be given their own 1km square of LiDAR, within the Ryevitalise area, to analyse and annotate for any possible archaeological sites. These will then be validated by our project consultant, Paul Frodsham (ORACLE Heritage Services), leading to a list of intriguing sites to explore further through Ryevitalise …

Although this particular project now has a full quota of volunteers, if you might be interested in other Ryevitalise volunteer opportunities, please see here.

Interiors

Kelsey Blain – Development Management Graduate Trainee

When you find yourself in your home a bit more than you’ve been used to you might want to look up and consider your ceilings.

Our Building Conservation Team are particularly keen on the ceilings in older houses and buildings in the North York Moors that have historic interest and value that can be easily lost but could be skilfully repaired.

Plaster ceilings (and walls) form an important historic, architectural and aesthetic feature in many of the historic buildings within the National Park and elsewhere. They are often composed of lime or earth and can be finished to varying degrees of ornamentation depending on the status of the building or room in which they are housed. Ornate examples may be found within the high status buildings such as Helmsley Castle (currently closed), where the design and finish of the ceilings often reflects the wealth and standing of the building’s previous residents.

More functional styles of plaster ceiling can be found within the vernacular buildings of the North York Moors, such as Spout House in Bilsdale (currently closed), where the composition and application of the plaster is indicative of the building’s traditional character.

As such, plaster ceilings and wall coverings provide a useful insight into the cultural and architectural history of a building and make an important contribution to a building’s significance. It is for this reason that the repair of plaster ceilings should always be preferred to their replacement in order to conserve the historic, evidential and aesthetic value that they possess. Furthermore, repairing traditional plasters over replacing them has a lower carbon footprint, and traditional materials better preserve the health of the building.

Here is a recent instance of repairs being carried out to a particularly fine plaster ceiling in nearby York which might not be exactly typical – but repairing all sorts of lath and plaster ceilings is possible. Our Building Conservation team can offer advice and help (by email or phone but currently not in person) if you are lucky enough to have a likely building in the North York Moors.

Tending our heritage

Jo Collins – Monuments for the Future Volunteers and Community Officer

Our Monuments for the Future project is focused on protecting and conserving the hundreds of Scheduled Monuments in the North York Moors. We work with volunteers, community groups, organisations and landowners, whose support and collaboration is, as usual, invaluable.

An amazing 169 Scheduled Monuments in the National Park were visited by volunteers and community groups in 2019. This means we can have an accurate record of the condition of the protected archaeology in the National Park and it’s the first step in organising works to conserve and repair monuments where this is needed.

We’re very grateful for the help of several local community groups who have stepped forward to look after their nearby monuments. Appleton le Moors History Group and Thornton le Dale Hub are now looking after the medieval wayside crosses in their villages, the Great Ayton History Society are tackling bracken in the field (see below), whilst several walking groups have volunteered to keep an eye on particular monuments close to Rights of Way. If you are part of a community group and might be interested in helping please do get in touch, we would love to hear from you.

Practical work tasks are sometimes needed to clear damaging vegetation or repair monuments – always with relevant permissions. Recently the Conservation Volunteer Group have helped clear scrub and bash bracken at Fall Rigg prehistoric dyke, Cawthorn Roman camps, and Roulston Scar Iron Age fort to name a few.

Other times we’ve needed just a few volunteers to help with tasks; for example at Cloughton Dyke where a bike jump had been constructed in the prehistoric earthwork. Two of our expert volunteers led the task to very neatly repair the damage. These kinds of practical tasks not only preserve our archaeology but often make monuments easier for people to see and appreciate in the landscape. This can make for a very satisfying end to practical task days!

Scheduled Monuments are at risk from many things, not least the growth of bracken, gorse and young trees as well as natural and human erosion. Volunteer and community help has helped ‘rescue’ three monuments in 2019, they have been taken off Historic England’s Heritage At Risk Register.

The 18^th century Ayton Banks Alum Works near Great Ayton (List Entry 1020347) has been taken off the Heritage at Risk Register. At this site during the 1760s and 1770s alum was extracted from shale rock in a process involving burning, leaching, boiling, and crystallising. Alum was used to treat leather, fix dyes in fabric, and also had medicinal value including as a treatment for nits. Today the earthwork remains of the clamps, reservoirs and stone lined cisterns are best viewed safely from the path above. However the vigorous bracken growth in the summer completely obscures the historic features and is very likely disturbing the below ground archaeology too. Great Ayton History Society are working with National Park volunteers to tackle the bracken; the Young Ranger Group and Conservation Volunteer Group did sterling work this summer and have offered to do so again in 2020, thank you all!

A round barrow at Codhill Heights on Gisborough Moor has been ‘rescued’ and is now off the Heritage at Risk Register (List Entry 1016574). A modern walkers’ cairn located on top of the Bronze Age burial mound was encouraging visitors to inadvertently damage the archaeology. Two intrepid volunteers visited the hill top burial mound twice a year for several years to check on the damage. The walkers’ cairn was removed by a team of volunteers and apprentices on a wintry day two years ago, and in 2018 and 2019 volunteers scattered moorland grass seed on the bare ground exposed by removing the stones – the resulting grass will help protect against natural erosion. A previous blog has more information about the interesting work and new find at this site.

Cock Howe is a bronze age round barrow on the western edge of Bilsdale (List Entry 1015761). Footpath erosion was damaging the monument and this has now been repaired by contractors; volunteer surveyors monitored the progression of the erosion before the work took place, and a recent volunteer visit has shown the monument to be in good shape. This work means that the burial mound is no longer deemed to be ‘At Risk’.

Its not all good news, in 2019 another eight North York Moors monuments were added to the Heritage At Risk Register. One of these is Cockan Cross (List Entry 1011747) on Farndale Moor. During a condition survey our volunteer surveyor found that the shaft of the cross has now split into two pieces. We think this was caused by natural erosion and hope to make a high quality record of the cross shaft using photogrammetry (3D scanning) to help with its future conservation.

We’re not downhearted. Watch this space for an update on progress with more of these At Risk monuments in months to come.

All the volunteers for the Monuments for the Future project do a huge amount of work – I haven’t been able to mention it all here. Your help is very much appreciated and we’d like to say a huge THANK YOU to the volunteers and community groups who are helping safeguard the protected heritage of the North York Moors.

Troding carefully

Nick Mason – Archaeology Officer

Welcome to the first MOTM blog, a regular feature we will be publishing in conjunction with the Monuments for the Future project. Each month we’ll take a look at a type of Scheduled Monument that we have in the Park: we’ll let you know how to spot monuments when out and about, what different monuments tell us about the people who once lived and worked here, and why these monuments are protected.

This month it’s the Kirby Bank Trod, SM1405913. My computer has immediately told me I have made a spelling error, and if you’re not familiar with the local dialects or the Moors you might not have come across the word before either. ‘Trod’ is a term for a trackway laid with flagstones, and there is a network of historic examples criss-crossing the North York Moors. There are other ancient flagged paths around the UK, but this National Park has the most known surviving trods in one place, and they are seen as characteristic of the area. Sometimes they follow the same routes as ‘Pannierways’, long routes traversed by trains of pack horses loaded with goods. A ‘Pannierman’ was a person who transported fish from ports to inland fishmongers, a primary use of some trods.

A trod is a deceptively simple construction. Flagstones, sometimes carved, sometimes rough, are laid end to end in single file between two points. They are frequently made of stone from nearby quarries, and are usually no more than 0.5 metres (20 inches) wide. Surviving examples today often have a wide concave groove worn along the centre of the path, indicating how much traffic they have supported over the years.

We think the earliest examples were probably built by the local monastic communities, who would likely be the only organisations with the resources to lay them in the medieval period. Trods would have been efficient ways of transporting goods (especially wool) between the many abbeys and priories and granges (outlying properties). As their usefulness became apparent, more and more were laid, linking market towns, villages and farms across the moors.

Further trods were built in the 18^th century, and there may have been a bit of a renaissance due to smuggling enterprises on the coast. Although they slowly declined as better road surface technologies appeared which were then followed by railways, as late as 1890 pack horses could still be seen filing through Rosedale.

We hold about 220 records for trods: many of these are fragments, just a few flags left in place, but others can still be seen stretching for miles across the landscape.

One 400 metre (1/4 mile) section of trod has been designated as a Scheduled Monument, protecting it as an archaeological feature of national significance. This is thanks to the continued efforts of the Kirby, Great Broughton and Ingleby Greenhow Local History Group – Grant Frew and Jackie Cove-Smith from the Group explain the Kirby Bank Trod’s special significance:

Paved causeways are a familiar feature on our Moors, yet surviving ones in good condition are becoming increasingly rare. It has been estimated that around 80% of our trods known in the 19th Century have now gone. With this in mind, ten years ago our local history group ‘adopted’ one – the Kirby Bank Trod.

Trods are notoriously difficult to date, but we know this one was constructed on a man-made embankment in the late 12th or early 13th Century for the Cistercian monks at Rievaulx to link their monastery with their granges, their fisheries and their salt pans on the Tees. Centuries later it was used to transport building stone down from the quarries on the Bank: later still alum for the dyeing industry, jet for jewellery, and today by local and long-distance walkers.

We’ve worked really hard to maintain a high profile for the Trod: holding a Festival of British Archaeology event, producing a Heritage Trail leaflet, publishing articles in the Dalesman, the Voice of the Moors and the local press. On the ground we’ve also germinated and planted replacement hawthorn ‘waymarkers’, arranged geophysical surveys and organised guided walks.

We also carry our spades, edgers and brooms up the Bank twice a year to help keep the Trod from disappearing under grass and gorse!

As a Green Road, Kirby Bank and its Trod suffered from frequent use by trail bikes and 4×4 leisure vehicles, causing serious damage to the stones and sandstone waymarkers and degrading the embankment the causeway rests on. We needed legal protection.

In 2012 Historic England granted Scheduled Monument status to the Trod, in large part because of the man-made embankment (there’s no other parallel in England) and its historical context. Even with this significant status, vehicle abuse continued. Finally this November, after years of lobbying by our history group and by Kirkby Parish Council and with the support of the MP, district and county councillors and a variety of interested organisations (including the National Park Historic Environment staff), the County published a Traffic Regulation Order prohibiting motorised leisure vehicle access.  All is not yet over! Any objectors have until just before Christmas to file for a judicial review of the Order in the High Court. We can but just wait and see!’

Luckily the Kirby Bank Trod is in good hands, allowing locals and visitors to continue engaging with the past by walking in the footsteps of Cistercian monks. But as the Group states, about 80% of known trods have already been lost. Given their location on obvious routes linking settlements, they can often come under threat from modern roadworks. They also represented a very handy source of stone for builders over the past few centuries. The few remaining sections need to be taken care of to ensure our local cultural character and heritage is maintained.

As ever, you can find out more about the fascinating archaeology of the North York Moors using our interactive Historic Environment Record map – you could look up your nearest trod and go and have a look. We’re always keen to hear what you find, so don’t hesitate to get in touch if you think a trod needs some attention.

End of an era

Our Senior Archaeologist is taking phased retirement, so before he goes he has been asked to reflect on his time with the North York Moors National Park.

Graham Lee – Senior Archaeological Conservation Officer

How do I sum up a career lasting over a quarter of a century in a few paragraphs? It is a strange feeling to have 26 years seemingly flash by so fast.

I started work for the North York Moors National Park in April 1990, having previously worked in the archaeology section of North Yorkshire County Council since the summer of 1983. I had decided many years before that I loved the north of England and had no desire to return to my southern ‘roots’.

One of my first tasks with the National Park was the completion of a management survey of one of our large estates, encompassing moorland and large blocks of forestry. This quickly whetted my appetite for the excitement of making new archaeological discoveries – often very subtle earthworks, no more than a handful of centimetres in depth or relief – despite an exceptional tradition of previous high quality archaeological fieldwork in the region. Working solo in large blocks of conifers was a good test of dedication – crawling under the branches of dense stands of conifers searching for vague earthworks mapped in the 1890s – and the steadiness of nerve, when yet another wretched pheasant exploded out of the leafy vegetation where I was just about to step! In recent years the delights of discovery have been broadening thanks to new technology and techniques, especially LiDAR which provides an aerial view through tree and ground-cover vegetation of archaeological remains that were previously hidden or obscured.

If you have a passion for the past, the North York Moors have something for pretty much everyone – enigmatic Neolithic rock art; surviving prehistoric pitted boundaries and avenues; upstanding Bronze Age funerary monuments and field systems; Roman encampments; medieval castles and monasteries…

Human industry is also well represented – from the earliest iron industry through the search for alum into the full-blown “iron rush” of the mid 19^th century, the exploitation of coal and jet, and the plentiful local rivers managed to provide motive power for a range of watermills. Research and conservation priorities relating to these local industries finally led to our new HLF Landscape Partnership Scheme, This Exploited Land of Iron. Some 15 or so years in gestation, it is very rewarding to see new generations captured by the excitement of the important remains of our 19^th century ironstone industry and the associated development of early railways – although the original scheme for a canal link between Whitby and Pickering would have been a sight to behold and a major tourist attraction if it had ever been built.

Into the 20^th century, remains survive here from both world wars – in the form of coastal defences, army camps as well as troop training and target practice areas. Finds are still occasionally made of 2^nd World War unexploded ordnance in former training areas across the North York Moors, in particular after the wildfire on Fylingdales Moor in 2003 which affected two square kilometres of heather moorland.

Although an environmental disaster – the severity of the fire in reducing the shallow peat cover to ash, this event was an archaeological revelation. Virtually everywhere you looked, subtle archaeological remains became visible, including the drip gulleys around former prehistoric round houses, low stony prehistoric boundaries and cairns, large numbers of previously unrecorded examples of Neolithic rock art and occasional shallow trenches which resembled grave cuts with a subsiding infill. As numbers of the latter quickly increased their interpretation became clear – slit trenches from 2^nd World War troop training. I remember my first visit to the site after the fire when the ground was reddened and blackened, covered in ash and still smouldering; few trees had survived and many had toppled after the peat holding their roots in place had been burnt away. Flashes of colour were very noticeable, such as an adder emerging from its underground refuge having survived the conflagration. A major project ensued, both to protect and restore the moorland habitat and to record and investigate the breath-taking remains of surviving archaeology.

There have always been new specialisms to get to grips with. A visit to the Scheduled Rosedale iron calcining kilns with the Park’s Conservation Director at the time revealed that a portion of one of the kilns’ firebrick linings had collapsed the previous winter. This led to a major conservation project to stabilise these huge monuments which ran for three years in the mid 1990s, a forerunner of This Exploited Land which will continue the efforts to conserve these monumental sites 20 years on.

It has been such a pleasure working with like-minded and dedicated professionals, both in my own National Park, but also with colleagues throughout the family of British National Parks, and Historic England and Natural England. We’ve shared experiences and ideas to the betterment of our discipline from research to management, and also shared the excitement of attempting to bring our subject, which we love, to life for anyone who cares to see and to get involved.

The National Park Authority is currently looking for a new Senior Archaeologist to lead on archaeology in the North York Moors. The closing date for applications is 26 January 2017.

Discovered by Disaster

Fylingdales Moor on the eastern edge of the North York Moors features in an Historic England blog post from July on archaeological discoveries that came to light due to environmental change. In the case of Fylingdales Moor it was a severe wild fire which was devastating to the natural environment at the time – but from an archaeological point of view every cloud has a silver lining …

via Discovered by Disaster: 6 Astounding Archaeological Finds from Environmental Change — Heritage Calling

Making a contribution

Over the years the National Park have had a number of grant initiatives allowing us to provide grant to support projects that help achieve National Park purposes and duties and to conserve the special qualities of the North York Moors. Some of our grant schemes tend to be targeted which means we usually approach the land manager and offer the grant (for instance, to enhance habitat connectivity), and others are open to application and awarded through a competitive process.

So at the beginning of a new financial year with a new round of grants available, it’s these schemes, the ones generally open to application, which are described below.

Our Traditional Boundary Scheme provides grant assistance (up to a maximum of £2,000 per holding per year) towards the cost of rebuilding drystone walls* and planting/restoring hedgerows. Traditional field boundaries are an important cultural element and landscape feature of the North York Moors. They also act as effective wildlife corridors. For more information – contact us.

There are lots of historic buildings in the National Park which are of great value both in terms of the landscape and cultural heritage, so we want to help ensure that as many as possible are kept in good repair. Around 3,000 buildings are specifically listed for their special architectural or historic interest. Historic Building Grants are available for repairs to Listed Buildings on the Authority’s “at risk” register. Grants are 50% of the cost of eligible works, up to a maximum of £7,500.

 

There are also 42 Conservation Areas in the National Park. These are areas within villages which have been designated because they are of particular historic or architectural importance. Conservation Area Enhancement Grants are available for re-instating lost architectural features such as windows and doors and using traditional roofing materials on historic buildings, within Conservation Areas. Grants will be 50% of the cost of eligible works, up to £1,500 per project.

For more information on either of these two Building Conservation grants – see here.

Our Local Distinctiveness & Tourism Fund aims to raise the profile of the North York Moors and promote its local distinctiveness. Grants are awarded to projects in the National Park area and surroundings which increase awareness of the North York Moors brand. Ideas need to utilise the area’s local distinctiveness and at the same time ensuring that any increase in visitors has no adverse impacts. For more information – see here.

We’ve also got our Community Grant offering grant of up to £3,500 (up to 70% of total project costs) to local community groups for small scale projects which meet one of the following priorities:

• environmental benefits e.g. recycling project or wildlife habitat improvements;
• cultural heritage and local history conservation e.g. restoring a village monument or archiving data;
• community facility improvements e.g. disabled access for a community building or improvements to a play area.

Projects need to show clear community benefit and value for money. This particular grant has a short application window – for 2016/17 we need to receive applications by 30 June 2016. For more information – see here.

The Community Grant is now into its fourth year. We’ve assisted a variety of functional  projects over that time, one of which was the setting up of the Farndale Film Club by providing grant towards the purchase of equipment. We’re very grateful to the Club for the following report on its first year which shows just how beneficial local community projects can be with just a little grant assistance.

Farndale Village Hall Report for North York Moors National Park

Grant awarded summer 2014 for Film Club equipment and costs – £2,791.60

The Village Hall committee were very pleased to be awarded the grant to enable us to start our own community Film Club. The equipment and licences were bought in the early part of 2015, and installed by a community member with technical, IT and audio-visual expertise, and one of our trustees who is a qualified electrician and computer expert.

Our first screening was on the 1^st May 2015. The film was ‘What we did on our holidays’ – a British comedy, which was a real success. We had 24 people attending, and had organised refreshments, crisps and chocolate bars. Feedback from attendees was excellent. The blackout blinds worked really well in summer to keep the hall dark. The sound system was great, and the big screen made it feel as though you really were at the cinema!

We decided to hold monthly screenings. Information about the screenings is given in our member’s community newsletter, on an email circular, and on posters inside the hall. Members are regularly asked what films they might want to see and all suggestions are welcome.

We have had a wide range so far of films, including comedies, a western and recent films like Gravity and The Imitation Game. We have held eight general monthly film nights for members, which have had 142 individual attendances.

We also held a screening of a new independent film ‘Addicted to Sheep’ in October. This was a licensed film and we were able to publicise and promote the screening, and charge for attendance. We decided to charge £3.00, really just to cover the costs of the film (£150). We also sold ice creams, snacks and drinks. Overall at this film, we had 60 people attending, and contributed over £100 towards our 1^st year costs. Everyone who came said they had had a really good evening.

The Farndale Kids Club is also taking advantage of the equipment, and so far have shown three films – ‘Paddington’ in June; ‘Hotel Transylvania’ at a Halloween party in October, and ‘Elf’ in December. The children had a brilliant time. At these films we had overall attendance of 71. The children made themselves comfortable on rugs and cushions on the floor, and had ice creams and snacks.

So overall, we have held three films for the Kids Club, eight films for the usual members club, and held an ‘open’ screening. Overall attendance of the 12 films has been 273.

In the summer, we made another grant application to the Two Ridings Community Foundation – Grassroots Fund towards funding for some more comfortable seating, and were pleased to have the grant agreed in September. We have since purchased 30 new upholstered and padded chairs for use at the film club, and so far members have been very pleased with them. They are a big improvement on the old plastic chairs we had.

Since we started, we have covered the overall equipment and first year’s costs of the Film Club – largely through your grant, also the income from our recycling Bags Collection, from members’ donations, and through snacks and soft drinks donations at the screenings.

All the people who have so far come to the Farndale Film Club and Kids Film Club have been very positive about having a local venue where they can see films. Comments have been made about how good it is not to have to travel miles to see films, and also how nice it is to spend time with neighbours and friends in a different arena. For some of us, it is the only time we have been to a cinema in many years! Thank you again for your generous grant, it is much appreciated by all.

Gill Aconley, Committee Member, Farndale Village Hall

James Thurtell, Chairman, Farndale Village Hall

*And talking of film, our Agri-Environment Team spent a few hours recently learning the basics of drystone walling in order to better understand this traditional craft. Here’s what happened…

Repair, reuse, re-roof

A couple of posts ago we mentioned the restoration of the roof space at The Crown in Helmsley. Our Building Conservation Team have a helpful Advice Note for re-roofing a Listed Building, like The Crown, the crux of which is explained below.

When re-roofing listed and historic buildings it’s important that the work preserves the character, history and appearance of the roof and therefore the building. The roof structure should generally be repaired rather than replaced, and historic roofing materials should be re-used wherever condition allows, or otherwise replaced on a genuinely “like for like” basis.

In the North York Moors, vernacular building roofs may be constructed from local timber of chestnut, elm or ash, unprocessed, round or waney-edged and sometimes even with the bark still on. On more grander buildings, timbers may be of sawn oak, whereas on “polite” buildings dating from the 18^th and 19^th centuries roof timbers may be of high quality, planed Baltic pine. On buildings dating from the mid-19^th century or later roof timbers are likely to be constructed from regular, machine sawn lengths. Roofs may incorporate timbers that were originally part of an earlier building, or which survive from an earlier period in the building’s history, such as upper crucks cut down from full (medieval) crucks when a cruck building was raised and reconfigured in the 18^th century.

Whatever the timber in a historic roof, it tells the story of the building, is characteristic of its age and type and it should be preserved during re-roofing works IF the building as a whole is to retain its character.

Many old roof timbers will be curved and distorted; they may have been inserted as green timbers and distorted as they seasoned, or have bowed under the weight of the roof. However there is rarely a need to replace them for that reason. They may hold valuable evidence about the building such as peg holes, graffiti or jointing techniques, and they are irreplaceable because unsawn timbers are no longer readily available.

Severely infested timbers which have lost their structural integrity may require replacement, but this is rare especially in oak or chestnut, and usually it is possible to strengthen the roof without the removal of historic timbers. Where roof timbers have been subject to insect attack they should be treated with a suitable insecticide, but most old timbers will show signs of woodworm holes which may not be active and are unlikely to have penetrated beyond the sapwood and so should not mean the timbers need to be replaced.

An exception in regards to replacement are machine sawn square timbers in regular dimensions which can be replaced on a like for like basis because the style of roof can be replicated, with no intrinsic loss of character.

 In order to repair and strengthen historic roof structures several methods may be used to avoid replacement. For instance, traditional timber repairs which involve splicing new timber into the old where it has decayed can be achieved by means of scarf joints, in which the decayed timber is cut away and formed into a lap joint to connect with a new section of timber. The two timber sections are then pegged or bolted through, thereby restoring the integrity of the timber. Supplementary timbers can be added side by side with the existing timbers where these are undersize or in a weakened condition. Purlins or rafters can be supplemented with new timbers, whilst leaving the original in situ.

Metal plating can be used to reinforce joints that have become loose or have failed due to movement of the timber or decay over the years, or to bridge thin, weak, split or cracked lengths of timber. Such plates can be fabricated in mild steel (painted in a red oxide paint to inhibit rust) or stainless steel to suit the dimensions of the timber, and then fitted to the timber using nuts and bolts.

Metal brackets can be fabricated to strengthen supporting features like purlins where tenons (joints) may have failed, and steel “shoes” may be used to extend the base of rafters onto the wall plate where rafter ends have rotted away, or steel angles used to strengthen and stiffen the connection between rafter and wall plate. Where they will be visible in the roof space, these steel features can be attractively designed and painted to ensure a restrained appearance.

Most veteran roofs within the National Park are covered with pantiles or Welsh slates, although there are a small minority of buildings which retain stone slates, Westmorland slates or thatch. Whatever the historic material of the property, care should be taken to achieve a good match in sourcing replacement materials IF the original has perished. Imported slates can rarely match the purple and blue-black colours of Welsh slates, and also age differently and may have a shorter lifespan. Handmade pantiles are significantly different from modern machine made tiles, particularly those varieties which are “interlocking” or given an artificial patination. By contrast, handmade pantiles have a rougher surface which will weather faster and will acquire the patina of the original tiles in time, as well as exhibiting variation in tone and slight inconsistencies in shape and finish which give them a handmade appearance. New handmade tiles are still produced, but reclaimed tiles and slates are also available as a like for like replacement.

Any necessary modern ventilation requirements (Building Regulations) can be achieved discreetly, avoiding vents in the roof slope. It may be possible to used concealed ventilation on the eaves or ridge instead.

If you need further information, sources of materials or any clarification regarding the need for listed building consent or planning permission before re-roofing your listed building, get in touch with our Building Conservation Team.

DON’T FORGET the bats. Bats are legally protected. Some bat species roost in roofs and so any building work which is likely to disturb bats needs to be planned carefully starting with a survey. The Bat Conservation Trust has useful advice available on their website.