| Summary : Earthwork complex of medieval agricultural and industrial features associated with Fountains Abbey. The earthworks are situated on Kitchen Bank, within the southern area of the Abbey precinct. Archaeological surveys of the area in 1989 and 1991 by RCHME field staff identified the remains of about twenty-two possible buildings in the form of platforms, wall stubs and, in one case, a robber trench. At least ten were stone built, and some were up to 30 metres in length. These are believed to be the remains of buildings associated with the ancillary industrial and agricultural activities of the abbey such as workshops and stores. Several distinct areas of ridge and furrow were also recorded, as were several tracks surviving as hollow ways, and a possible mill which was situated over a stream and survived as a ruin until the mid-nineteenth century. Some of these features are visible as earthworks on historic and recent air photos and lidar-derived images. Scheduled. |
More information : A possible building platform has been dug into the east end of a lynchet on the northern edge of the precinct at SE 2745 6839; this may be associated with the concrete foundations of temporary buildings, of agricultural or military origin, in the field to the south. (1)
Kitchen Bank is an area situated within the southern part of Fountains Abbey Precinct. It contains an earthwork complex which was surveyed in 1989 and 1991 by RCHME field staff. The survey identifed traces of about twenty-two possible buildings in the form of platforms, wall stubs and, in one case, a robber trench. Dating evidence is scarce, as is evidence for function. A building at SE 2734 6805 sits astride a stream and was presumably a mill; this survived as a ruin until the mid-nineteenth century (2a). Evidence for stone-building, of foundations at least, is seen in ten instances. Some of the buildings seem to have been of considerable size up to 30m long. The dispersed distribution of these buildings and the slight nature of some of their visible remains suggests that others may await discovery. Several tracks survive as hollow ways and terrace ways. Though they are clearly of various dates, few direct chronological relationships are visible. Boundary features have also been identified. These define medieval and later closes, fields and yards. Some of the fields have traces of ridge-and-furrow cultivation within them but none is datable. The best preserved ridge and furrow is at SE 275 681.
Further details are contained in the account held in the NMR archive. [Some of the details were originally recorded in separate records but now have combined within this record and Monument HOB UID 51860 and the individual records deleted. The deleted records were: Monument HOB UID 975333, NMR no. SE 26 NE 38 and Monument HOB 975355, NMR no. SE 26 NE 39]. (2)
(SE 273 680) Fountains Cistercian Abbey; agricultural and industrial features. On the slope to the south of the river are the earthwork remains of twenty-one buildings with yards and linking roads. They are concentrated along the banks of the ghyll running north to south, fed in part by a reservoir at the top of the hill and culminating at the Woolhouse at the bottom. They are believed to be the remains of buildings associated with the ancillary industrial and agricultural activities of the abbey such as workshops and stores. However the full extent and nature of these earthworks is not yet fully understood.
Scheduled (RSM) No. 26930. (3)
A re-examination of some of the earthworks on Kitchen Bank took place as part of the National Trust Survey of Studley Royal park and Fountains Abbey during the mid-1990s. A group of probable medieval buildings has been identified around the north-south stream, some of which are clustered around a pond, and are served by a roadway. These earthworks also included building platforms. Several distinct areas of ridge and furrow and a pond complex (Monument HOB UID 51937) have also been identified. (4)
Some of these features are visible as earthworks on historic and recent air photos and lidar-derived images. (5-8)
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