Preliminary Report of Palaeoenvironmental Investigations at under Whitle, Sheen, Staffordshire
Abstract
Since 2015, a small local heritage group (TFIG: the Tudor Farming Interpretation Group) has been investigating the origins of a farmstead known as Under Whitle near Pilsbury Castle, on the Staffordshire/Derbyshire border in the Peak District, centred on SK107640 (Fig. 1). The archaeological potential of the farmstead was first recognised by Rylatt (2005), who identified several standing earthworks of mixed date within the study area, including a possible building platform, holloways, enclosures, and a field system with lynchet, ditches, banks and areas of ridge-and-furrow likely to date to the medieval period. In addition to these features, there were areas identified as having potential for the preservation of palaeoenvironmental remains.
References
Blaauw, M. and Christen, J.A. 2011. Flexible paleoclimate age-depth models using an autoregressive gamma process. Bayesian analysis 6.3: 457–474.
Bronk Ramsey, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51.1: 337–360.
Budge, D. 2022. Report on a Pottery Assemblage from Under Whitle Farm, Longnor, Staffordshire. Unpublished report for the Tudor Farming Interpretation Group.
Davies, T. 2022. Under Whitle Palaeoenvironmental interim report. Unpublished report for the Tudor Farming Interpretation Group.
EAGG (Environment Agency Geomatics Group). 2016. Sheen Archaeology LiDAR survey – DTM data.
Hamerow, H., Bogaard, A., Charles, M., Forster, E., Holmes, M., McKerracher, M., Neil, S., Ramsey, C.B., Stroud, E. and Thomas, R. 2020. An integrated bioarchaeological approach to the medieval ‘agricultural revolution’: a case study from Stafford, England, c. AD 800–1200.European Journal of Archaeology23.4: 585–609.
Parker Heath, I. 2017. Peeling back the Layers: A Community Archaeology Project at Under Whitle, Sheen – The report on the excavations carried out between 20th June and 9th July 2016. Unpublished report for the Tudor Farming Interpretation Group.
Parker Heath, I. 2022. Digging Deeper: A Community Archaeology Project at Under Whitle, Sheen – The report on the excavations carried out between 23rd August to 12th September 2021. Unpublished report for the Tudor Farming Interpretation Group.
Reimer, P.J. et al. 2020. The IntCal20 Northern Hemisphere Radiocarbon Age Calibration Curve (0-55 cal kBP). Radiocarbon 62: 725–757.
Rippon, S., Smart, C. and Pears, B. 2015.The fields of Britannia: continuity and change in the late Roman and early medieval landscape. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Rylatt, J. 2005. Under Whitle, Sheen, Staffordshire: Archaeological Field Survey for the Peak District Environmental Quality Mark Scheme. Bakewell: Peak District National Park Authority.
Simmons, E. 2022. Dove Valley Activity Centre, Under Whitle, Staffordshire (UWDD21) – charred plant remains and wood charcoal assessment. Unpublished report for the Tudor Farming Interpretation Group.
Tallis, J.H. and Switsur, V.R. 1973. Studies on Southern Pennine peats: VI. A Radiocarbon-dated pollen diagram from Featherbed Moss, Derbyshire.The Journal of Ecology 61.3: 743–751.