P5207 Urra Moor Prehistoric Boundary

Item

Title
P5207 Urra Moor Prehistoric Boundary
Description
Urra Moor prehistoric linear boundary is a single bank and ditch earthwork extending for some 5 km along the top edge of the steeply sided eastern flank of Bilsdale in the North York Moors National Park. Many years of recreational use of a bridle way along the earthwork by ramblers, horse riders and more recently mountain bikers have caused moderate to severe erosion and wear to the earthwork particularly concentrated on pinch points where various rights of way meet and where gullies have formed by water flow down slopes. To mitigate this damage and as the first stage of a Management Plan suitable for inclusion in a Higher Level Environmental Stewardship Scheme, YAT undertook a condition survey of the earthwork. The survey assessed the condition and vulnerability of the monument and recommended practical remedial solutions. The general recommendation was to redefine the line of the path as close as possible to the moorland side of the earthwork to allow for regeneration, repair and re-seeding of the damaged areas to take place. Such a redefined path would not impact directly upon the earthwork but would still retain the historic and landscape values necessary for understanding and appreciating the monument and its setting. Consideration was given throughout to the wider interests of disparate, sometimes conflicting user groups, rights of way and natural environment issues. The analysis of importance of the earthwork also focused on the rights of way as a heritage asset. The project allowed for a detailed evaluation of the monument and its place in the landscape and the report speculates that the earthwork was built along an earlier symbolic land division, with a sight line on Roseberry Topping framed by Clay Bank to the north and that the route may have been associated with seasonal stock movement. The results of the project serve to act as a model for further management intervention elsewhere.
Type
Survey
Date
March 2009 – March 2009
Creator
York Archaeological Trust
Contributor
H Pritchard (Fieldwork)
Spatial Coverage
Bransdale, North Yorkshire
NZ57960213
Monument Type
Monument Type - Earthwork
Period
Prehistoric

Position: 4367 (76 views)