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Scheduled Monuments in Redcar and Cleveland
What is a Scheduled Monument? The United Kingdom is home to an incredible number of archaeological sites and historic buildings the most important of which have, since 1882, been designated as ‘Scheduled Monuments’. There are over 200 types, or ‘classes’, of monuments ranging from prehistoric standing stones and burial mounds, to medieval castles and monasteries, abandoned farmsteads and villages, and even pillboxes from the 1940s. Being ‘scheduled’ is a designation which can only be granted through the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and gives these sites legal protection from any unauthorised disturbance or changes to their structure or fabric and ensures that their preservation is given priority over other land uses. Any works necessary to maintain or repair a scheduled monument can only be carried out in line with current legislation, the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. To qualify as a scheduled monument, each site is assessed separately on the following criteria:
Alternatives to scheduling Not every important archaeological site needs ‘scheduled’ protection. Historic buildings and other standing structures are more often protected by being given ‘Listed Building’ status, which encourages active use of the building. For sites in town and city centres, perhaps threatened by building developments or road schemes, Local Authority Planners can ensure that development proposals take the archaeology fully into account whether the site is scheduled or not.
Scheduled Monuments in Redcar and Cleveland There are over 20 different types of scheduled monuments recorded in the area, spanning some 4,000 years from the Bronze Age to World World War One.
The vast majority of these sites are barrows and cairns, with smaller numbers of other types including prehistoric hut circles, medieval settlements, a castle, and two rare WWI acoustic mirrors.
Prehistory Barrows and cairns are burial structures dating from the late Neolithic to the late Bronze Age periods and they are often associated with cist burials and/or cremations. These mounds can be seen in quite large numbers on the Eston Hills and on the northern moors.
Construction was of any combination of earth, turf and stones, usually circular or oval in shape and surrounded by a kerb of stones or a shallow ditch. In some cases, additional burials were later placed in and around the main structure.
Other Bronze Age monuments include three hut circles, a late prehistoric enclosure and an extremely well-preserved ‘urn field’ situated on Moorsholm Moor. This site is an extremely rare type of burial monument, with fewer than 50 similar sites identified across the country.
Also located on Moorsholm Moor is a single cup-marked stone, a good example of prehistoric rock art found mainly in the North of England.
There is also a Late Bronze Age Hill fort, palisaded settlement and beacon located on Eston Nab. This fort is the only one of its kind in the area and its importance is enhanced by the survival of contemporary settlements and funerary monuments in the vicinity. The modern monument which marks the location of a Napoleonic square, stone beacon is not included on the schedule list, but the earth beneath and around it is!
Medieval One of the most substantial and important monuments in the region is the Guisbrough Priory site, comprising the remains of a late Saxon settlement, Augustinian monastery, monastic precinct, dovecote and cemetery.
The Priory was one of the first 20 houses of the Augustinian order to be founded in England, and one of the earliest in the north. It played an important role in the first wave of medieval monastic settlement and it remained one of the wealthiest Priories until formally dissolved by Henry VIII in 1540.
Redcar & Cleveland contains a substantial number of scheduled monuments from the medieval period.
The moated manor houses at Easington and Pinchinthorpe reflect the wealth and high status of their owners. While the moats were essentially status symbols, they did also function as a deterrent to opportunistic raiders and as a means of keeping wild animals out.
The 13th century Kilton Castle, with its stone Keep, is a nationally rare example of its type. The surviving remains are of stone, however, it is likely the original structure was of timber, along the lines of a Motte and Bailey castle.
Not all scheduled monuments are as imposing as Kilton Castle or Guisbrough Priory. A small number of medieval wayside crosses can be found across the region. Often used to reinforce the Christian faith they also acted as waymakers for travellers particularly across difficult terrain, although many have since been moved from their original locations.
Post Medieval A number of relatively modern sites are also scheduled.
Boulby Alum Quarries and Works, located near Easington, opened in the 1650s and were not finally closed until 1871. During this time they were one of the most productive and long lived alum works in the region, and their longevity shows important technological advances in the alum-making process.
The importance of the site is also greatly enhanced due to the nearby hamlet of Boulby. This settlement was specifically established to house the alum workers and their families, and provides valuable information towards understanding the local social and domestic conditions of the times.
Nearby is the substantially intact fan-house, or exhauster house, of the former Huntcliffe Ironstone mine which operated between 1864 and 1906. This is of the Guibal-type and was built in 1872 to replace an earlier ventilation furnace.
The building, comprising three principal rooms, stands to its full height and is constructed from a mixture of rendered brick and concrete with brick and stone detail. The north room houses the mine shaft which is brick lined, 4.5 metres in diameter and 4 metres deep.
Although none of the internal machinery survives, this is still the most complete example of a Guibal Fan-house known to survive on any iron or coal mining site in the country.
The most modern monuments on the Redcar and Cleveland list are two First World War early warning acoustic mirrors. Built prior to the invention of radar, they were used to provide early warning of potential attacks from surface ships and/or Zeppelins on the important industrial complexes in the region. With only four such structures in the North-East of England, the ‘U’ shaped concrete mirror located east of Boulby Barns Farm is particularly important, as it is the only one with surviving remains of an associated listening trench, providing important evidence of the operation of the mirror.
All of these monuments have been scheduled because they enrich our landscape and tell important stories about our area’s social, domestic and military past. They are considered unique through rarity and/or variation and require legal protection to ensure their continued survival in the future.
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Further Information Scheduled Monuments in Redcar & Cleveland Scheduled Monuments in North York Moors National Park
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