More information : This monument was formerly part of SE 57 NW 1, but is now the subject of its own record with descriptive text and sources transferred and edited as appropriate. (1)
The precinct wall of Byland Abbey (SE 57 NW 1) can be traced from the gateway at SE 548 790 south-west to the mill pond and thence to Low Pasture Farm. It may then resume as a hedge-baulk going north towards SE 554 791 but there is no apparent trace of the wall returning north of the abbey. (2)
The precinct wall described by authority 2 was seen as earthworks on good quality air photographs. Three sections of the grassed over wall were seen and varied in length from 110m to 280m.
Centred at:- SE 5475 7875
Additional NGRs:
SE 5490 7869
SE 5460 7880
SE 5466 7906
(Morph Nos. HH.15.12.1 - 15.12.3)
This description is based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database. (3)
A plan of the suggested extent of the Byland precinct shows the western boundary continuing north from the gateway along the top of a dam before dog-legging to the east along the foot of the Hambleton escarpment, diverting north to take in part of Wass village and returning south to meet the previously suggested eastern boundary at SE 554 791. (4)
The western and southern boundaries were investigated and part surveyed by English Heritage in 2008.
In the west the precinct boundary described by authority 2 is visible as an earthwork bank up to c 6m wide and 0.6m high flanked in places by an external ditch, heading south in an almost straight line from the Oldstead road at SE 5466 7910 for 300m as far as the crest of a ridge of high ground south-west of College Farm. It then turns east-south-east as far as the Coxwold road although this section has been visibly reduced and spread by later ploughing and the ditch is, initially, more akin to a terrace. The boundary is cut by the Coxwold road, but the bank resumes beyond running parallel to and immediately north of the modern track to Low Pasture Farm. Occasional dressed stone blocks are visible in this section suggesting that the bank was formerly topped by a wall; it is a moot point whether the track now occupies and has infilled the course of the ditch. The bank then veers slightly north-east to cross the valley, but is not traceable as an earthwork beyond the stream.
North of the Oldstead road, Harrison (auth 4) has claimed that the precinct boundary continued in a straight line along the top of a dam, but the dam (SE 57 NW 114) is actually on a different alignment to the boundary south of the road which would have to veer slightly to the west to pass along it, whereas the remains of a scarp in the valley bottom east of the dam continues the known line of the boundary exactly and is also aligned on the southern end of the alleged dog-leg. This suggests that the precinct boundary originally ran at the foot of the dam and that the dam is a later feature. North of the dam, what is probably the onward course of the boundary as far as the north-western corner of the precinct and a short distance beyond is marked on the ground by a length of stony bank.
The northern and eastern curtilages of the precinct were not investigated, but the fact that previous researchers have struggled to uncover clear evidence for the continuation of a bank or wall here suggests that sections may have been demarcated by other means such as thick-set hedges. Alternatively, the apparent invisibility of the eastern curtilage could be due to the fact that any wall here was demolished as early as the 14th century when the abbot created a deer park (SE 57 NW 23) which field name evidence suggests lay east of the precinct and partly overlapped with it. Although the course of the precinct boundary in the north and east is conjectural, if it corresponded to that suggested by Harrison (auth 4) it would mean that the precinct enclosed approximately 50ha centred on c SE 549 790, and had a perimeter almost 3km long.
The presence of roads and tracks within the precinct enables the positions of a number of gates through the wall to be suggested. The main outer and inner gates and clearly stood in the west astride the Oldstead road, at SE 548 790 and SE 5476 7902 (SE 57 NW 112), but others are probable in the western, northern and eastern curtilages.
Surveyed at 1:1000 scale as part of the EH: Byland Abbey Survey (boundary feature BF1). See plans and report (5a) in the NMR for further information.
The surveyed earthworks lie within the area of RSM 13279 (5b). (5) |