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Countryman Diary - February 2010
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Stephen Conlin's impression of how the village of Wharram looked in its heyday. |
Digging up Nora
The image of medieval Yorkshire women as some kind of early version of ‘Nora Batty’ may not be quite so far from the truth. English Heritage studies of nearly 120 female skeletons from Wharram Percy, North Yorkshire, who lived between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries, suggest that the so called ‘gentler sex’ were in fact muscular and multi-tasking all-rounders.
Wharram Percy, near Malton, is the best preserved of the country’s 3,500 deserted villages and is today managed by English Heritage. Between 1950 and 1990 it was the scene of the longest running dig in British archaeological history. Hundreds of well preserved skeletal remains were found, mostly medieval, which have helped shed unprecedented light on the lives of peasants.
Now new research has compared the upper arm bones (humerus) of adult females from the village with those unearthed at a medieval burial site at Fishergate in York.
Simon Mays, English Heritage Human Skeletal Biologist, explains: “The differences were really quite pronounced. Women at Wharram were much more muscular and bigger boned than their city counterparts. Whilst they were still doing the domestic chores and looking after children, as in York, they clearly also mucked in with the hard labour in the fields, building up their arm strength.
“The research underlines that the sexual division of labour was much less marked than in the cities. This might seem obvious given that Wharram was a poor rural community. But in fact only scant documentary evidence exists describing the lives of medieval peasant women in country areas. The evidence from the Wharram bones, however, speaks volumes, and reinforces that notion that life in the village was far from a rural idyll.”
The findings were discovered by X-raying bones from the two burial locations. Those from Wharram possessed a greater diameter and also had thicker walls – a result of more bone being deposited as muscles are worked harder and gain mass.
Simon adds: “The Wharram bones also show a lot of osteoarthritis, brought about by a life of hard work and poor diet. Whilst many women in York were engaged in domestic service, or were effectively housewives, their country cousins coped with harsher economic realities.”
Disease, infant mortality and malnutrition were all widespread in Wharram. Villagers consumed most of the food they produced and often struggled to keep hunger at bay. Following the Black Death, the population dwindled and eventually the village was abandoned.
New tree species at Cheddar
Three new species of whitebeam tree have been discovered by scientists at Cheddar Gorge in Somerset. This is the first time that the gorge, a rich botanical site and managed by the National Trust, has been surveyed specifically for whitebeams. Surveys of the gorge are difficult because of its steep and hazardous cliffs, in places up to 394 feet (120 m) high. Eight species of whitebeam were recorded including the three new species.
Mark Courtiour, the trust’s countryside manager for Somerset, says: “We always wondered what whitebeam rarities might be lurking in the gorge as it’s such a stunning place for wildlife. This important survey work will help with our management of the site now we know what we have and where they can be found.”
Cheddar is a nationally important site for whitebeams along with other locations such as the Avon Gorge in Bristol, the Wye Valley, Craig-y-Cilau in the Brecon Beacons and the north Devon-Somerset coast. Two other trust sites – Watersmeet in north Devon and Leigh Woods in Bristol – were also found to be whitebeam hotspots including species unique to those sites.
Scientists used DNA techniques to identify them as new species. Satellite navigation (GPS) technology was also used to record the precise locations of these rarities.
Fen celebrations
The National Trust is offering free admission to Wicken Fen nature reserve, near Ely, Cambridgeshire, to celebrate World Wetlands Day on Tuesday 2 February.
The special day marks the signing of the Convention on Wetlands of International Importance, known as the Ramsar Convention in 1971. The convention is an intergovernmental treaty that provides a framework for national action and international cooperation for the conservation and wise use of wetland resources. Wicken Fen is one of 1,874 wetland sites worldwide designated as of ‘International Importance’.
Besides free admission to Wicken Fen, there will be a full programme of guided walks, talks and exhibitions and displays on Wicken Fen and its sister wetland habitat restoration project, the Great Fen Project, near Peterborough.
Woodland creation
The Forestry Commission has pledged £636,000 to create 635 acres (257 ha) of new woodland in north-east England this year – and more cash is on offer to support other planting schemes. More than forty per cent of the new planting will occur in the Northumberland National Park as part of a drive to reverse centuries of deforestation and overgrazing by creating new native woods. The work will see leafy habitats restored to many bare valleys and ghylls with species like alder, oak and rowan. About 157 acres (63 ha) will also target habitat creation for the endangered black grouse.
Whale meat again…
A teacher in the village school was teaching the class about the fishing industry and asked little Tommy: “Can we eat the flesh of a whale?”
“Yes,” he answered.
“Good boy,” replied the teacher, adding, “And what do we do with the bones?”
There was a moment’s silence before Tommy said with determination: “We leave them on the side of the plate, Miss.”
Paul Jackson
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