A study of the settlements to the north of the vale of Pickering

Abstract

The north of the Vale of Pickering, divides into two obvious regions. In the west, the Vale floor is undulating and there is no clear break at the beginning of the higher land, while in the east the Vale floor is flat and ends abruptly with a marked rise to the dip slope of the Tabular Hills. In cultural landscape, these two also differ. The west has small fields, narrow lanes, well wooded hedgerows and scattered villages and townships of dispersed farms, while the east, has larger and more uniform fields, fewer and lower hedges, more ditches, wider and straighter lanes and "street villages" at the junction of the Vale and the higher land. Physically the eastern and western, divisions differ; the west is the dissected valley of the proto-Rye cut into the Kimmeridge clay floor which was flooded for a short time during and after the Pleistocene glaciation. The east was the estuary of the proto-Eye and Hertford, covered by the ice sheet and a lake for a much longer period of time. Historically, the west was divided into compact townships, was more affected by the establishment of monastie granges and was enclosed earlier. The east was divided into elongated townships, the number of these decreased during, the Middle ages; the area was poorly drained until collective schemes were carried out, and most of it was enclosed by Parliamentary enclosure. The farming figures for the 1801 crop returns, the Tithe Awards, and, from 1867, the ten yearly June 4th Agricultural Returns show the variety and change in the crops grown with changing economic conditions. The real physical divisions into Byedale, Marishes, Carrs, Ings and backslope of the Tabular Hills do not show clearly when the agriculture is studied on a township basis as a variety of conditions is included within the townships of the east but distinction can be made between the east and west of the Vale.