Swaledale: The Valley of the Wild River.

Swaledale: The Valley of the Wild River. ANDREW FLEMING. ix+166 pages, 68 figures. 1998. Edinburgh:Edinburgh University Press Edinburgh University Press is a university publisher that is part of the University of Edinburgh in Edinburgh, Scotland. External linksEdinburgh University Press ; 1-85331-197-9 paperback [pounds]17.95. This book is a popular, yet detailed, account of AndrewFleming's 10-year research project in Swaledale in Yorkshire. Atthe end Fleming urges us to stop writing 'the local study as loveletter'. By that he means that we should stop insisting that thelocality being studied, like the lover in the letter, is unique andspecial. He wants to replace this approach by writing that conveys'some sense of an ongoing relationship between researcher andlandscape, between the present and the past' (p. 155). To someextent he manages to do this here, but the book is still obviously alabour of love in 10 chapters, written in an incredibly inclusive style.That said, in places this is a hard book to use and it must also havebeen a difficult book to write. From the Preface onwards we are drawn into Fleming's way ofthinking, and the first chapter is a poetic introduction to Swaledale.He totally deconstructs ideas about the 'timelessness' ofdales life and his points about the impact of lead mining (largelyignored in the rest of the book) should be taken to heart by all whothink that 'Heriott Country' has always been as it appears ontelevision. His discussion on how to read and write'landscape' to incorporate notions of human agency andhistorical process is excellent, and in the course of it he highlightsthe centrality of place-name studies in his research. Thus he leads thereader into the detailed history and archaeology of the Swaledalelandscape. Fleming's account is thematic, not chronological in structure.To realize this he has to work both backwards and forwards in time andthat is why I said that this must have been a difficult book to write. Amajor problem with this approach is that, of necessity, there is somerepetition of ideas and data and in places the text, though wellwritten, does not flow easily. An example of this is in chapter 3, wherehe tries to 'decode' the pattern of township development.Fleming uses place-names to disentangle the pre-township history of thedale. He makes some interesting points about township evolutionsuggesting that a series of estates, or 'folk territories',existed in early Swaledale. This is brilliantly argued but difficult tofollow, as we have to flit between illustrative figures in severalchapters. I did it with the help of the O.S. map. Having said that, the book is full of new insights about thedale's historic evolution. Fleming provides a detailed discussionof the enclosure movement enclosure movementDivision or consolidation of communal lands in Western Europe into the carefully delineated and individually owned farm plots of modern times. Before enclosure, farmland was under the control of individual cultivators only during the growing season; after and the fate of the common land and hereconstructs the 'Community Landscape', detailing, among otherthings, cattle and deer management strategies and the emergence of theSwaledale 'field-barns'. The chapter on 'Old WoodPastures' provides an excellent example of what can be achievedwhen cartographic car��tog��ra��phy?n.The art or technique of making maps or charts.[French cartographie : carte, map (from Old French, from Latin charta, carta, paper made from papyrus and place-name evidence is brought into contact withdetailed field observations. Fleming also attempts to reconstruct the habitus habitus/hab��i��tus/ (hab��i-tus) [L.]1. attitude (2).2. physique.hab��i��tusn. pl. of daily practicein Swaledale. He examines the origins and development of plannedsettlements (pp. 106-8), the possible symbolic, self/other, aspects ofwhat he terms T-shaped settlements in Swaledale (p. 110), the reasonsbehind the maintenance of the intricate Swaledale footpath system andthe provision of public space in the dale's settlements. All ofthis is really excellent, but there are some contentious points in thebook. One of the most interesting comes in chapter 2 when Flemingexamines the origins of Medieval Swaledale. He suggests that in thePost-Roman period, if not earlier, what he terms 'OldSwaledale', above Reeth, was a geo-political entity - the'Kingdom of the Swale'. Its boundary, he suggests, was markedby the Grinton-Fremington Dykes which, he argues, might have been builtagainst Anglian incursion in��cur��sion?n.1. An aggressive entrance into foreign territory; a raid or invasion.2. The act of entering another's territory or domain.3. . He rejects the traditional Iron Age dating ofthe dykes because the ditch of the westernmost earthwork earth��work?n.1. An earthen embankment, especially one used as a fortification. See Synonyms at bulwark.2. Engineering Excavation and embankment of earth.3. cuts throughfield banks relating to relating torelate prep → concernantrelating torelate prep → bez��glich +gen, mit Bezug auf +accwhat Fleming describes as a Romano-British farm.The site is unexcavated and has merely been 'dated' on thebasis of its morphological similarity with other sites. It couldconceivably be earlier than the suggested date, and the problems ofdating sites in the uplands on the basis of morphology morphologyIn biology, the study of the size, shape, and structure of organisms in relation to some principle or generalization. Whereas anatomy describes the structure of organisms, morphology explains the shapes and arrangement of parts of organisms in terms of such are legion. Bythe same token a late date is also suggested because the dyke followsthe line of the co-axial walls visible on Harkerside Moor. These wereprobably laid out some time in the Iron Age, but we do not know when.Pollen work on Ellerton Moor suggests a long phase of land clearancefrom 510-380 BC to I BC-AD 80. The dykes could therefore still be ofIron Age date. Morphological comparison with other, much longer andputatively Post-Roman, dyke systems in the north does not help to datethe Swaledale features either. Only excavation can resolve thisquestion. Further points for debate occur in chapters 8 & 9 wherering-cairns, barrows, rock-art and field walls etc. are all discussedfrom a landscape perspective. So too are the unexcavated'defended' enclosures, which may indicate the emergence ofsettlement hierarchy in the dale. If they are of later prehistoric datethis begs the question of where are the lower-order Bronze Age Bronze Age,period in the development of technology when metals were first used regularly in the manufacture of tools and weapons. Pure copper and bronze, an alloy of copper and tin, were used indiscriminately at first; this early period is sometimes called the and IronAge settlements in Swaledale? In chapter 9 Fleming conclusively demonstrates the Iron Age date ofthe co-axial fields around Reeth and Healaugh. He also identifies whathe thinks are Bronze Age enclosures. Given this, I am unclear why all ofthe settlement platforms on the valley sides should be seen asRomano-British/Roman in date? One excavation has been carried out atHealaugh and the platform was found to contain a three-phase timber- andstone-built house of the Late Iron Age - Roman period. Is the dating ofthe other platforms based on this one excavation? Why should some of theplatforms not have earlier Iron Age and even Bronze Age settlement onthem, just like excavated examples in the Cheviots? It would be astrange landscape indeed that had potentially early burial sites,clearance cairns Cairns,city (1991 pop. 64,463), Queensland, NE Australia, on Trinity Bay. It is a principal sugar port of Australia; lumber and other agricultural products are also exported. The city's proximity to the Great Barrier Reef has made it a tourist center. etc. but no settlements! Again more excavation is theobvious answer here. Overall, though, this is a stimulating book and great for startingdebate about the finer points of upland field archaeology. In places itis hard to use but it is well produced (I only spotted three typos) anda joy to read. Throughout, Fleming acknowledges the contribution of TimLaurie and all of the other specialists involved in the work. In thelast chapter he says, 'In a sense we can now almost research andwrite local studies in our sleep' - maybe so, Andrew, but theycertainly won't all be of the quality of this one! ROB YOUNG School of Archaeological Studies University of Leicester HistoryThe University was founded as Leicestershire and Rutland College in 1918. The site for the University was donated by a local textile manufacturer, Thomas Fielding Johnson, in order to create a living memorial for those who lost their lives in World War I. ry3@le.ac.uk