Friday 24 April 2015

The glorious weather of the past few days decided to fade a little but it was still a fine afternoon to be out in the fields. Three of us, with the farmer’s permission, went into one of the larger fields off Shires Lane in Embsay to finish off our survey of the walls there. By the end of the afternoon it had become quite grey and chilly with a strong breeze blowing our papers about – but we did get the Shires Lane section finished which was good work.

This is an interesting area of Embsay being at the edge of the settlement – with signs of ridge and furrow clearly visible (probably Napoleonic period), and a very old boundary lying alongside one side of the field we were in.

The above photograph shows a plain wood and wire fence – nothing much to spark any interest? Far from it.

  

For this is what lies on the other side – a beautifully stone revetted bank – almost certainly medieval in origin – and very likely to be one of the few remains of the monastic estate of Bolton Abbey in the parish.

  

 An unusual sight was this little tree – look a little closer and you can see it’s actually pushed its way up through the middle of what was once a solid and sturdy wooden gatepost! 

Even having a great big bolt hammered straight into it hasn’t deterred this tree – it’s alive, healthy and still growing, splintering the gate post apart!

As we were finishing off the recording of this Georgian stone gate-post we were greeted by three very lively and friendly dogs - two spaniels and a black Labrador – out for their afternoon run, and straining to be let off the leash! We had a nice chat with them – and their owners too, of course – before heading off back down Shires Lane, recording the last stretch of roadside wall as we headed towards home.   

Jane Lunnon