MONUMENT NO. 79613

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A complex of medieval earthworks have been interpreted as the remains of the possible shrunken village of Little Kelk or that of a monastic grange. A rectangular building platform has been identified as a motte and has been ploughed down considerably. A U-shaped moat is also visible as a soilmark.

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[Area centred TA 095 601]. The whole field by Nunnery Hill is full of mediaeval remains with pottery sherds lying on the surface. Nunnery Hill is about 100ft.in diameter with no visible ditch. The road to the west of the Willows is clear and consists of a raised bank about 4ft. above the surrounding ground. Mr J G Hurst (Secretary DMV Research Group) states that this is a village site. (1)

Any village of Little Kelk probably stood at the junction of roads leading to Lowthorpe, Burton Agnes, and Great Kelk. A causeway crossing the Great Kelk road was described in 1850 as the track of a paved road, and there are other earthworks to the west, in Ash garths. These features forming no coherent pattern, may mark the site of a grange established here by Bridlington Priory, rather than a village site. Nunnery Hill in Ash garths appears to be a tumulus.(2)

There is little on the ground apart from a linear superficial depression in Ash Garths, which suggests a former roadway, and tends to support the claim of a village here rather than a grange (published survey 25" correct). One of two large stones set into the crossroads noted by the VCH may represent remnants of the paved causeway.

'Nunnery Hill' is a ploughed-down mound 42.0m diameter and 1.7m high. According to the farmer, prior to being bulldozed during the war it was about 15ft high and ditched (OS 25" 1926 confirms this). As it stands, it appears large for a tumulus, and in view of the farmer's evidence, Nunnery Hill seems likely to have been a small motte. Published survey (25") revised. (3)

Centred (TA 097601), Little Kelk Shrunken Village with holloways, banks and mounds visible on APs (4). In 1970 a rectangular building site, at TA 09476004, ploughed to a mound 30m by 20m, produced a chamfered plinth stone with Norman tooling. East of the building 15th century pottery and oyster shells lay on the ploughed surface, and at TA 09676013 15th century sherds and kiln debris were found (5), (probably centred TA 0956603). Earthworks listed in VCH as a homestead moat (6). (4-6)

Most of this area has been ploughed and is under grass but the main outlines of the above features are still discernible.

The "rectangular building site" at TA 09476004 is now an amorphous turf covered rise, while the "supposed homestead moat" is much reduced by ploughing so that its exact purpose is not clear.

Only the E part of the "old road" is now extant. Published survey (25") revised. (7)

Small moat traceable in plough soil. (8)

Fieldwork in 1978-9 produced concentrations of material at various locations within and around the site, including C12th-16th pottery. (9)

TA 095 601. U-shaped moat, appearing only as a soilmark, containing no surface indication of underlying structures but much scattered chalk, cobble, tile and brick found. At TA 094 596 a scatter of building debris with surface finds represent the possible site of a watermill associated with the grange. Many surface finds were collected following ploughing in 1978-9, all from the period 1200 to 1600. Also floor tiles and ironwork
found. (10)

Nunnery or "Double House" recorded at Calcaria (Tadcaster or Kelk) in about 650 (possibly relating to this site?). (11)

TA 095 601, TA 097 602. Nunnery Hill and adjacent earthworks, Little Kelk. Scheduled No HU/196. (12)

Authority 10's suggestion that Kelk is the site of the Early Mediaeval nunnery of Calcaria is incorrect. Tadcaster was the Roman Calcaria, to which the reference relates. See SE44SE66. (13)

Centred at TA0947 6003 are a goup of cropmark features coresponding to the medieval features described above. With the exception of one L-shaped length of ditch which still functions as a field boundary, all the features are heavily ploughed down to the extent that only the deeper ditches appear to survive. A broad, roughly circular cropmark, about 42m in diameter is all that remains of Nunnery Hill. Some area features suggest the location of buildings, others appear to be more pit-like, perhaps ponds. (14)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Externally held archive reference

MS Notes, Min. of Works.

( 2) edited by K.J. Allison 1974 A history of the county of York, East Riding: volume 2

The Victoria history of the counties of England 2, 1974 Page(s)245

( 3) Field Investigators Comments

F1 RE 19-AUG-74

( 4) Aerial photograph

AP (RAF CPE/UK 1839 4014-16 13.11.46)

( 5) The Yorkshire archaeological journal

43, 1971 Page(s)196

( 6) edited by K.J. Allison 1974 A history of the county of York, East Riding: volume 2

The Victoria history of the counties of England 2, 1974 Page(s)52,70

( 7) Field Investigators Comments

F2 ISS 06-OCT-75

( 8) by H E Jean Le Patourel 1973 The moated sites of Yorkshire

The Society for Medieval Archaeology monograph series1 (1966) - 5, 1973 Page(s)113

( 9) Medieval Settlement Research Group : annual report

27 Page(s)10-11

(10) Moated Sites Research Group report

7, 1980 Page(s)15-17

(11) Journal of the British Archaeological Association

31, 1968 Page(s)27-37

(12) Scheduled Monument Notification

English Heritage SAM List Humbs March 1994 14

(13) by David Knowles and R Neville Hadcock 1971 Medieval religious houses in England and Wales

Page(s)483

(14) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

NMR TA0959/22 (17361/12) 30-JUL-1999

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