October 2013 Update

We were surprised to find that our first run of the formal report on the Whitfield Syke Project sold out so quickly over the summer and our second print run has now almost gone too. 

On Friday 18th October, Pat, Alison, Ruth and Jane gave a presentation to local residents at Embsay Village Hall to give them a summary of our findings from the Whitfield Project. This was a rather more relaxed affair than at the Historic Enirvonment Day at Grassington in April - we were able to expand a little more and use a full hour rather than keep to the very tight schedule of just 40 minutes we had before. 

It seemed to go very well - a lot of people chatted to us afterwards, asking questions, telling us more local information, and expressing concern that the old Mission Building was decaying so rapidly. Many people said they had walked past the building so often and never realised its fascinating history, and now wished to see it preserved. 

Jane Lunnon

Grassington Day, 2013

On Saturday 13^th April 4 members of UWHG bravely stood up to give their presentation on the Whitfield Syke Mill project at the Historic Environment Day held in Grassington by the Yorkshire Dales National Park. 

Peter G. helps Pat and Phil put up the Whitfield display

It was a big day for us, the culmination of 3 years of hard graft and research. Three of us – Pat, Jane and Ruth – were new to this business of public speaking, but Alison had done this kind of thing before. It was a nerve-wracking wait through the morning as we watched other speakers go before us. At lunch time we were invited to join the other speakers, the organisers and volunteer helpers at a buffet lunch, but we were too nervous to eat much. Although I managed a bit of chocolate cake after a nibble at savoury offerings!

Roger offers some helpful advice  

Then suddenly, after months of preparation and anxious waiting, we were on.

It all went surprisingly well, despite some microphone problems – and nervous twitching on the remote control which sent our powerpoint slides jumping around all over the place.

We tried to provide a mix of academic research and light-hearted anecdotes, which seemed to go down well. People were very kind about it afterwards, anyway.

Now, if we give any more talks on the subject, they’ll seem like a walk in the park!

Jane Lunnon

23rd-24th and 30th-31st July 2011

Whitfield Tours

The guided walks for the Festival of British Archaeology were a great success, informing approximately 60 members of the public and UWHG members about the Whitfield Syke Mill complex.



Alison talking about walls & boundaries (Photo by Jane Lunnon)

Each walk followed more or less the same format, only being slightly adapted for the different parties. The “dry run” for UWHG members proved to be very wet indeed in the rain, but all members battled valiantly on, in spite of getting soaked!  The following weekends proved to be exceptionally hot and so were taken at a more leisurely pace.

Having met in the car park, and following a brief introduction by Ruth, we walked up the lane, stopping to look at some of Maria Phillips photographs (taken c. 1900-1910) of the mill site on the way and comparing them to the present view.

Alison then took over and told us something about the enclosure of Embsay Pasture and the medieval origins of the surrounding walls, eventually leading us on to look at the walls of the reservoir and the  remains of the late 18thC cottages now incorporated into this wall.



Alison pointing out remains of cottages in the walls (Photo by Jane Lunnon)

Chris, assisted by Jane then informed us about the mill, pointing out the various stages of its development, greatly helped by the coloured flags which he and Jane had previously laid out. The former warehouse and its association with Elizabeth Garnett and the Navvy Mission Society, as told by Jane, proved to be of great interest.

Chris explains development of the mill (photo by Jane Lunnon)

We then walked back to the moor side, where Ruth indicated the various mill ponds and the cmplex management of the water supply for the mill. Again the coloured flags were useful to indicate the various channels at present obscured by the height of the bracken. The walk finished by looking at the Weir and the Sheep Wash area.

Ruth explaining the water management systems (photo by Jane Lunnon)

Everyone seemed to have enjoyed the walks and said how interesting they had found them – many people having walked there frequently but knowing very little about the mill complex. They all agreed that their walks in future would take much longer as they would now be looking at walls and buildings, etc in a very different light!

 Ruth Spencer

July 2011 Site Tours

We've almost finished writing up our report on the project - it's now in the final stages of editing and proof-reading.  It's taken rather longer than we had anticipated due to a busy summer with other projects and committments, but we're getting there.

In the meantime we are offering guided tours of the site for the Festival of British Archaeology, a national annual event in which the public are invited to find out what's going on in their area, and to learn a little more about archaeology generally.

The Whitfield Tour walks will last about 2 hours and will be repeated at 10am and 2pm on Saturday 23rd, Sunday 24th, Saturday 30th, and Sunday 31st July. Walking boots will be needed although the terrain will; be easy to moderate, and the pace gentle.  Unfortunately since part of the walk is on the moorside we cannot allow dogs. 

Booking is essential - please phone 01756 798791, or email jane@cjlunnon.plus.com or book online at www.uwhg.org.uk 

36. Friday 1st April 2011

We archaeologists are obsessed with the weather, and no wonder. With an encouraging weather forecast three intrepid volunteers met at Embsay Reservoir to finish off the last of the little anomalies in the plans. But there was none of the predicted spring sunshine and summer temperatures - just gusty, biting winds, gloomy skies and drizzling rain. Which all made the measuring difficult - with tapes blowing and pulling in the wind it wasn't easy setting up our base lines up the moorside. And the constant rain and mizzle made drawing awkward. But, we're used to such conditions up here in the Dales, and thankfully we were done and dusted by lunchtime. 

The team is now working on the Report which will be issued to various bodies such as the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority - it's proving a longer task than we anticipated, but work is progressing and we should have the report ready by the summer - hopefully....

Jane Lunnon 

35. Saturday 26th March, 2011

With spring in the air last week we planned to venture out again at last after our long cold winter to finish off all those little bits of the survey which needed checking and tidying up. Of course, that meant the weather changed dramatically from the warm sunshine of Friday, to the cold blasts of wind ripping through our layers of thermals and fleecies, and grey skies of Saturday. Undaunted, three survey teams worked on the Whitfield site all day, busily measuring, plotting and hachuring away. Ruth, Jane and Chris on the moor side mill ponds, Pat, Tony and Sue on the mill site itself, and Phil and Peter drawing up a cross-section profile of the whole site. There was much consultation and exchange of queries between teams as we made sure the plans all tied together neatly, and that we hadn’t missed any features out. By the end of the day we were feeling the cold getting right into our bones, but at least it’s done. Jane Lunnon

34. Friday February 11th, 2011

Back to the fieldwork today. Jane and Alan spent a misty day measuring and describing the botanical zones on the eastern half of the area south of the wall. Despite the very cold weather in December we noticed, with some alarm, that the Creeping Thistles have already have started their regrowth, reminding us how much more we have to do for the botanical survey.

© Alan Williams

We noticed that the water level had risen considerably since our last visit a couple of weeks ago. This is as a result of the work by Bentley's is being scaled back it nears completion and the heavy rain of the last week

Alan Williams

33. Thursday February 3rd, 2011

After much preparation (and practice to calm our nerves!), four of the Project Team gave UWHG members a presentation talk on the evening of February 3rd, at the Soroptimists' Rooms in Skipton. With the help of Alan's slideshow we gave the audience a whirlwind tour of the site's history, the water management systems, the methodology of the field survey, and an introduction to the botanical survey. The feedback was good, and everyone there said they found it very interesting.

© Alan Williams

We are now in the process of writing up the formal report, copies of which will go to various bodies such as the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Craven Museum & Gallery, The Chatsworth and Bolton Abbey Archives, Skipton and Embsay Libraries, Yorkshire Water, and the Yorkshire Archaeological Society.

Jane Lunnon

32. Friday 21st January 2011

So what have we been up to over the winter? The snow and biting cold weather has kept us away, but that doesn't mean we haven't been busy.
Alan and Jane have been working on the botanical survey, cataloguing and editing a large archive of photographs and flora lists for the botanical survey, while the field survey team have been similarly tying up loose ends and preparing materials for the report.

We are now drafting the official report which will go out to the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and others this year, and discussing the best way to provide a more general readership with the project's findings. The team have had a couple of meetings to get the report writing under way.

Alan and Jane have been out today measuring up the habitat zones and checking them for descriptors to include in the report; Alan has also been taking additional photographs for the archaeological record. And Alison has re-visited the site to check on some of her ideas regarding the walls and boundaries.

Jane Lunnon

31. Wednesday 1st September, 2010

It was a glorious day of warm summer sunshine at last, for myself, Ruth and Peter who turned up for some more surveying today. We were able to go back onto the moorside and check out a few more details for the gazetteer of archaeological features.

Peter taking a GPS reading © Jane Lunnon

And Jane continued the botanical survey as usual. There are no new flowers emerging at this time of year, so this will probably be the final month for the year’s survey of flowering plants.

The water level of the reservoir appears to have settled at a half-way point – not as low as it has been, but still revealing quite a lot of the mill site which would normally be underwater. The longer the site is exposed the more stones are moved around or thrown into the reservoir – the site is losing its integrity little by little as the weeks go by, but thankfully, so far, there has been little significant damage except to the section of 18th century field wall, now destroyed, which used to lie on the popular footpath nearby.

The Mission Building continues to deteriorate gradually, but happily is still providing enough shelter for an owl to live there.

Ruth checking the Gazatteer © Jane Lunnon

We were asked recently if there were any traces of the old cottage gardens left on the site – unfortunately the botanical survey has found no evidence of the survival of vegetables, herbs or cottage garden flowers – introduced plants such as purple and yellow irises we know were first planted here during the past decade, while the white foxgloves are growing several hundred metres away from the mill site, so we cannot be sure if they originate from the mill workers’ cottage gardens.


Jane Lunnon

30. Wednesday 25 August 2010

Alan and I turned up for a day’s botanical surveying again. Now it’s the school holidays the reservoir isn’t so quiet as normal – it’s more like the weekend, when this place is a very popular spot for family walks, and children playing. As always there were plenty of dogs around, and we enjoyed the company of several friendly canines - and their owners - curious as to what we were up to.

Alan started off the day by re-taking some of the technical photos of the mill site features on the foreshore – he’s a perfectionist with his photography and wanted to get everything just right.

Then he followed my trail of blue flags marking flowers and fungi that I thought were ready for photography.

Luckily, he was wearing his wellies as he slipped into one of the numerous little becks while photographing water mint flowers. His feet still got wet, though!

We enjoyed a leisurely lunch on the newly oiled bench by the millennium-planted oak trees. Someone has recently tidied up around here and cleared out all the weeds. Luckily the tiny little germander flowers have survived.

I spent the day finishing off the August botanical survey for the reservoir side – the moor was closed for the shooting season today, and since my survey would have involved going off the footpath, I couldn’t complete the survey on the moorside today, and will have to return another day. The flowering plants are slowing down now, and we should soon be able to stop recording these, although we still have non-flowering plants on our agenda. We hope to focus on these from September onward – and Embsay Reservoir and Moor certainly have a wide variety of grasses, mosses, lichens, ferns and fungi waiting to be recorded.

Jane Lunnon.

29. Wednesday 18th August 2010

Toothache notwithstanding, I joined Alan at the Whitfield site today to continue our botanical survey. The weather was very changeable again, and the shower cap proved very useful in protecting Alan’s camera! We are now finding that the rate of new flowers appearing has slowed down as summer progresses, and the survey went well as so much is just a repeat of last month’s inventory of plants.

We agreed that since we are new to this kind of thing, that we would focus this year just upon flowering plants, and leave grasses, lichens, mosses, ferns and fungi out of our report for UWHG’s Whitfield Project 2010. This makes things much simpler, and allows us to give more attention to producing a good data set and photographic collection based on this smaller botanical survey.

I left the site early in the afternoon, leaving Alan waiting for the latest shower to pass so he could photograph the last of the flowers on his list for today.

The botanical survey will continue again next Wednesday.

Jane Lunnon, UWHG Archivist

28. Wednesday 11th August 2010

It’s been a fortnight since we last on-site. If you want to know what we’ve been up to, then why not have a look at our blog for the Hartlington dig at : http://uwhg-hartlington.blogspot.com/ . Several members of UWHG have been on a thoroughly enjoyable week’s dig under the direction of David Johnson, at Hartlington, near Burnsall.

Now we’re back to Embsay again. Three of us arrived at Embsay Reservoir this morning to be greeted by a heavy downpour of rain – not what the weather forecast had promised at all. We sat in the car waiting for the dark clouds to roll on by, and eventually some blue (ish) patches appeared overhead, and we ventured out to continue our surveying.

Alan spent the day photographing various botanical specimens across the site, while Jane and Ruth started the morning by checking out a few more features of the old mill on the foreshore, making the most of the lowered water levels since the last proper field survey was done. However, we did notice that the water levels were not as low as they had been a couple of weeks ago.

Noticing that it is now the grouse shooting season, we made the most of being able to get on to the moorside before it is closed to public access. Jane spent the rest of the day starting the botanical survey for August, around the sheepwash and mill pond areas, while Ruth checked out the details of the Gazetteer of features, making sure we had all the features identified and numbered correctly on the moorside. Alan continued with his photography.

We had a leisurely lunch, despite the constantly changing weather – from hot and sunny to cold, overcast, drizzly and windy – and back again to hot and sunny. A small boy thought he’d found a good toy, and we spotted him just in time, marching cheerily off with one of our red flags, which had been set down to mark some fungi Alan was going to photograph after lunch. Poor little chap – we had to ask him to give it back. At the end of the day, the 3 of us met up at the bogbean pond, and sat down for a cup of tea, and a long discussion in which we put the world to rights.

Jane Lunnon

27.Wednesday 28th July 2010

With other people away on holiday, or busy with other projects, it was just me today – here to carry on with the botanical survey. The skies were grey all day, with intermittent drizzle and light showers all morning and well into the afternoon. I managed to cover about a third of the site on the Reservoir side of the wall, before I decided to go over to the moorside and see if the sundews were still flowering on the moorside. They weren’t but I did find a couple of white thistles which was rather nice. The bracken is now very high, and it will be impossible to finish off the field survey in this area for quite some time now. I continued the botanical surveying around a couple of the mill ponds,

About 2.30 the skies became very dark, and I decided it would be best to seek shelter in the car. As I reached the car park the heavens opened and it seemed a good time to go home.

Apparently Ruth was on her way through the rain, and drove up to the reservoir very shortly after I left. She had a quick look at the mill features on the foreshore, and checked out the water levels.

Jane Lunnon, UWHG Archivist.

26. Wednesday 21 July 2010

We have been absent from Whitfield for a few weeks because we have been involved in the excavations of the Romano-British site at Chapel House Wood near Grassington (see our blog for the dig at: http://uwhg-chapel-house-wood.blogspot.com/), an annual summer dig for many of us.

Three UWHG members returned to Whitfield today, having recovered from the aches and pains of digging, to monitor the water levels at Embsay Reservoir. We found even more of the foreshore exposed, revealing a little more of the stone foundations of the mill buildings and old field walls.

Low water levels at the reservoir reveal more of the mill site © Jane Lunnon

Alan spent much of the day taking the opportunity to take technical photographs of these rarely revealed features, while Ruth checked over some details of our gazetteer of features and drawings, to assess how much more work we need to do here. She also measured and drew in the features newly exposed on the edges of the reservoir.

Alan photographing mill site features uncovered by lowered water levels

© Jane Lunnon

Jane focused on the botanical survey, and started the July checklist of flowering plants around the site, with the invaluable aid of Heather Burrow.

We were very saddened to see that one of our favourite parts of the mill site has been unexpectedly robbed out and covered with gravel. At the eastern end of the long boardwalk footbridge, where the footpath reaches the mill site, there was formerly the clear foundation of a short but interesting section of a double skinned field wall – solidly built, it was one of the few remains still evident of the old field boundaries which once divided Embsay Pasture, and could be seen on the 1847 tithe map. It is now inexplicably gone, the large stones shoved to one side, as a sad remnant of Embsay’s history.

Jane Lunnon

24. Wednesday 30 June 2010

Another very hot day with temperatures well in the 80’s! We have been so lucky with the weather, only having one wet Wednesday, since our delayed start.
Having finished the surveying of the sheep-wash area & the stream, David undertook a walk-over to investigate the western end of the field, being regularly interrupted by interested passers-by. It is getting very difficult to distinguish these ‘lumps and bumps’ now as the vegetation is getting so high.

Jane continued with her survey of the wild flowers, while Vera, Peter and Ruth completed a gazetteer of the area now exposed by the lowered water level of the reservoir.

Completing the gazetteer on the exposed foreshore © Jane Lunnon

Following a leisurely lunch, during which we chatted with curious walkers, and Peter lost his sandwiches to two eager dogs who quickly sneaked in behind him, work continued. Peter wore a different metaphorical hat as acting site photographer, photographing the exposed structures on the foreshore and in the cottage area. We were very excited to see the outlines of the cottage walls now showing up very clearly as scorch marks in the grass, after all the dry weather. Ruth continued to assist Jane in continuing to record more of the flora.

White foxglove © Jane Lunnon

At 4pm we all decided that we were too hot and exhausted to continue – all we needed was a shower and a long cold drink

Ruth Spencer, UWHG Chairman

23. Wednesday 24 June 2010

Another beautiful day.
David and Peter went over to the old sheepwash area to finish off the work they’ve been doing around here using the alidade. They completed the work by mid-afternoon.

The botanical surveying also continued today. This is a deceptively time-consuming job, as we scour the ground looking at each new flower, try to identify it, and map its distribution across the site. We managed to map about half the reservoir side – and we still haven’t done the moorside yet.

Mouse-ear chickweed © Jane Lunnon

Jane tried some macro photography, but as the afternoon progressed it became too windy and impossible to photograph flowers as they danced about in the breeze. Now that the grasses are coming up there will be a lot more to look at – identification of all these might take us quite a bit of time!

Geophysics on the mill site © Jane Lunnon

We were joined today by an archaeology post-graduate student and her colleague as she conducted her own geophysics survey of the mill site. Hopefully, her results will give us a little more information on the exact location of some of the buildings which are now completely invisible on the surface, and maybe the route of the mill-stream as it passes out of the mill-pond and apparently under the modern footpath.

Jane Lunnon, UWHG archivist

22. Wednesday 16 June 2010.

With the archaeological field survey on hold for the summer, our attentions turned to the botanical survey of the Whitfield site. It was a perfect day for wandering around the reservoir area drawing up a checklist of flowers. The recent improvement in weather has resulted in an eruption of flowers across the site, and the distribution patterns show a remarkable difference from a week ago.

The distributions indicate that the site consists of many more mini-habitats than we had realised – the mill site itself showing how disturbance from the activities of the mill, cottages and reservoir construction has affected the ground in different ways.

Alan spent much of the day on macro photography of specific plants. Every now and then we could see a head popping up out of the hollows and behind embankments as he made precise adjustments to the camera or tripod.

Cuckoo flower © Alan Williams

So far we have found the variety of plants is not as wide as we anticipated, and what we are finding are mostly very common species found all over the Yorkshire Dales. But in a way, the typical nature of the plantlife here means that the area may be seen as a useful model for studies elsewhere.

Jane Lunnon, UWHG Archivist

21. Wednesday, 2 June 2010

Sensing the end in sight, some team members were especially keen to complete the survey today, and we certainly had the perfect weather for it.

On-site discussion © Jane Lunnon

While some took the opportunity to discuss on-site the implications of some recent work by the Documentary Research Group, others made the most of the low water levels of the reservoir to survey features revealed on the foreshore. They made excellent progress and by the end of the day were happy to declare their section done.

Surveying on the foreshore © Jane Lunnon

In the meantime, the other team, having enjoyed an interesting discussion about the site, tidied up a few loose ends on their part of the survey drawings. Some work still remains for David using the alidade, and of course, if the water levels go down any more there may be more features to plot in. Next winter, we will also need to finish off the moorside survey.

However, the documentary research continues, as does the botanical survey. The flowers are now beginning to flourish all over the site, and will need to be recorded on a weekly basis for a couple of months or more. We also look forward to the arrival next week of a Masters student who will conducting a geophysics survey on the site. So there is still plenty to do over the summer.

Jane Lunnon, UWHG Archivist

20. Wednesday 26 May 2010

Normally we start our blogs talking about the weather, but this time I’ll come to that later.
With two of our team away on holiday, and another two on an excavation elsewhere, we were a little short of people today. Our photographer Alan will be most put out to know that another solitary bogbean flower has blossomed in one of the millponds, and he has missed his chance yet again to get a good photograph for the botanical survey.

Bogbean flower © Jane Lunnon

However, I hear he is thoroughly enjoying himself this week digging with our friends, the Ingleborough Archaeology Group, at their Mesolithic site at Kingsdale. (For more information about this exciting site see their website at; http://www.ingleborougharchaeologygroup.org.uk/ )

Vera was helping David with the alidade today over by the sheepwash and Moor Beck area, hoping to finish it off. Heather turned up to conduct her botanical survey – She wandered around inspecting the plantlife and we look forward to her report on the latest checklist of species.

Ruth and I also had high hopes of “tidying up” a few loose ends and completing the survey with just the final bits on the moorside to do in the winter (when the vegetation dies down), and the parts of the mill site which are currently underwater (which will hopefully be uncovered if the water levels go down this summer).

But of course, it didn’t work out that way – we didn’t get any base-line surveying done; we didn’t even get as far as putting the drawing board set up on the tripod. But, despite that, it certainly wasn’t a wasted day. Chris, from the project’s Documentary Research Group, came up to visit the site and discuss his findings with us. Looking closely at various old maps and plans, and combining his engineer’s approach with Ruth’s archaeological eye, we were able to walk carefully over the mill site looking closely at some of the surviving features, and coming up with new questions and observations. Luckily, the water levels have receded since last week, revealing a little more of the reservoir foreshore, so we were able to tie the maps up a little better than before with some of the features.

Ruth and Chris checking the site against old maps © Jane Lunnon

We even found some built walls where we had previously thought only rubble lay under the grass, and by inspecting some changes in wall structures were able to clarify some issues over the relative positions of two different building phases.

After Chris went home to revise his interim report on the site, Ruth and Jane had planned to start surveying in the afternoon. But as we settled down to lunch the skies became very gloomy and grey (here’s the obligatory weather report), and raindrops started to fall. So much for the heatwave we’ve been enjoying for the last few days. The breeze started up, bringing a chilly penetrating dampness straight across the water. We eventually agreed that by the time we’d set up our base tapes it would be time to pack up, and so took the decision to call it a day, as the rain threatened to set in for the afternoon.

Never mind, we can get back to it next week.

Jane Lunnon, UWHG Archivist