Crosby Ravensworth and the surrounding area
In medieval times much of England was managed as 'common land', such landscapes are now rare with particularly good examples surviving in eastern Cumbria. The Crosby Ravensworth area has both prehistoric and medieval settlement sites. The photo below shows Tom Clare explaining a prehistoric burial mound to students in the snow.
During September 2005 at the nearby site of Mazonwath we re-excavated a prehistoric burial mound which was first excavated in the 19th century. The results of this excavation have now been published (Clare et al., 2008). The biologcal remains recovered, including snails and a red squirrel, indicate that the landscape had more scrub than is seen in the open grasslands of today. The photograph below shows the excavation in progress.
Reference: Clare, T., O’Regan, H.J. & Wilkinson, D. (2008) Greenwell’s lost barrow CLXXIV in Crosby Garrett parish. Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmoreland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society VIII: 1-17.
