North Craven Woodland Research Group

The North Craven Woodland Research Group explores the history and future of woodlands and associated trades in our area of North Yorkshire.

Our interests are in all aspects of the histories of broadleaf woodlands and associated ecosystems across North Craven, and the wood- and timber-related trades that rely on them. Collections-based research.enables us to better understand and explain these subjects for public benefit and to translate this research into positive action.

Our mission is to bring people together to research and share information on the past and future of wood and woodlands in North Craven.

We aim to:

  • Use collections, including wooden objects, tools, personal diaries, photographs, legal records and other archives, to better understand the social, cultural, economic and ecological histories of broadleaf woodlands and associated ecosystems and dependent trades across North Craven
  • Build accessible resources to share our knowledge with public and professional audiences, including community groups, schools, professional bodies, and private businesses and landowners
  • Contribute to public, professional and political debate on the preservation, restoration and expansion of broadleaf woodlands in North Craven.

For further information or to express interest in joining the group, please contact us.

Current Projects

We are working on tracking ancient and historic woodlands using social history sources – such as the occupations of parents from baptismal records – as well as archaeological evidence and looking for signs in the field.

Currently, the Collections Team is exploring two areas. The first is examining the background of a set of clogging knives donated to the museum in 2023, used by Phineas Harrison of Rathmell to make and repair clogs from the 1920s to the 1940s. He is likely to have sourced alder locally, possibly along Rathmell Beck.  The village had an earlier ‘clogg maker’, mentioned in the 1851 census, and we are looking into possible connections between the two. Some fieldwork is needed to provide context, links to local woodlands, and whether the saw-mill played a part in the story.

The second project is looking into the history of a Woodland Trust wood in Westhouse. The wood was bought as pasture and donated to the Trust by a local activist and philanthropist in 2000-01. The ground flora is slowly shifting from pasture to woodland collections. Parts of the wood have extensive amounts of pig-nut and, with other ancient woodland indicators close by, this section may have previously been wooded and then cleared for pasture. Parish registers from 1802-12 show there were wood-based occupations in the area: coopers at Masongill and colliers in Westhouse and Thornton in Lonsdale. (Collier was the original name for a charcoal burner, which term wasn’t recorded until 1826. In the registers, collier is distinguished from coal digger, coal hewer or coal miner.)

With a change in forestry standards in 2017, the historic environment in woodlands had to be assessed and preserved. The Trust identified a possible ‘platform’ associated with settlements at the opposite end of the wood to the pig-nut, two embankments and ridge and furrow area. Recently, it was questioned whether some of the boundary walls needed conserving.  David Johnson of the Ingleborough Archaeological Group visited and it appears that some of the boundary drystone walls may be of considerable age. It’s hoped the IAG will be doing some exploratory excavations over the next 18 months, to inform woodland management plans, preserving the walls and any other significant features. Meanwhile, archive work continues on the woodland, including into current and past ownership, and delving into field names surrounding the woodland.

Potential future projects will include investigating what appears to be a number of ‘shadow woods’ that once may have been wood-pastures with current savannah-type distribution of small trees, usually hawthorn.  They require follow-up to distinguish ‘savannah’ from bedraggled hedgerows and to survey the ground flora, before embarking on further research.

Photograph of Cleatop Woods, near Settle, North Yorkshire

Cleatop Woods, near Settle, North Yorkshire

What’s next?

Getting involved in archive-based research and field work had taken the emphasis off the initial idea of using a Geographical Information System (GIS) to structure our gathered information.  The two projects above have shown how interlocked layers of information about lost woodlands and wood-based occupations and enterprises can be. Importantly, information from some partners will be shared as GIS ‘shapes’.  We are looking for ways to fund training for the design and use of such a system.

One of the challenges to regenerating woodland in North Craven is the fragmentation and isolation of existing woodlands, and it would be unhelpful for this to be paralleled in the valuable and exciting work that is going on. Although not in North Craven, we have learned of information about rare plants being found in Skipton Castle Woods from a partner near Settle. It is hoped that the Research Group will be a hub for gathering and sharing information, including from surrounding areas, more widely: please feel free to get in touch.