Mossdale Moor, North Yorkshire, Archaeological Survey Report

Oxford Archaeology North (OA North) was invited by Yorkshire Peat Partnership to undertake an archaeological landscape survey and an assessment of re-wetting on a portion of Mossdale Moor, North Yorkshire SD 794 900). The work was undertaken in order to provide an assessment of the archaeological impact of a programme of grip (drain) blocking on the mossland. The survey was undertaken as an enhanced Level 1-type survey (EH 2007) over an area of 2.2km2.
In total, 25 features of archaeological interest were identified across the study area. The sites identified during the survey and through examination of the HER can be divided into five broad categories: extraction industries (including quarrying, coal mining, and peat cutting); sites associated with shooting; agriculture and enclosure; a shelter; and a cairn (Table 1). Most of the sites are difficult to date closely in the absence of additional data from documentary sources or archaeological excavation; however, most of these sites are likely to date to either the post-medieval (1540-1750) or industrial (1750-1914) periods. The cairn could be of prehistoric date.