Out & About …

… on the North York Moors, or wherever I happen to be.

My Tree-mendous adventures on a dendrometric survey in Bransdale

Sorry about the title, but it has been an enjoyable day conducting an ancient and veteran tree survey for the National Trust in Bransdale.

Starting downstream from the mill along the Hodge Beck, it was a day exploring the little visited parts of the dale. But perhaps it would have been wiser to begin with easy trees along the field boundaries. Instead, one of the first trees was this Sycamore:

How do you measure the girth of this Sycamore tree, at “chest height”?
Other trees were also problematic. A fine example of “Pheonix regeneration” on this fallen Horse-chestnut.

But my eyes are alert for archaeological features. This dressed stone gate post gathering moss was lying in Hodge Beck. Possibly associated with a recorded ford crossing at this point[1].
Upstream of the Mill, a pair of standing stones. The taller stone on the left is inscribed: “WS / AM5822 / AD1817”, and both stones are grooved at the top as if for a beam spanning between them. Their use is unknown, but possibly the remains of a saw pit[2].
A little used footbridge across the Hodge Beck, adjacent to a former ford, the old route from Bransdale Nill to the church. A map of 1820 suggests that the bridge was originally just a wooden plank[3].

Sources:

 

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