Darrington

Since 2017, the Society have been researching well known cropmarks on farmland in the Darrington area. This is thanks largely to longstanding Society member Alastair Wilson who is the landowner, and Peter Batty who is the farm manager. The cropmarks, with impressive ditch, track and pit features apparent in aerial imagery from time to time, are believed to represent activity from the Romano-British era and are recorded as such on the Historic Environment Record.

Being in relatively shallow soil above magnesian limestone and in an elevated position, the features are at risk of damage from a combination of occasional deep ploughing and soil erosion. The Society aims to learn more about the cropmarks and obtain dating evidence from them before any damage is done.*

We have carried out systematic fieldwalking, geophysics and excavations in order to further our understanding of the features - click on the buttons below for more details...

* The Darrington cropmarks are not alone in being at risk from agricultural damage. Several such key sites across West Yorkshire are known and a body called the Cropmark Research Archaeology Group Yorkshire (CRAGY) was set up in July 2018 to investigate them. PontArc was a founder member of the group and our Darrington fieldwork is the pilot project for the collaborative working approach. Partners include South Leeds Archaeology, the Roman Roads Research Association, Sheffield University, West Yorkshire Archaeology Services and AOC Archaeology Ltd.