Hugset Wood Shaft Mounds

Royd Lane, Cawthorne, Higham, Barnsley

Other site, structure or landscape

Assets that cannot fit any of the other categories. This category includes sites of archaeological interest, where the original form and function may not be apparent without the use of archaeological techniques and interpretation.

Asset type

Archaeological Site

Age

The site is defined by the present extents of Hugset Wood. A mining lease survives from the area dating to 1607. The site was out of use and covered with a plantation by the 1850s.

Rarity

Many areas of shaft mounds have been cleared by agriculture, construction, and open cast mining. Surviving examples, such as those at Hugset Wood, often survive in woodland planted on the worked ground. The shaft mounds in Hugset Wood are well preserved, rising several metres in height, and could retain evidence of associated features.

Group Value

The woods lie in a large and important industrial landscape, including the Silkstone Tramway (preserved as a public foot path), the extant Low Mill Blast Furnace (a Scheduled Monument), and a large number of other sites now since demolished but potentially surviving archaeologically including Parker's Furnace to the SE and Barnby Furnace to the E. The bridleway to the NE follows the course of a 1802 tramway that led from Parker's Furnace to the Barnsley Canal at Barnby Basin.

Historic Interest

The history of the site has not been researched in detail. The South Yorkshire Industrial History Society note a license for extraction at the site dating to the 17th century, and record the shafts as associated with the extraction of Ironstone. Ordnance Survey mapping records some as old coal shafts. The site also contribute to the legibility of the industrial history of the area which has importance for many communities.

Archaeological Interest

The site includes a series of well-preserved earthworks, comprising a thick collar of spoil and a wide central depression. Dating evidence will be preserved within the shaft mounds, and their buried remains and technological features will survive beneath the surface, providing information on pit-top structures such as horse-powered winding gear, and on ventilation and drainage, or other structures associated with mining activity.

Landmark Status

The site is accessible via a network of public rights of way. The monuments are prominent and enigmatic of the areas industrial past, contributing positively to local landscape character and identity.

26 Aug 2022

23 Mar 2023