The remains of so-called "sod-cast" boundary dykes are a landscape feature formed of stones, earth, and large trees; that I have observed in rural Northumberland -- but I have not been able to find much information regarding their age, construction, functionality, or purpose.
The maturity of some of the trees on top of sod-casts, indicates an age of more than 200 years - and I have read it suggested that some sod-casts may be much older: medieval at least.
What can be seen nowadays are straight, turf-covered banks; along which are dotted several large trees - and here-and-there, where the turf has fallen-away, it is evident that the banks contain broad stone "walls".
I assume that these stone walls were probably the first thing built, and earth was heaped over them. But it could be that the walls were themselves built onto an earth mound. Or maybe the stone is less of a wall, and more of a "mound" - mixed with earth, and merely faced with organized stones. I just don't know.
It seems evident that the big trees were, at one time, regularly spaced and close together - but nowadays they are scattered, and almost every year I have seen ancient trees in sod-casts felled by storms or lost to age - and not replaced.
The large trees arrayed along the sod-cast sometimes include long-lived, slow-growing forest trees such as ash, beech and oak - but there are also sycamores (which were seldom deliberately planted then or now, because their wood was not much valued; but self-seed widely).
It sometimes looks as if the roots of these trees have been encouraged to grow horizontally, to "encase" the stone wall - and there is sometimes an impression that the tree roots of adjacent trees may have been intended to join-up.
The result is sometimes a barrier apparently consisting of a core of stones, earth-covered, with tree and roots making a "wooden" surface.
Aside from having declined into picturesque ruins; the sod-cast dykes are mysterious structures.
In the first place, they were apparently more labour-intensive to make than alternative possibilities: since sod-casts involved an element of dry-stone walling, earth-moving, and the planting, protection and nurture of trees. In Northumberland, most field boundaries are either hawthorn hedges, or dry-stone (i.e. without mortar) walls, according to local conditions - either of which can do the job with less effort than a sod-cast*.
Further; it would take a century or more before the trees had grown sufficiently that the sod-cast began to become fully-formed - if, indeed, the horizontal root-growth was intended to become a part of the feature.
Indeed, it is not at all clear what function the trees had in this barrier; since they are both very slow to develop - taking several human generations to mature; and unnecessary for the main function of field boundaries: i.e. the confinement of animals (sheep and/or cattle).
My tentative conclusion is that the sod-casts were built by land-owners who expected and intended to establish a very long-term ownership; and who therefore desired to make a highly-visible and "permanent" boundary - clearly marked (for all to see) by lines of forest trees.
And the presence of such large trees along the edge of land; themselves constituted irrefutable evidence of the ancient provenance of this particular land division and boundary.
Sod-cast boundaries are surely evidence of the sense of security and confidence of landowners from two or more centuries ago; that they were motivated make extra expense and effort to plan their boundaries to mature many decades ahead; just as they planted and maintained woodlands that would only benefit their great-grandchildren.
Such a multi-generational perspective - looking so far ahead - is alien and almost incomprehensible to modern people.
Yet this attitude was was apparently sufficiently solid and strong in Northumberland around or before 1800, that it led to these now ramshackle, but still impressively robust, sod-cast field boundaries.
*NOTE: This implies that either the sod-cast would originally have had a stone wall element high, steep and continuous enough to be impassable by animals, in which case the trees were redundant.
Or else, there would have been a thorn hedge grown atop the sod-cast, in-between the trees; which has since died-out.
(Nowadays, as can be seen in the photos, the sod-cast is usually inadequate to control stock, and a barbed wire fence is added for that purpose.)
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Further note: If you found the above interesting; you might enjoy a look at my very occasional blog featuring a few aspects of Northumbrian archaeology - to which I have added the above post.
Are the trees aligned relative to the prevailing wind?
ReplyDelete@to - It's a reasonable idea; but in this case at least, the line of trees runs approximately from south west to north east; and the prevailing wind is south westerly around here, with the strongest winds usually from due west - so the trees would not be effective as a wind-break.
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