Rowley Parish – Before The Romans

So far I have touched on two invasions, the Normans and the Romans, but as history lessons taught us there were numerous ‘waves’ of invaders, natives being ‘put to the sword,’ etc. Was it really like this?

More likely these invaders were just responding to global weather conditions. Worldwide migrations were driven by changing climates, drought, ice advances and retreats, and our little bit, in Rowley, responded similarly. Direct human evidence in our parish is sparse, but signs of climate changes abound. The shape of the Wolds–a flat top with deep dry valleys says ice scouring the tops, and huge meltwater flows gouging the valleys (1-3 million years ago); ice debris in Holderness, and lake beach lines at South Cave and Hotham tell us of ice coming and going. Our temperatures have risen and fallen many times; elephant, lion, rhinoceras, bear and hyena bones near Pickering and Hessle tell of very warm periods 200,000 years ago when Skidby and Bentley would be on a cliff looking out over a nice warm sea. And then ice returning at least twice since then wiping all but protected corners of any past evidence. Ice in the North Sea last disappeared about 12,000 years ago leaving Holderness clay in our dry valleys; the Humber was blocked by moraine until about 10,000 years ago. Sea levels much below today’s meant easy overland access to Europe. A very different world indeed, but by Roman times our climate was much as now.

Our first ancestors of those warm times, ‘hunter-gatherers’, would have skilfully hunted those animals but they would have gone south as ice returned, and by 10,000 BC a few would be exploring the edge of the ice. That land would be, at best, bushy scrub with berries and a few animals. Camps would be temporary and mobile to follow migrations of prey; traces on the ground negligible, perhaps a few ‘stone-age’ implements.

As the climate warmed birch woodland developed, and then hazel, willow, oak followed, prey became more plentiful, and camps longer lasting using the wood for fuel, weapons, and simple houses–all leading to more permanent settlements over the Wolds. Eventually our area became attractive and migration from Europe brought increases in populations from about one per square mile to maybe ten; but more importantly ‘farming’ and tools arrived. The biggest change was the cultivation of cereals and animal rearing–true farming–about 4000 BC. Still a stone age but known as ‘neolithic’ (new stone age). Except when the ground became exhausted these ‘settlements’ were permanent in protective woodland. Our thin soils meant frequent movement, and we have dozens of such sites over the Wolds; on the deeper soils, say around Bentley, settlements would be longer lasting and fewer.
In neolithic times settlements followed the warming land northwards and trade grew and Rowley was on a major route along the dry crest of the Wolds. From Horncastle to South Ferriby lay ‘High Street’; four 4000 year old boats and a large settlement found at North Ferriby tell of cross-Humber trade; and through Wauldby, York Grounds, Rowley, White Gap, Hunsley, (and up to Malton), many earthworks testify to importance of the Wolds as a trade route.

Obvious trade would be in skins, wool, meat, cereals, and news, but perhaps the most valuable was in tools and materials. Scythes, arrow heads and knives from Kent flint, axes, hammers, chisels from tougher Lake District stone. However the biggest change from trading must have been the use of metals brought in about 2500 BC with the ‘bronze-age’, and eventually the ‘iron-age’ about 600 BC. Our chalk didn’t provide minerals such as tin from Cornwall, or the lead, silver and copper of the Pennines, but we had a well established route to and from the continent, and inevitably the skills migrated with the increasing population, by then about 2 per square mile.

Some twenty or so pre-Roman sites have been found in Rowley. A ‘bundle’ of seven bronze axe heads found near Riplingham, five gold bracelets near High Hunsley are typical of trade levels.

Who were these people, the ‘Brigantes’? Roman history tells us of two ethnic types, fair long Caledonians, and short swarthy Silures; one Germanic and the other Celtic. Celts came in two ‘waves’ before the Romans, and dates are speculated on, but the whole process was more gradual than instant. By Roman times a serious artistic and skilled Celtic culture, strong enough to survive the Romans, made up our parish’s ancestors.

Big Thank You to Barrie Heaton for his historical articles which we hope will become a regular feature of both the Web site and Newsletter.

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