Tarset And Greenhaugh : Potential for Future Research

The earlier prehistoric period in upper North Tynedale is poorly understood and requires further investigation to resolve questions regarding the overall pattern and development of settlement, for example.

In contrast, this stretch of upper North Tynedale contains a fairly dense surviving distribution of late Iron Age/Romano-British settlements, characterised by their rectilinear enclosed form. These have proved informative when previously investigated by George Jobey and would merit further investigation.

The early medieval period has also proved archaeologically elusive thus far and is a major gap in our knowledge of the valley's history.

The medieval manor of Tarset encompassed a very extensive territory comprising virtually all the upper valley as far as the Scottish Border. Such vast manors are typical of upland Pennine areas, but much investigation is still required to understand how one of these manors functioned and how the different site components were integrated. There are many promising sites in the wider valley, including a surviving deer park wall within Kielder Forest (Kennel Park perhaps originally part of the Wainhope manorial complex) and the earthworks of a possible medieval settlment at Gowanburn (also on the north shore of Kielder).

Questions currently unresolved include the extent to which there was a nucleated settlement at Tarset, as opposed to a manorial complex, and the degree to which the dramatic increase in the number of sites known from documents during 13th century represents an expansion of settlement in response to improving climatic and economic conditions during that century or simply an expansion of documentary evidence shedding light on settlement patterns which were already present.

Tarsetdale contains one of the finest groupings of 16th - 17th century bastle settlements in the county and represents a prime candidate for the investigation of so-called 'reiver society'. In particular, relatively little is known regarding the origins of these dispersed settlements and the distinctive kinship-based society with which they are associated – the Tynedale 'surnames'.

There is fairly abundant documentation for the 16th - 17th centuries and a reasonable settlement distribution can be reconstructed for that period. In contrast, there is much less available for the late medieval period (late14th - 15th centuries), but what there is suggests that many of these hamlets and farmsteads originated, or became permanently inhabited at that time (including Greenhaugh itself), making it a prime focus for investigation.