North-east Yorkshire Research Articles

Developing an online knowledge sharing platform and community of practice for health professionals: Experiences from C-WorKS developed in North East England and Yorkshire during COVID-19.

Although knowledge sharing online has been recognised as an important strategy for health professionals to apply research findings to their practice, limited research exists on how to develop and implement these platforms to help facilitate collaboration and knowledge sharing. This study evaluated an online knowledge sharing platform and community of practice developed in the North East of England and Yorkshire during COVID-19 to support UK health and care professionals to reduce the impact of the wider consequences of COVID-19. Semi-structured interviews with stakeholders (n = 8) and users of C-WorKS (n = 13), followed by an online survey (n = 19) among a wider group of users to analyse knowledge use. Interview and survey findings highlighted several strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to support future development of online knowledge sharing platforms. Online knowledge sharing supports six 'pillars' of successful research and innovation partnerships. This requires distributed forms of leadership and linking of different knowledge sharing strategies, and careful combination of platforms with communities of practice. Online knowledge sharing provides pragmatic and timely strategies for health professionals in the UK to apply research evidence to their practice. Our study provides generalisable, practical insights in how to develop and implement a knowledge sharing platform.

Lateglacial to Mid-Holocene Vegetation History in the Eastern Vale of Pickering, Northeast Yorkshire, UK: Pollen Diagrams from Palaeolake Flixton

Palaeolake Flixton, in the eastern Vale of Pickering in northeast Yorkshire, UK, existed as open water during the Lateglacial and early to mid-Holocene, until hydroseral succession and gradual terrestrialisation changed it to an area of fen and basin peatland by the later mid-Holocene. The environs of the lake were occupied by Late Palaeolithic and Mesolithic people over thousands of years and many Early Mesolithic sites, in particular, have been found located along the ancient lake edge, including the paradigm site for the British Early Mesolithic at Star Carr, where occupation occurred over several centuries. We have analysed eleven sediment cores, distributed in most parts of the palaeolake area, for pollen and stratigraphic data with which to reconstruct lake development and vegetation history. These new diagrams augment earlier pollen studies from the western part of the lake, particularly in the Star Carr area and near other major Mesolithic sites around Seamer Carr. Especially informative are a long core from the deepest part of the lake; cores that document the Lateglacial as well as early Holocene times, and evidence for the later Mesolithic that helps to balance the high density of Late Mesolithic sites known from research in the adjacent uplands of the North York Moors. There are many records of charcoal in the deposits but, especially for the earliest examples, it is not always possible to tie them firmly to either human activity or natural causes. Overall, the new and previously existing diagrams provide evidence for the spatial reconstruction of vegetation history across this important wetland system, including (a) for the progression of natural community successions within the wetland and on the surrounding dryland (b) the influence of climate change in bringing about changes in woodland composition and (c) for discussion of the possibility of human manipulation of the vegetation in the Late Upper Palaeolithic, Early and Late Mesolithic. Results show that climate was the main driver of longer-term vegetation change. Centennial-scale, abrupt climate events caused significant vegetation reversals in the Lateglacial Interstadial. The Lateglacial vegetation was very similar throughout the lake hinterland, although some areas supported some scrubby shrub rather than being completely open. Immigration and spread of Holocene woodland taxa comprised the familiar tree succession common in northern England but the timings of the establishment and the abundance of some individual tree types varied considerably around the lake margins because of edaphic factors and the effects of fire, probably of human origin. Woodland successions away from proximity to the lake were similar to those recorded in the wider landscape of northern England and produced a dense, homogenous forest cover occasionally affected by fire.

Bronze Age and Later Vegetation History on the Limestone Tabular Hills of North-East Yorkshire, UK: Pollen Diagrams from Dalby Forest

This paper presents the results of palynological investigations on the limestone Tabular Hills of the North York Moors in north-east England. These limestone areas have the highest concentration of post-Mesolithic archaeological sites in this upland region, but because of the geology and paucity of suitable organic deposits they have had almost no palynological research with which to assess the land-use history of these cultures, nor their impacts on the vegetation. This lack of palaeoecological information from the Tabular Hills has been addressed, so that the area’s environmental history can be added to that of the rest of the North York Moors, which is relatively well known. Three pollen profiles have been examined, Yondhead Rigg providing an early Bronze Age to post-Medieval record, Seavy Slack providing a late Iron Age to post-Medieval record, and Dargate Dykes providing a late Medieval to modern record. The combined vegetation history from the three sites indicates a similar story to that from elsewhere on the Moors, with substantial forest disturbance in Bronze Age and Iron Age times, with significant woodland regeneration after each, but with the first main forest clearance phase for agriculture occurring during the Romano-British period, followed by early Medieval woodland regeneration, then extensive clearance in the later Medieval period for some arable cultivation and extensive animal husbandry on the rich calcareous grassland. In each agricultural phase the scale and intensity of disturbance seems to have been greater in these fertile limestone areas than in the rest of the Moors, with their poorer, more acidic soils, but still with an emphasis on stock-rearing and less extensive cultivation. The results will allow a more comprehensive landscape history of the North York Moors to be understood for later prehistory and more recent times.

Focused action is required to protect ethnic minority populations from COVID-19 post-lockdown.

Since the association between COVID-19 and ethnicity was first noted in April 2020,1 numerous large-scale national datasets have been analysed.2–6 The evidence is clear — ethnicity is a key risk factor for adverse COVID-19 outcome, alongside age, male sex, obesity, deprivation, and comorbidities.7 There are significant ethnic inequalities in the risk of admission to hospital and risk of death from COVID-19. Black and South Asian ethnic groups are at greatest risk, although most ethnic minorities have been shown to have increased risk when compared with white populations.7 Beyond admission to hospital and mortality risk, there is also concern over longer-term impacts, that is, post-acute COVID-19,8 which could significantly impact ethnic minority populations. As a result, Public Health England (PHE) released two evidence reviews and recommendations to address the disparities in COVID-19 outcomes in ethnic minority populations.9,10 PHE made only seven recommendations and these were lacking in detail, featuring issues that were already well articulated in minority health literature. The recommendations gave limited attention to the wider determinants of health that underpin ethnic disparities in COVID-19 outcomes, and gave no indication of timeframes for delivery or methods of implementation.10 In addition, the recommendations did not address how ethnic minority populations could best protect themselves during the pandemic. This was a significant oversight because personal and community responsibilities are imperative social determinants to protecting the health and wellbeing of ethnic minority communities when national (and regional) lockdown is eased. Subsequent to the PHE report there was an inevitable resurgence in COVID-19 cases over the summer months in areas with a high density of ethnic minorities such as Leicester,11 Blackburn, and Oldham. From mid-September, local COVID-19 restrictions were introduced across parts of the North West, North East, Midlands, and West Yorkshire. …

Mentha cervina (Lamiaceae), an emergent aquatic alien species naturalising at South Gare, North-East Yorkshire

There is an increasing interest in recording early colonisation of organisms when studying changes in distribution ranges induced by climate change. Here, I describe one population of Mentha cervina L. (Hart’s pennyroyal), naturalising in the wild at South Gare, v.c.62 North-east Yorkshire. Two other populations have been reported in Britain and none are known from Ireland. Of the three populations ever reported from the wild in Britain, two are still extant. It is unclear what vectors disperse M. cervina in Britain and whether the species is becoming increasingly naturalised or not. Diagnostic characters: digitate bracteoles and four calyx teeth, are provided to facilitate the recording of this mint species by field botanists.

Communicating biopsy results from breast screening assessment: current practice in English breast screening centres and staff perspectives of telephoning results

ObjectiveTo record how breast screening centres in England deliver all biopsy results (cancer/non-cancer) from the breast assessment visit.DesignOnline survey of 63 of 79 breast screening centres in England from all...

Landscape, territory and common rights in medieval East Yorkshire

ABSTRACTThe paper examines issues of landscape, territory and common rights, with specific reference to the multi-township, multi-manor parish of Burton Agnes in the north-east Yorkshire Wolds. Burton was a territorial unit of considerable antiquity which survived as a distinct estate until the late twelfth century when it was split between coheiresses. This produced a complex territorial and tenurial situation, characterised in the later medieval period by ongoing conflicts over common rights between neighbouring manorial families on behalf of themselves and their various tenants. Crucially — given the lack of adequate commons governance structure — such conflicts proved not only almost impossible to resolve but also productive in documentary terms. This paper examines the far-reaching consequences of the 1199 division of the estate in two linked sets of sources: firstly, by using legal documents and estate records to examine conflicts about common rights in the parish moor in the later medieval period; and secondly and relatedly, by utilising standing buildings, landscape and documentary sources to interrogate the built landscape as a site to articulate territorial claims (including to rights and resources in the parish moor) and the patronage thereof by local manorial families. In this sense, the paper both traces the consequences of earlier territorial arrangements and explores the range of strategies by which local manorial families might make and mark territory in the fourteenth, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. In doing so, the paper makes the case for writing ‘grounded’ historical geographies of the commons which both set individual commons within their wider temporal, spatial and territorial contexts and recognise them as always entangled within the broader politics and landscape of the parish.

Discovery of a walrus skull on the North East Yorkshire coast: a call for clearer guidelines

In March 2018 the Collections Team at Scarborough Museums Trust was approached about a potentially exciting find; a possible walrus skull found by a member of the public in situ in the cliff face between Speeton and Reighton in East Yorkshire. After a preliminary investigation of the site and discussions with colleagues on the Continent the specimen was found to be of particular significance. On communication of its significance to the finder he requested the return of the specimen for sale despite the legal ownership being in question. The legal and ethical issues surrounding the discovery of such a specimen in situ by an amateur enthusiast and its subsequent removal without permission of the landowner need to be addressed. Also in need of acknowledgement are the difficulties faced by any museum professionals confronted with the potential donation of such specimens, or more complicated still, the refusal of the finder to accept lack of ownership and demand the return of material. Clear guidelines for museum professionals are essential to offer support and protection from negative publicity when the usual legal and ethical procedures are followed in such cases. No such guidelines currently exist, which we have found to our cost. The public also need to be better informed about legal ownership of material removed from our coastlines. We recommend that a dialogue should be instigated around the need for a regulatory system for geological and palaeontological material discovered by the public along the lines of the Portable Antiquities Scheme to better protect our scientific assets.

Hunter-Gatherers in an Upland Landscape: The Mesolithic Period in North East Yorkshire

The body of evidence, both archaeological and palaeoenvironmental, for Mesolithic occupation in the North York Moors and adjacent Tees Valley was collated and assessed by the North East Yorkshire Mesolithic project (2006–2014). Five sites in different topographic locations were evaluated by the project, which also included monitoring footpath erosion in key locations in order to verify and extend the known distribution of sites. Almost 50 years on from Jeff Radley’s account of the Mesolithic period in North East Yorkshire, the project’s results provide an opportunity to review the evidence. Knowledge of site distributions across this landscape has increased and understanding of the nature of the occupation has improved but there are still questions to be answered. Directions for future research are suggested, but it may be only with detailed site investigation that we will be able to make significant advances in our understanding of Mesolithic activity within this landscape.

Diamicton from the Vale of Pickering and Tabular Hills, north-east Yorkshire: evidence for a Middle Pleistocene (MIS 8) glaciation?

Diamicton deposits (up to 6.90m thick) in the Vale of Pickering and the Tabular Hills (North York Moors) have been confirmed by cored boreholes. The diamicton is interpreted as glacial till with a matrix consisting predominantly of grey-brown, yellow-brown and dark grey, stiff to very stiff clay and sandy clay with occasional thin beds of laminated sand and clay. Sub-rounded to sub-angular erratic clasts were sourced predominantly from local Upper Jurassic Corallian Group bedrock exposed in the southern part of the North York Moors. Clasts include well-rounded, pebbles of Jurassic sandstone, mudstone and sparse Jurassic coal derived from outcrops on the North York Moors. Fragments of underlying Upper Jurassic mudstone bedrock form the predominant clasts in the lower part of the till. The paucity of exotic clasts and a local derivation suggests a relatively small glacier – perhaps a temperate-plateau ice-field, was established on the Tabular Hills. The glacier subsequently advanced southwards to the Vale of Pickering depositing locally derived subglacial traction till at the base, passing up to lodgement till. Local preservation of the degraded till outcrops in the Vale of Pickering, the overconsolidated nature of the clay till matrix, striated pebbles and the presence of sub-rounded pebbles suggests deposition during a glacial cold stage post-MIS 12 (Anglian) and pre-MIS 2 (Devensian). A tentative Middle Pleistocene MIS8 age is proposed, possibly coeval, but not coincident, with the Basement Till (Bridlington Member) of the Holderness coast and the Wragby Till of central and eastern England.

Pleistocene till provenance in east Yorkshire: reconstructing ice flow of the British North Sea Lobe

The ice flow path and dynamic behaviour of the British-Irish Ice Sheet has been subject to renewed interest and controversy in recent years. Early studies in eastern England argued for interaction with Fennoscandian ice onshore in Britain, instigating re-examination of the sedimentology and provenance of many Pleistocene till successions. These studies instead supported an exclusively British provenance, and are used to predict southward advance of a broadly coast-parallel North Sea Lobe. Quantitative lithological and palynological analysis of the Pleistocene till succession in Holderness, East Yorkshire, however, remains to be carried out. We examined the lithologically diverse Skipsea Till in order to reconstruct ice flow pathways to the Holderness coast during the Pleistocene, thereby constraining which areas of substrate were subglacially eroded and entrained prior to deposition. The till yields a diverse range of soft, low-durability and uniquely British allochthonous material, including Permian Magnesian Limestone, Carboniferous limestone and coal, and Carboniferous pollen and spore assemblages that would be unlikely to survive polyphase reworking. Ice extended southwards through southern Scotland, incorporating material in north-east England, north-east Yorkshire and the western margin of the North Sea Basin (NSB), supporting a recurrent ice flow pathway for the eastern margin of the British-Irish Ice Sheet during the Mid to Late Pleistocene.

Regional weather and climates of the British Isles - Part 4: North East England and Yorkshire

Regional weather and climates of the British Isles - Part 4: North East England and Yorkshire

The Vale of Pickering in the Mesolithic: uncovering the early post-glacial landscape

Since 1954, when Grahame Clark published the results of his excavations at Star Carr in northeast Yorkshire, the site has been recognized as a key to understanding early Mesolithic huntergatherer settlement and subsistence in northwest Europe. In 1976, archaeological and palaeoenvironmental research in the area was resumed - since 1986 under the auspices of the Vale of Pickering Research Trust - and it is now possible to set Star Carr and nearby Mesolithic sites in the wider context of the early postglacial landscape.

The Age of the Late Mesolithic on the North York Moors, England: radiocarbon dating a small flint tool stratified in peat from East Bilsdale Moor

There has been a considerable amount of pollen-analytical research on the palaeoecology and palaeoenvironment of the Late Mesolithic culture of the North York Moors upland in north-east Yorkshire, which together with the Pennines is the most prolific area in Britain for Late Mesolithic flint sites. The peat sediments of the Moors have provided detailed data on the vegetation history of the mid-Holocene, both natural developments and also woodland disturbance by fire, as revealed in the macroscopic and microscopic charcoal evidence preserved in the peats and in its relation to the recorded changes in woodland composition and density. The Late Mesolithic vegetation history of the North York Moors can now be reconstructed with confidence and, given the high concentration of lithic sites of that period, linkages between the archaeological and palaeoecological records are often attempted with a view to explaining disturbance regimes as resulting from the impacts of foragers’ activities in the landscape. Unlike the Pennines, however, in the North York Moors no Late Mesolithic sites have been radiocarbon dated, so no chronological correlation can be made between the palaeoenvironmental data and the archaeological evidence. This paper presents the first radiocarbon date for a Late Mesolithic flint artefact from the North York Moors, from East Bilsdale Moor, and examines its implications for the age range of the Late Mesolithic on the Moors as a whole, and for the association of evidence of woodland disturbance on the Moors upland with the presence of Late Mesolithic hunters there.

Finding a Dim Far-Away Past: Nineteenth Century Archaeological Endeavour in Cleveland

This paper reviews the evidence for archaeological activity in north-east Yorkshire and Cleveland during the nineteenth century. Three groups of participants are identified — churchmen, the self-styled ‘Cleveland Bards’, and representatives of the new industrial town of Middlesbrough — although none is likely to have called himself an archaeologist. Their interests found particular focus in the excavation of Bronze Age burial mounds and were for the most part focused on the identification of a pagan, barbaric and uncivilised past which could be contrasted with a civilized present. The particular interest in the archaeological monuments may have been a reflection of the tensions caused by the rapid development of the new iron and steel industry along the lower Tees, formerly the scene of rural agriculture.

Definite Article Reduction and The Obligatory Contour Principle in York English1

AbstractThis paper provides a phonological explanation for an observed pattern of Definite Article Reduction (DAR) in the city of York, northeast Yorkshire, England. Following a pattern common among very high frequency function words in English, the vowel‐less reduced definite article variably attaches leftward as s clitic. The cliticised definite article is subsequently affaected by the Obligatory Contour Principle (OCP). The phonetic realisations accommodated by this explanation include a non‐glottalised variant that is perceptually a zero realisation. Sociolinguistic observations indicate that older speakers and more locally‐oriented young, working‐class men are most likely to have acquired the phonological subtleties of this pattern.

484 Integrated palaeobotanical and palynological analysis of the terrestrial deposits of the Ravenscar Group (Middle Jurassic), northeast Yorkshire, UK

484 Integrated palaeobotanical and palynological analysis of the terrestrial deposits of the Ravenscar Group (Middle Jurassic), northeast Yorkshire, UK

Top up course for paramedics at Teeside University

Since 2007, Teesside University has been successfully running a foundation degree in paramedic science for pre-registration student paramedics. The programme is run in conjunction with both the North East Ambulance Service and Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trusts and is now well established with over two hundred students graduating since its conception.

To Block Lift or Not to Block Lift? An Experiment at the Early Mesolithic Site of Star Carr, North-East Yorkshire, UK

To Block Lift or Not to Block Lift? An Experiment at the Early Mesolithic Site of Star Carr, North-East Yorkshire, UK

Variation in the English definite article: Socio‐historical linguistics in t'speech community1

This paper provides a sociolinguistic analysis of variation in the English definite article, a.k.a. definite article reduction (DAR), in the city of York, northeast Yorkshire, England. Embedding the analysis in historical, dialectological and contemporary studies of this phenomenon, the findings uncover a rich system of variability between the standard forms as well as reduced and zero variants. These are involved in a system of multicausal constraints, phonological, grammatical, and discourse‐pragmatic that are consistent across the speech community. However, the reduced variants are not derivative of each other, but reflect contrasting functions in the system. Interestingly, the reduced variants are accelerating in use among the young men, suggesting that DAR is being recycled as an identity marker of the local vernacular. This change is put in sociohistorical context by an appeal to the recently developing interest and evolving prestige of Northern Englishes more generally.