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Arable and pastoral land: Rievaulx Abbey
Rievaulx acquired extensive pastoral lands to graze its large flocks but also created lush pastures by draining land in the Pickering Waste, which had been given to the community by Henry II (1154-89). Rievaulx's pasture lands were scattered around Yorkshire.(73) The community had a number of sheep-houses (bercaries) where its flocks were folded. These included two sheep stations at Morton grange and the sheep house at Sproxton, which was associated with the grange at Griff. At Allerston, in Givendale Dyke, the abbey was granted permission to pasture five hundred sheep and to build sheep folds. The donor, however, reserved the right to dung from the fold. This might seem a rather strange request, but was by no means exceptional as dung was greatly valued as a fertiliser.(74) The actual size and structure of these sheephouses varied but, it seems, they might occupy an area of about an acre; the folds themselves were probably constructed from wood or brushwood hedges, but were sometimes built of stone and roofed with ferns. (75)
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