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Fountains Abbey: History
Fountains Abbey: Buildings
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What was a sheepcote ? The term ‘bercary’ is
often the source of confusion and is applied to sheep folds, as
well as to sheephouses or cotes.
It has recently been stressed that the bercary was not simply a
shed or store, but could refer to the entire complex – sheltered
housing for the sheep, with pens, associated buildings and pasture.
The sheepcote could therefore be an extensive building, constructed,
in part, from stone, with pens for the sheep. It provided shelter
for the sheep in winter and during the lambing season, and afforded
storage space for food and perhaps also equipment. For
an extensive consideration of sheepcotes, with discussion of their
form, function and surviving evidence, see C. Dyer, ‘Sheepcotes:
evidence for medieval sheepfarming’, Medieval Archaeology 39 (1995), pp. 136-164. |