Forwarding a message from Eric Klingelhofer on the subject of bawns and
medieval enclosures:
Bill & Irene Henry
Friends have passed to me the comments about medieval enclosures and
possible parallels in Virginia. The observations by Paul Courtney were
well-founded, as he has a good deal of experience in the subject.
David Hinton's book is excellent, and better than Platt's in many
ways. It was out of print, but I did see it recently on a booklist,
suggesting that it was coming out under another publisher than Seaby.
If so, I will have my students read that, and keep Platt in the
library. The folks in Williamsburg (CW and W&M) will have collected
examples of vernacular architecture, post-built included, for their
reinterpretation of Jamestown. As will, of course, Kelso for the APVA.
As for the double enclosures, is there a possibility that you are
observing a multi-phase site? A key point of interpretation would be
the presence - and placement - of bastions or towers. Analogies to
Irish bawns are extremely difficult to make. My fieldwork on bawns
suggests that the term was applied both functionally and legally (as a
holding pen, or impoundment area), and at any rate had a long
tradition serving often impressive defensive and residential
structures. These I fail to find in early 17th century Virginia, with
a few notable exceptions that lack recognizable enclosures. Of course
there are the late 17th-century pallisades erected around many
farmsteads, for which see Frazer Neiman. Indeed, one could envisage
such works appearing at each frontier crisis '22, '44, '76.
Eric Klingelhofer Mercer University
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