Conclusion : Medieval Upper Redesdale

It is within the framework of the above processes that the establishment of a settlement at Rochester should be envisaged, perhaps in the 15th or early 16th centuries.

One further question which might be resolved by future excavation and fieldwork concerns the location of the vaccaries recorded c.1300.

High Rochester with its ready-made compound and abundant building stone for the erection of sheds and cottages might have proved an attractive site for such an installation, but this can only be regarded as a tentative suggestion. It is equally possible that sites higher up the tributory hopes were preferred as better situated to provide access to a wider variety of resources - from moorland top to valley bottom meadow.