Snowden Hill was settled in the middle ages (Crossland 1993, 152) and was known until the 19th century as Snodden Hill meaning the bare, bald hill. The hamlet had its own town field and common and is shown on the edge of the moor on Jefferys 1775 map. The hilly nature of the landscape doesn’t make it idea for arable farming which is probably why a cloth industry developed within the farms. Place names Cloth Hall Farm, Tenter House Farm and Tenter Lane indicate that weaving was taking place in the hamlet. Also inventories attached to wills from the 1690s give indications that several farmers also wove (Hey 2002, 66). There is good survival of 17th and 18th century farm buildings. Previous to colonisation this area was probably a mix of woodland and moorland there is no visibility of this in the current hamlets so legibility is invisible. The origin of the former moorland landscape is uncertain though this area is likely to be moorland by the Roman period (see Bevan 2003 for discussion of environmental evidence in region).