Small sandstone quarries common on this enclosed upland common. Placename 'Whiteley Common' indicates the white untilled lands. Land divided up into detached portions of Hepworth, Wooldale and Scholes which also indicates an area of former common. Enclosure act for Thurlstone in 1816, the rest of the moors was enclosed in 1834 as part of the Wooldale parliamentary act (English 1985). Enclosure continued in this area after 1851 steadily enclosing all the common land. The Whams was one of the last areas to be enclosed, it was still marked as rough grassland on the 1982 OS map. The name 'Whams' indicates a marshy hollow (Field 1972, 250) which would explains why it was last to be utilised for agriculture. There are some fields which are partially reverting to moorland so legibility is fragmentary. Mesolithic flints have been found in this Polygon indicating utilisation of the moorland at a early date. 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).