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Prehistoric cairnfield and a Romano-British farmstead and its associated field system 1.24 km ESE of Low Gillerthwaite

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

A prehistoric cairnfield and a Romano-British farmstead and its associated field system located 1.24km ESE of Low Gillerthwaite. Read the official list entry to find out more.

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1408240
Date first listed:: 05-Apr-2013

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1408240
Date first listed:: 05-Apr-2013
Location Description:: Prehistoric cairnfield and a Romano-British farmstead and its associated field system 1.24 km ESE of Low Gillerthwaite - Copeland, Cumbria

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: Cumberland (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Ennerdale and Kinniside
National Park:: LAKE DISTRICT
National Grid Reference:: NY1509813766

Summary

A prehistoric cairnfield and a Romano-British farmstead and its associated field system located 1.24km ESE of Low Gillerthwaite.

Reasons for Designation

The prehistoric cairnfield and Romano-British farmstead and its associated field system 1.24km ESE of Low Gillerthwaite is scheduled for the following principal reasons:

* Survival: they survive well and contain a diverse range of features: * Potential: the relatively undisturbed nature of the cairnfield, farmstead and field system increases the likelihood for the survival of artefactual and environmental evidence: * Group Value: the monument is associated with numerous contemporary and non-contemporary monuments in the Ennerdale Valley: * Documentation: our understanding of the prehistoric and Romano-British settlement here and its contribution to settlement in Ennerdale is significantly enhanced by the archaeological surveys undertaken between 1995-97.

History

Cairnfields - scattered heaps of stones and boulders generally dating from the second millennium BC although later examples are also known - often represent the earliest examples of prehistoric unenclosed field systems and are generally found in upland settings where they result from surface clearance in advance of, or as a result of, agricultural activities.

Isolated Romano-British farmsteads and their associated field systems are typically the settlements of the indigenous population during the Roman occupation (AD mid-C1 to early-C5). They are frequently typologically similar to earlier late-Iron Age native settlements and their precise dating is usually difficult without firm archaeological evidence. They are typified by rectilinear or curvilinear enclosures rarely more than 1ha in area within which there is evidence for a range of domestic buildings and associated structures. They are often defined by earth or stone banks that subdivided the interior and usually have a single main entrance. Some farmsteads were surrounded by external ditches.

In 1925-6 the Forestry Commission began manual tree planting on almost 3640ha of land in Ennerdale.

This prehistoric cairnfield and Romano-British farmstead and its associated field system 1.24km ESE of Low Gillerthwaite forms part of a multi-period historic landscape which represents long-term management and exploitation of the Ennerdale valley from the Bronze Age to the present day. It was recorded during archaeological surveys of the valley between 1995-7 and in 2003.

Details

The monument includes the upstanding and buried remains of a small prehistoric cairnfield and a Romano-British farmstead and its associated field system. It is located on a natural river terrace on the south side of the River Liza and is centred 1.24km ESE of Low Gillerthwaite. The monument is bisected by Low Beck, a tributary of the River Liza; the prehistoric cairnfield lies to the east of the beck, the Romano-British farmstead and its associated cairnfield to the west.

The prehistoric cairnfield is centred at NY15241376 and includes over 20 oval-shaped clearance cairns and stone banks situated on two levels of river terracing with the greater proportion of cairns being on the upper level. They survive up to 1.5m high and vary in size between 4m-24m long by 2.5m-6m wide. Although the distribution of the cairns is largely dictated by the natural topography there is an alignment of six cairns towards the south of the cairnfield that suggests a boundary.

The Romano-British farmstead is centred at NY15051385 and includes the southern portion of what is considered to have once been a circular stone-banked enclosure whose northern half has subsequently been swept away by river erosion. The stone bank rises up to 2m above the internal level of the enclosure with the internal side of the bank sloping gently down, whilst by contrast the external side of the bank drops more steeply. Inside the northernmost point of the enclosure are the remains of three sub-rectangular structures surviving up to 0.7m in height that have been constructed against the stone bank. To the south and south west of the farmstead lie the remains of an associated field system represented by a number of clearance cairns and stone banks which define the edge of a sub-rectangular plot or field measuring approximately 140m by 80m that is largely devoid of other cairns. There is another line of stone banks to the east which may have formed a funnel-like entrance into the plot.

Extent of Scheduling The scheduling includes the upstanding and buried remains of the prehistoric cairnfield, the Romano-British farmstead and its associated field system, together with the archaeologically sensitive ground between all these features as surveyed by Lancaster University Archaeological Unit between 1995-7. The boundary of the scheduling runs 10m beyond the outer edge of the field system's west and south sides then runs east along the northern edge of a forest road along the cairnfield's south side. It then runs along the cairnfield's east side by following the west bank of an unnamed tributary of Low Beck and completes a circuit by running along the south banks of Low Beck and the River Liza.

The bridge over Low Beck and the surface of all forestry roads and public footpaths are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included. Low Beck and a tributary of Low Beck running to the east of the beck are also excluded from the scheduling.

Sources

Other
Lancaster University Archaeological Unit, Ennerdale Forest, Cumbria. Archaeological Survey. Final Report, March 1998,
Oxford Archaeology North, Ennerdale, West Cumbria. Historic Landscape Survey, November 2003,

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.