Enclosure 130m SSE of Old Mawbray

Summary

Settlement enclosure, 465m north west of West End Farm.

Reasons for Designation

In Cumbria and Northumberland several distinctive types of native settlements dating to the Roman period have been identified. The majority were small, non- defensive, enclosed homesteads or farms. In many areas they were of stone construction, although in the coastal lowlands timber-built variants were also common. In much of Northumberland, especially in the Cheviots, the enclosures were curvilinear in form. Further south a rectangular form was more common. Elsewhere, especially near the Scottish border, another type occurs where the settlement enclosure was `scooped' into the hillslope. Frequently the enclosures reveal a regularity and similarity of internal layout. The standard layout included one or more stone round-houses situated towards the rear of the enclosure, facing the single entranceway. In front of the houses were pathways and small enclosed yards. Homesteads normally had only one or two houses, but larger enclosures could contain as many as six. At some sites the settlement appears to have grown, often with houses spilling out of the main enclosure and clustered around it. At these sites up to 30 houses may be found. In the Cumbrian uplands the settlements were of less regimented form and unenclosed clusters of houses of broadly contemporary date are also known. These homesteads were being constructed and used by non-Roman natives throughout the period of the Roman occupation. Their origins lie in settlement forms developed before the arrival of the Romans. These homesteads are common throughout the uplands where they frequently survive as well-preserved earthworks. In lowland coastal areas they were also originally common, although there they can frequently only be located through aerial photography. All homestead sites which survive substantially intact will normally be identified as nationally important.

The settlement enclosure 465m north west of West End Farm is preserved as a cropmark and partial excavation has shown that it contains archaeological deposits within below ground features such as ditches and pits. The significance of the monument is increased by its proximity to other similar cropmark sites located to the north and south east. The monument also lies within a wider landscape littered with Iron Age/Romano-British monuments including the network of Roman coastal defensive sites which stretch along the Cumbrian coastline to the west. Taken together the monuments provide an important resource for understanding continuity and change in settlement and occupation during the crucial transition from the Iron Age to the Romano-British period.

History

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 02 March 2016. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes the remains of a settlement enclosure of Romano-British date, situated at the south west end of a slight north east-south west running ridge. The enclosure is rectilinear in plan with three straight sides and one convex side and measures approximately 87m north east-south west and 63m south east- north west. The enclosure is surrounded by a single ditch with a 4m wide entrance on its south side and within the interior of the enclosure are a series of large pit-like features understood to be evidence of settlement. A small excavation of the enclosure ditch and a rectangular arrangement of pits in the south west end of the enclosure revealed the site to have been occupied in the Romano-British period, whilst the pits were shown to have a diameter of 2m and to have once held posts with a diameter of 0.5m to 0.6m. Further archaeological remains survive in the vicinity of the monument, but are not been included as they have not been assessed.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

CU 186

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:- 9111

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