Summary
The buried remains of a multi-phased site including the remains of Bronze Age bowl barrows, Iron Age trackways and pit alignments, late Iron Age or Romano-British enclosures, and a Romano-British inhumation cemetery identified as cropmarks on aerial photography and through limited excavation.
Reasons for Designation
The ring ditches and enclosures at Slip End Ashwell are scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Period: they represent multiple periods of human ritual and settlement adjacent to the prehistoric Icknield Way, including Bronze Age burials, Iron Age trackways and pit alignments, late Iron Age or Romano-British enclosures, and a Romano-British inhumation cemetery;
* Rarity: as a rare example of a multi-phased site which offers us insights into the lives and deaths of early prehistoric and Romano-British communities in this country;
* Documentation: for the interpretation and documentation of cropmarks from aerial photography around 1973/4 and 1991 as part of the National Mapping Programme, and excavation of the Romano-British inhumation cemetery by the Letchworth Museum in 1975;
* Group value: for its close proximity to other contemporary or spatially-related scheduled monuments adjacent the prehistoric Icknield Way, including Bronze Age round barrows at Highley Hill (NHLE 1009428) and 550m north east of Slip End Farm (NHLE 1017328), prehistoric trackways and ditches including Triple Ditches at Galley Hill (NHLE 1003550), and Iron Age settlements including Arbury Banks Iron Age hillfort (NHLE 1008981);
* Survival: multiple periods of use are visible as clearly defined cropmarks and soil marks on aerial photography;
* Potential: for the buried deposits which retain considerable potential to provide evidence relating to social organisation and demographics, cultural associations, human development, disease, diet, and death rituals from the Bronze Age to the Romano-British periods. Buried environmental evidence can also inform us about the landscape in which the barrows, enclosures and trackways were constructed.
History
The field north and west of Slip End Farm retains documented evidence of multiple phases of both ritual and settlement activity including the remains of Bronze Age bowl barrows, Iron Age trackways and pit alignments, a number of late Iron Age or Romano-British enclosures, and a Romano-British inhumation cemetery.
The treatment, burial and commemoration of the dead have been a distinctive part of human life for millennia, and these activities have often left physical remains. The remains of the dead have been dealt with in remarkably varied ways in the past and it appears that, in the prehistoric period especially, only a small proportion of the population received a burial which has left traces detectable using current methods. Round barrows are distinctive burial monuments which can represent both individual burials as well as larger burial groups. They are one of the main sources of information about life in this period.
The main period of round barrow construction occurred in the Early Bronze Age between about 2200-1500 BC (a period when cremation succeeded inhumation as the primary burial rite), although Neolithic examples are known from as early as 3000 BC. In general round barrows comprise a rounded earthen mound or stone cairn, the earthen examples usually having a surrounding ditch and occasionally an outer bank. They range greatly in size from just 5m in diameter to as much as 40m, with the mounds ranging from slight rises to as much as 4m in height. Often occupying prominent locations, they are a major historic element in the modern landscape and their considerable variation of form and longevity as a monument type provide important information on the diversity of beliefs and social organisation amongst early prehistoric communities. Round barrows are the most numerous of the various prehistoric funerary monuments.
Round barrows occur either in isolation or grouped as cemeteries and often acted as a focus for burials in later periods. Groups of round barrows or barrow cemeteries comprise closely spaced groups of up to 30 round barrows. Most cemeteries developed over a considerable period of time, often many centuries, and in some cases acted as a focus for burials as late as the early medieval period. Round barrow cemeteries occur across most of lowland Britain, with a marked concentration in Wessex and in some cases are clustered around other important contemporary monuments. Slip End Farm is situated adjacent to the course of the prehistoric Icknield Way and lies within an extensive area of burial mounds scattered upon the chalk uplands of north Hertfordshire and south Cambridgeshire.
The later Bronze Age was a period of transition from the simple agricultural regimes of the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age to the settled and intensive exploitation that characterises Iron Age and Roman Britain. During the Iron Age (800 BC-AD 43) the number and range of settlements increased substantially. At a small scale, Iron Age farmsteads formed the dwelling places of individual families or kinship groups engaged in mixed farming, often at subsistence level. They typically consist of clusters of roundhouses and rectangular timber structures within curvilinear ditched enclosures, although not all farmsteads were enclosed. Farmsteads predominated as a settlement form through the Roman period (AD 43-410).
Some settlements were formed of several farmsteads grouped together within a single enclosure. Where excavated, these sites are often found to contain pits or rectangular post-built structures for the storage of grain and other produce, evidence of an organised and efficient farming system. The enclosures that surrounded farmsteads would have provided protection against cattle rustling and tribal raiding. Some curvilinear enclosures are superseded by rectilinear or triangular shaped enclosures with rectilinear buildings. Many examples were occupied over an extended period and some grew in size and complexity, such as appears to be the case at this settlement at Slip End.
Iron Age and Romano-British rural settlements are often situated in areas which are now under arable cultivation. As a result, although some survive as earthworks, many have been recorded as crop- and soil-marks appearing on aerial photographs. This is the case at Slip End where cropmarks were evident on aerial photographs taken around 1975 and further recorded as part of the National Mapping Programme around 2000. The overlying and interlocking cropmarks at Slip End indicate multiple phases of activity. Comparisons with other typologically similar cropmark sites which have been subjected to geophysical survey and excavation, indicate that the enclosures usually date from the later Iron Age through to the Romano-British period and can include farmsteads, field boundaries, stock pens, paddocks and industrial activities. Such sites often contain the remains of circular roundhouses and/or rectangular post-built structures.
Slip End Farm also retains evidence of Romano-British burials. The Roman period saw the formalisation of burial grounds in what can more confidently be called cemeteries. In the earlier part of the period these were predominantly cremation cemeteries for the reception of ashes, in part reflecting a continuation of existing funerary practice; from the later C2 AD cremation was gradually superseded by inhumation particularly in the more southern parts of the country. At Slip End Farm, the north end of the field, further uphill than the barrow cemetery, excavations by Letchworth Museum in 1975 revealed two graves within a rectangular single-ditched enclosure, assumed to be Romano-British in date. One grave contained a single burial, the other contained three inhumations, two of which were largely disarticulated, and a further two skulls. A ditch between the graves contained two incomplete skeletons. Finds included a copper alloy finger ring and sherds of Roman pottery, including late Roman wares.
The Tithe map of Ashwell of 1838 shows an inn known as the Slip Inn adjacent to the Icknield Way (now the A505) in the location of where the farm buildings of Slip End Farm now stand. The Tithe map shows a track running north-north-west from the Icknield Way, on the same line as the Iron Age triple ditch revealed by late C20 aerial photography. Construction of a railway between Baldock and Odsey, Ashwell (opened in 1850) along the west boundary of the field later bisected this track, after which the track was no longer used and was not shown on the 1888 Ordnance Survey map. The Slip Inn was replaced by the Hare and Hounds public house in the mid-C19 and a large flint building constructed perpendicular to the Icknield Way, shown on the 1888 Ordnance Survey map. The public house ceased trade around 1960, and a bungalow was constructed north-east of the flint building around 1970 and is shown on aerial photographs taken in 1973 and the 1975 Ordnance Survey map.
Details
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: the buried remains of a multi-phased site including the remains of Bronze Age bowl barrows, Iron Age trackways and pit alignments, late Iron Age or Romano British enclosures, and a Romano-British inhumation cemetery identified as cropmarks on aerial photography and through limited excavation.
DESCRIPTION: Slip End Farm lies on the northern slope of a shallow valley which descends south-west to the Cat Ditch. The land gradually slopes south-westwards from around 90m AOD at the north-east end of the field to around 68m AOD at the south-west end of the field. The scheduled area measures around 14.55 hectares and is generally bounded by a field boundary and the A505 (the former Icknield Way) to the east and north-east, a field boundary to the north, a field boundary and railway to the west, a field boundary and ditch to the south-west, and paddocks, farm buildings and the bungalow of Slip End Farm to the south-east. The soil of this area is shallow and lime rich over chalk or limestone.
A series of ring ditches identified as a Bronze Age barrow cemetery measure between around 15m and 35m in diameter and are mostly located along the 85m AOD contour (HER 6192), but also at around 80m AOD (HER 2355 and possibly HER 6755) and 75m AOD (HER 2354).
Iron Age features west of the current farm buildings include three parallel linear ditches aligned north-north-west to south-south-east, running approximately 210m. These have been interpreted as an Iron Age multiple ditch system (HER 7898). These ditches mark the line of a track shown on the 1838 Tithe map, however the introduction of the railway in the mid-C19 led to the disuse of the track and it was no longer shown on the 1888 Ordnance Survey map. The cropmarks of a probable pit alignment of possible late Iron Age date have been identified north of the farm buildings at around 90m AOD and are approximately 30m in length (HER 7892).
The late Iron Age or Romano-British enclosures are located south-west, west and north-west of the farm buildings. At the south-west end of the site is a rectangular but incomplete enclosure measuring around 45m by 35m, with several associated short lengths of ditch (HER 2358). To the north-west of these are a scattered group of linear ditches ranging in size between 5m and 65m in length, which appear to be associated with this enclosure (HER 7900). South-west of the farm buildings is a double, rectangular enclosure, measuring approximately 70m by 75m, with an entrance from the north-west (HER 7895). It is possible that this is a multi-period feature, with the inner ditch dating to the prehistoric period with a south-east facing entrance, and the outer ditch dating to the Roman period. The eastern edge of this enclosure has been truncated by the farm track. West of the farm buildings is the cropmark of an incomplete rectangular enclosure, measuring approximately 55m by 60m, with an internal sub-division (HER 7897). North-west of the farm buildings are the cropmarks of at least 10 conjoined rectilinear enclosures covering at least 700m in length and extending west beyond the railway line. Other ditches appear to be contemporary with this group of enclosures. This complex of features overlies ring ditches (HER 2354 and 2355) and other enclosures (HER 7894, 7895 and 2358), indicating they are of later date. At the north-east corner of the site is the cropmark of a rectangular single-ditched enclosure, measuring around 52m by 34m (HER 2363). Excavations by the Letchworth Museum in 1975 did not produce dating evidence for the enclosure itself, but burials within the enclosure (HER 242) have all been dated to the Roman period; finds included a copper alloy finger ring and sherds of Roman pottery, including late Roman wares.
A number of other linear ditches and trackways have been identified west and north-west of the farm buildings. West of the farm buildings are two parallel linear ditches, approximately 70m in length thought to represent a probable trackway (HER 7899), which cross an earlier ring ditch (HER 2354). North-west of the farm buildings are a group of linear ditches on the same alignment as enclosures HER 7896 and trackway HER 7899: the cropmarks of a group of perpendicular linear ditches possibly representing field boundaries (HER 7901); an interrupted linear ditch, approximately 280m in length (HER 7902); and a linear ditch, approximately 320m in length (HER 7903). North-north-east of the farm buildings at around 85m AOD, the cropmarks of at least 27 scattered pits and 2 parallel lengths of ditches were identified, possibly representing a trackway (HER 7893). North of the farm buildings at around 90m AOD are the cropmarks of a curving triple ditch, aligned approximately north-east to south-west (HER 2317). This may be a sinuous prehistoric trackway associated with the parallel Icknield Way.
MAP EXTRACT: The scheduled area is shown on the accompanying map.
EXCLUSIONS: All hard-surfaced roads, track surfaces, fences, fence posts, hedges, field ditches, structures and telegraph poles are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included.
