Ancient settlement E of Lyscombe Bottom

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1004568

Date first listed: 28-Jul-1958

Location

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

National Grid Reference: ST 73925 01700, ST 74193 01939

Summary

An Iron Age or Romano British enclosed farmstead and part of an associated field system 590m north-west of Nettlecombe Farm.

Reasons for Designation

Later Iron Age and Romano-British occupation included a range of settlement types. The surviving remains comprise farmsteads, hamlets, villages and hillforts, which together demonstrate an important sequence of settlement. The non-defensive enclosed farm or homestead represents the smallest and simplest of these types. Most early examples are characterised by a curvilinear enclosure with circular domestic buildings and associated agricultural structures. Where excavated, these sites are also 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 surrounding enclosures would have provided protection against cattle rustling and tribal raiding. The simple farmsteads are sometimes superseded by rectilinear or triangular shaped enclosures with rectilinear buildings and many examples were occupied over an extended period and some grew in size and complexity. In central and southern England, most enclosed Iron Age farmsteads are situated in areas which are now under intensive arable cultivation. As a result, although some examples survive with upstanding earthworks, the majority have been recorded as crop- and soil-marks appearing on aerial photographs. With clearly surviving earthworks the Iron Age or Romano British enclosed farmstead and part of an associated field system 590m north west of Nettlecombe Farm survive well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, development, longevity, social organisation, agricultural practices, domestic arrangements and overall landscape context.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 13 January 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.

This monument, which falls into two areas, includes an Iron Age or Romano British enclosed farmstead and part of its associated field system situated on the upper slopes of the prominent Hog Hill. The farmstead and its associated field system survive as a complex series of enclosures, trackways, building platforms, banks and ditches with associated fields defined by lynchets which extend to the south west. In total these cover an area of approximately 9ha. Fragments of Romano British storage jars, tiles, a piece of tegula and large flints have been discovered throughout the area as chance finds.

Further archaeological remains survive in the vicinity and are scheduled separately.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number: DO 362

Legacy System: RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:-202131

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 Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.