Settlement site NE of Kinsham

Reasons for Designation

Romano-British aggregate villages are nucleated settlements formed by groups of five or more subsistence level farmsteads enclosed either individually or collectively, or with no formal boundary. Most enclosures, where they occur, are formed by curvilinear walls or banks, sometimes surrounded by ditches, and the dwellings are usually associated with pits, stock enclosures, cultivation plots and field systems, indicating a mixed farming economy. In use throughout the Roman period (c.43-450 AD), they often occupied sites of earlier agricultural settlements. In view of their rarity, all positively identified examples with surviving remains are considered to merit protection. Despite ploughing, the settlement 460m north east of Home Farm survives comparatively well as buried features. The settlement is of considerable significance and forms part of a wider archaeological landscape of prehistoric and Roman settlements on the south side of Bredon Hill. The distinct layout of the settlement and employment of pit alignments adds to its interest. The settlement will include archaeological deposits containing important information relating to the use, construction and occupation of the settlement in addition to providing environmental evidence.

Details

The monument includes a prehistoric and Roman settlement located south of Bredon Hill, east of the River Avon. The settlement remains are known from cropmarks visible on aerial photographs and survive as a hollow way; three rectangular enclosures; two ring ditches; pit alignments; pits; and linear ditches forming field boundaries. A slightly curving hollow way orientated north to south crosses the site and forms the western boundary of two of the enclosures and the eastern boundary of a third. The hollow way is approximately 500m long and is denoted by a sinuous 4m wide ditch and is flanked by parallel ditches and a pit alignment on the south eastern side. Two rectangular single-ditched enclosures abut the hollow way on the western side. The northern enclosure is approximately 30m long and has two internal divisions and pits. Two ring ditches situated in this enclosure represent the site of round houses. A smaller rectangular enclosure is located to its south. This enclosure measures approximately 12m by 11m, with internal pits and an entrance on the north eastern side. Adjoining the east side of the hollow way is a third rectangular enclosure. Approximately 93m north east of the large enclosure is a pit alignment comprising of three groups of circular pits, each approximately 1m in diameter. A ditch with a chamfered corner extends to the south of the hollow way and many linear ditches and pit alignments are visible as field boundaries throughout the site. The site is overlain by medieval ridge and furrow. The features and character of the site is comparable with a site at Kemerton (NGR: SO 9540 3648) that is dated to the prehistoric and Roman periods. Further archaeological features survive to the south and east of the monument, but these have not been formally assessed and are not, therefore, included in the scheduling. The site has been bisected by a modern road that is excluded from the monument although the ground beneath it is included.

Sources: NMR:- SO 93 NW 3 & SO 93 NW 37 Pastscape Monument No:- 117865 & 1050844

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

WT 212

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

End of official list entry

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