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 440m north west of Middle Barn 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 west side of Bredon Hill. The hollow way connected the site with the other elements of the settlement pattern and the unusual layout of the enclosures shows the hollow way's importance as a trade and communication route. 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 on a gentile south west facing slope of Bredon Hill. The settlement is known from cropmarks visible on aerial photographs and survives as a hollow way, a rectangular enclosure, two sub rectangular enclosures, a square enclosure, two ring ditches and pits. A slightly curving hollow way, orientated south west to north east, crosses the site and forms the southern boundary of two of the enclosures. The rectangular enclosure is defined by the hollow way at the southern end and the north, east and western sides are denoted by two parallel ditches that enclose an area up to 63m long and between 35m and 65m wide. A smaller sub-rectangular enclosure abuts the double ditch enclosure on the east and the hollow way to the south. The north and western boundaries are defined by a single ditch. The enclosure contains pits and a ring ditch that represents the site of a round house. The hollow way continues from the south west of the double ditched enclosure and forms another single ditched sub-rectangular enclosure. A square enclosure with internal pits and ring ditch is situated to the south of the hollow way. The site is overlain by medieval ridge and furrow.
Finds reported from the site date to the Prehistoric and Roman periods.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
WT 220
Legacy System:
RSM - OCN
End of official list entry
