Settlement site W of Welford Weir

Summary

Enclosed Romano-British farmstead 360m west of the William A. Cadbury Lock.

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 The simple farmsteads are sometimes superseded by rectilinear or triangular shaped enclosures with rectilinear buildings and many examples were occupied over an extended period and some grew in size and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. Despite cultivation the enclosed Romano-British farmstead 360m west of the William A. Cadbury Lock survives comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, development, longevity, the dates and chronological relationships of the various structures, agricultural practices, domestic arrangements social organisation, possible Romanisation and overall landscape context.

History

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 3 June 2015. 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. As such they do not yet have the full descriptions of their modernised counterparts available. Please contact us if you would like further information.

This monument includes an enclosed Romano-British farmstead situated on a gently sloping spur created by an elongated meander in the River Avon. The farmstead survives as largely buried structures layers and deposits covering an extensive area and is visible as a complex series of crop and soil marks on aerial photographs and as limited slight surface indications including mounds, hollows and other irregularities over an area of at least 22.8m long by 9.1m wide. The largest enclosure is rectangular with rounded corners and contains crop marks of internal features and a northern entrance. There are numerous overlapping and interconnected rectangular, linear, circular and oval features extending to the west and east and numerous pits and gullies especially to the west. These features indicate a prolonged period of occupation and agricultural activity. A bronze socketed axe, flint flakes and Romano-British black burnished tiles and pottery including Grey Shelly Ware, Glevum Ware and Samian Ware have been collected as stray finds together with a fragment of mortarium and part of a lid confirming the date of the settlement.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

WA 155

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
PastScape 331065
Warwickshire HER 5652

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