Dunn Crags farmstead and irregular enclosed field system, 950m north-west of Colwell

Reasons for Designation

Farmsteads, normally occupied by only one or two families and comprising small groups of buildings with attached yards, gardens and enclosures, were a characteristic feature of the medieval rural landscape. They occur throughout the country, the intensity of their distribution determined by local topography and the nature of the agricultural system prevalent within the region. In some areas of dispersed settlement they were the predominant settlement form; elsewhere they existed alongside, or were components of, more nucleated settlement patterns. The sites of many farmsteads have been occupied down to the present day but others were abandoned as a result of, for example, declining economic viability, enclosure or emparkment, or epidemics like the Black Death. In the northern border areas, recurring cross-border raids and military activities also disrupted agricultural life and led to abandonments. Farmsteads are a common and long-lived monument type; the archaeological deposits on those which were abandoned are often well-preserved and provide important information on regional and national settlement patterns and farming economies, and on changes in these through time.

The farmstead east of Dunn Crags survives well and retains a wide range of features. Significant archaeological remains will survive across the whole of the site.

Details

The monument includes a well preserved farmstead of medieval date situated in a sheltered position on a south-facing slope between two hills, now on the edge of a roadstone quarry. A main rectangular enclosure measuring 48m east to west by 43m north to south lies within strong stone and earth banks 4m across and 0.6m high. An entrance leads into the enclosure at the centre of the south wall where there are clear foundations of several rectangular buildings, the most prominent of which measures 10m by 14m. Attached to the south-eastern corner of the large enclosure is a rectangular annexe measuring 26m by 25m with walls of similar proportions to the main enclosure. An entrance lies in the centre of the south wall and within the annexe there are platforms of rectangular buildings. A length of bank 22m long is attached to the south- western corner of the large enclosure. Immediately to the south of the farmstead are two strip lynchets formed by cultivation of the sloping ground.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

20931

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Hogg, A H A, Proc Soc Antiq Ncle 4 ser 11 in Native Settlements of Northumberland, (1947), 175
Jobey, G, Archaeologia Aeliana 4 ser 38 in Rectilinear Sites (Appendix to Rect settle of the Roman per), (1960), 35

Other
No. 5460,

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