Circular cropmark at Ferriers Farm, 190m south-west of Hill Farm
List Entry Summary
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 Culture, Media and Sport.
Name: Circular cropmark at Ferriers Farm, 190m south-west of Hill Farm
List entry Number: 1010501
Location
The monument may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
County: Essex
District: Braintree
District Type: District Authority
Parish: Bures Hamlet
National Park: Not applicable to this List entry.
Grade: Not applicable to this List entry.
Date first scheduled: 10-Feb-1992
Date of most recent amendment: Not applicable to this List entry.
Legacy System Information
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System: RSM
UID: 20677
Asset Groupings
This list entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information.
List entry Description
Summary of Monument
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
Reasons for Designation
Springfield style enclosures are roughly circular hilltop or spur enclosures originally bounded by a defensive circuit of ramparts and ditches and dating to the Middle and Later Bronze Age. They are generally characterized by a single ditch and a simple internal bank or box rampart. They are relatively small in scale, all being under 1 hectare in size. The interior of the enclosures contain archaeological remains including postholes, pits and burials. Evidence from excavated sites suggests that the life span of the enclosures may have been characterized by more than one phase of use but that the occupation period was continuous. They were therefore used over a period of 200-300 years during the 10th to 8th centuries BC. Springfield enclosures are rare and restricted in their distribution to eastern England with excavated examples in Kent, Essex, and Sussex. The majority have been ploughed flat with only the below ground remains surviving. Despite partial disturbance in the form of three trenches, the below ground remains at Ferriers Farm are well-preserved and the site will retain archaeological and environmental information relating to the occupation of the site during the Late Bronze Age and to the landscape in which its inhabitants lived.
History
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
Details
The monument is situated on the crest of a south-east facing hill sloping
down to the River Stour 190m south-west of Hill Farm. The monument comprises
a circular cropmark 26.5m in diameter with a ditch c.3m wide and an entrance
c.4.5m in width to the south-east. Although the ditch is not visible at
ground level, it is clearly visible as a cropmark and on aerial photographs.
The site was partially disturbed in December 1991 when three trenches were cut
into the monument. The ditch, however, was not disturbed and a few sherds of
Late Bronze Age pottery were recovered. The site is considered to have been a
Springfield Lyons type settlement site from the Late Bronze Age.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 5 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
Selected Sources
Books and journals
Information from Essex County Council
Other
SMR No. 9399, Information from SMR (9399),
National Grid Reference: TL 89612 34411
Map
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This copy shows the entry on 21-Apr-2018 at 04:36:23.
End of official listing