Crow Hill Iron Age hillfort with associated Iron Age, Roman and Medieval settlements
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: Crow Hill Iron Age hillfort with associated Iron Age, Roman and Medieval settlements
List entry Number: 1013267
Location
The monument may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
County: Northamptonshire
District: East Northamptonshire
District Type: District Authority
Parish: Irthlingborough
National Park: Not applicable to this List entry.
Grade: Not applicable to this List entry.
Date first scheduled: 05-Jan-1990
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: 11506
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
Sites which show evidence of continuous occupation from the Iron Age through to the Early Medieval period are extremely rare. Single examples of each period would normally be considered worthy of preservation. The Crow Hill monument is particularly unusual in having good evidence for all these periods, contained mainly within one enclosure. There are only some 150 univallate hillforts recorded in England. The Crow Hill Iron age hillfort is therefore an important and rare example. It is also significant as the second largest hillfort in the county, making up a cluster with the contemporary Thorpe End enclosure on the eastern side of the River Nene. In all periods external occupation is focussed around the enclosure with distributions falling off away from the centre. The monument has good potential for studying the development of a defended settlement from the Iron age to the Early Medieval period. Although the monument has been ploughed, limited excavation and survey has shown the site to contain high potential for the survival of major archaeological remains below the plough soil.
History
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
Details
The monument includes the site of an Iron Age defended enclosure together with
the remains of Roman and Medieval settlements. The Iron Age site comprises a
large rectangular enclosure or hillfort, measuring some 250 m. by 175 m.,
defined by a single bank and ditch. The hillfort contains two rectangular
enclosures, a number of house gullies and pits and a concentration of Iron Age
pottery, which suggest it was densely occupied. Outside the enclosure, to the
east and south-west, smaller amounts of pottery and associated cropmarks
indicate the presence of contemporary occupation around the hillfort. A
smaller enclosure complex, probably contemporary, is located some 350 m. to
the south-west. The hillfort probably remained in use or was reused in the
Roman period. Roman domestic remains, including pottery scatters, are mainly
concentrated within the enclosure, with the remains of a contemporary
occupation site located on a small plateau to the east. A lesser scatter of
material in the fields around the enclosure is thought to be related to
manuring activities. The Early Medieval settlement is also centred on the
earlier hillfort but with additional concentrations of material associated
with two small enclosures to the west. Crow Hill and its surrounds are
thought to be the original settlement of Yrtlingaburg.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
Selected Sources
Books and journals
Parry, S, Archaeological Investigations At Crow Hill Irthlingborough, (1989)
Foard, G, Parry, S, 'Northants Arch (1986-7)' in Crow Hill, Irthlingborough, (1986), 12
Foard, G, Parry, S, 'Northants Arch (1986-7)' in Crow Hill, Irthlingborough, (1986), 13
National Grid Reference: SP 95433 71200, SP 95790 71569
Map
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This copy shows the entry on 19-Apr-2018 at 06:33:33.
End of official listing