Romano-British settlement 520m north west of Cooks Cottages

Reasons for Designation

Romano-British settlements are formed by groups of farmsteads and houses, often individually enclosed in rectilinear yards, along with associated structures such as wells, storage pits, corn-drying ovens and granary stores. The yards are surrounded by ditches and are often associated with pits, stock enclosures, ditches and field systems. Most settlements in the Thames Valley have been located through the analysis of aerial photographs. They survive in the form of buried features usually appearing as crop or soil marks and occasionally as low earthworks. In use throughout the Roman period (AD 43-450) they are often found on the sites of earlier agricultural settlement. As a representative form of rural settlement they provide important evidence of land use and agricultural practices in the Roman period and all examples which have significant surviving remains are considered to be nationally important. The Romano-British settlement 520m north west of Cooks Cottages is a particularly good example of this type of rural settlement, and preservation of below ground deposits is believed to be good. The site has a range of features including enclosures, ditches, trackways, pits and elements of the field system which will provide valuable information on the contemporary economy of the surrounding countryside. The buried remains of the settlement will provide valuable information on Romano-British settlement practices. The site will retain both archaeological and environmental evidence within the below ground deposits held in ditches and pits, providing evidence for the occupation of the site and the landscape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument is situated on level ground to the north west of Cooks Cottages. It lies immediately south of a drainage channel. The monument is not visible on the ground having been ploughed level over time, but is visible on aerial photographs as a cropmark caused by crops growing to different heights or ripening at different rates over buried archaeological features. Two long barrows located 350m and 180m to the south are the subject of separate schedulings. The Romano-British settlement includes at least 13 rectilinear enclosures defined by ditches, with dimensions ranging from 22m-128m, some separated by double ditched trackways. The settlement is focused around a large rectangular enclosure which measures 128m by 102m, internally subdivided into several small enclosures. A complex of trackways and the associated field system are located around this main enclosure. A number of pits (up to 35) are scattered across the site.

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.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

31432

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Benson, D, Mile, D, The Upper Thames Valley: An Archaeological Survey, (1974)

Other
Title: Thames Valley National Mapping Project Source Date: 1995 Author: Publisher: Surveyor: Interpreted by Ms V. Fenner
Title: Ordnance Survey 1:10000 SU 69 SW (NMP overlay) Source Date: 1993 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:
Oxfordshire SMR, Square Enclosure, (1994)
Interpreted by Ms V Fenner, RCHME APU, Thames Valley National Mapping Project, (1995)
Multiple AP's assessed by RCHME APU, RAF, OS, USAF, Private. All at NMR, 63 vertical and oblique prints (1941-1990),
NMR SU69SW 90, NMR, NMR Monument Detail, (1993)
Multiple AP's assessed by RCHME APU, RAF, OS, USAF, Private. All at NMR, 63 vertical and oblique prints (1941-1990),
NMR SU 69 SW 94, NMR, NMR Monument Detail, (1993)

End of official list entry

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