Earthwork enclosure in Penning Wood, 290m NE of Penning

Reasons for Designation

Enclosures provide evidence of land use, agricultural practices and habitation from the prehistoric period onward. They were constructed as stock pens, as protected areas for crop growing or for settlement and their size and function may vary considerably depending on their particular function. Their variation in form, longevity and their relationship to other monument classes, including field systems and linear boundary earthworks, provide information on the diversity of social organisation and farming practices throughout the period of their use. Enclosures are central to understanding the development of the rural landscape and as such all well preserved examples are considered worthy of protection. The earthwork enclosure in Penning Wood survives comparatively well and will contain archaeological remains and environmental evidence relating to the monument and the landsape in which it was constructed.

Details

The monument includes an earthwork enclosure located on a south facing slope at Penning Wood. It is one of several enclosures situated within Great Ridge, an extensive area of woodland which occupies a clay outcrop on the undulating south Wiltshire chalkland. The enclosure is approximately diamond shaped, 83m across from east to west and 71m from north to south and defines an area of 0.4ha. It is formed by a bank surrounded by a ditch, the dimensions of which vary around the circuit of the enclosure. On the north western side the bank is 4.5m wide and the ditch approximately 8m wide and 1.1m below the crest of the bank. The presence of earthwork remains of level platforms within the enclosure, which may represent the site of at least three huts or houses, suggest that the monument was an enclosed settlement, probably prehistoric in date, rather than a pastoral enclosure as has previously been suggested.

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:

26852

Legacy System:

RSM

End of official list entry

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