Round and annexe 330m west of Lanner Barton

Overview

Heritage Category: Scheduled Monument

List Entry Number: 1020799

Date first listed: 03-Sep-2002

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

National Grid Reference: SW 82209 49745

Summary

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Reasons for Designation

Rounds are small embanked enclosures, one of a range of settlement types dating to between the later Iron Age and the early post-Roman period. Usually circular or oval, they have a single earth and rubble bank and an outer ditch, with one entrance breaking the circuit. Excavations have produced drystone supporting walls within the bank, paved or cobbled entrance ways, post built gate structures, and remains of timber, turf or stone built houses of oval or rectangular plan, often set around the inner edge of the enclosing bank. Other evidence includes hearths, drains, gullies, pits and rubbish middens. Evidence for industrial activities has been recovered from some sites, including small scale metal working and, among the domestic debris, items traded from distant sources. Some rounds are associated with secondary enclosures, either abutting the round as an annexe or forming an additional enclosure. Rounds are viewed primarily as agricultural settlements, the equivalents of farming hamlets. They were replaced by unenclosed settlement types by the 7th century AD. Over 750 rounds are recorded in the British Isles, occurring in areas bordering the Irish Seas, but confined in England to south west Devon and especially Cornwall, where many more examples may await discovery. Most recorded examples are sited on hillslopes and spurs. Rounds are important as one of the major sources of information on settlement and social organisation of the Iron Age and Roman periods in south west England. Consequently, sites with significant surviving remains will normally be considered to be of national importance.

Despite modification by ploughing of the earthworks enclosing the round, and the levelling of those of the annexe and associated fields, the round and annexe 330m west of Lanner Barton survive comparatively well. The underlying old land surface, and remains of any structures or other deposits associated with this and with the upstanding earthworks and ditches, will also survive. The association with a field system will contribute to our understanding of the farming of this region in the later prehistoric to Roman periods.

History

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Details

The scheduling includes a later prehistoric to Romano-British round and annexe, situated on level ground north of a summit on top of a ridge, north of Truro. Part of an associated field system, and a length of medieval trackway, also lie within the scheduled area. Together, the combined plan of the round with the known extent of the annexe are pear-shaped and measure up to approximately 100m across overall. The round itself is oval in plan. Its external measurements are 100m north-south by 65m east-west. It has an enclosing rampart of earth and stone, spread by ploughing, forming a bank 6m-15m across, low on its inner side but up to 0.3m high outside. An external ditch surrounding the rampart is shown on aerial photographs. This is largely filled or silted, but remains visible as a slight depression, up to 12m across. The aerial photographs also show a buried curving ditch some 40m long, 30m east of the round. By analogy with similar sites elsewhere, this forms part of a ditch with bank inside it, enclosing a crescentic annexe to the round. Buried ditches defining curving fields to the west of the round are again recorded on aerial photographs, but are not visible on the ground. The east end of one of these ditches, attached to the round's external ditch on its west side, lies within the margin of the scheduled area. The round is bisected along its long axis by a trackway, known as Blind Lane, and considered to be of medieval origin. The track measures around 6m across, and is bounded by hedge banks of earth and stone some 2m high and 2m wide. The electricity pylons and power lines, and all modern fencing, are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included.

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: 32967

Legacy System: RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Henderson, C, Essays in Cornish History, (1935), 159
McLauchlan, H, 'Annual Report of the Royal Institution of Cornwall' in Observations in some ancient camps and tumuli, , Vol. 29, (1848), 46
Other
Dyer, CA, Cornwall Mapping Project,
Dyer, CA, Cornwall Mapping Project, (1999)
MS at RIC library, Truro, Henderson, C, Parochial Antiquities of Cornwall, Parochial Antiquities of Cornwall, (1920)
MS at RIC library, Truro, Henderson, C, Parochial Antiquities, Parochial Antiquities, (1920)
PRN 25192, Johnson, N, Cornwall SMR, (1977)
SW 84 NW 2, Ordnance Survey, Ordnance Survey Index Card, (1965)
Title: Martyn's Map of Cornwall Source Date: 1748 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:
Title: Ordnance Survey 1:2500 Map Source Date: 1880 Author: Publisher: Surveyor:
Title: St Allen Tithe Apportionment Source Date: 1841 Author: Publisher: Surveyor: 408-410, 595, 791

Legal

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 Digital, Culture, Media and Sport.