Summary
Upstanding earthworks and associated buried remains of hut circles, settlement enclosures and associated field system clearance cairns and field boundaries all dating to the later prehistoric: Bronze Age to Iron Age periods.
Reasons for Designation
The late prehistoric settlement and field system on the southern edge of Commondale Moor is designated for the following principal reasons:
* Period, Survival: as a good, well preserved example of a settlement dating to the late prehistoric, possibly dating as early as the Bronze Age;
* Diversity: for its good range of features including hut circles and other structural remains, as well as an associated field system including a range of forms and shapes of fields;
* Potential: the upstanding earthworks indicate a good level of survival of associated in situ deposits. This was demonstrated by a very small scale excavation in the 1920s by Frank Elgee.
History
The North York Moors is an area which has a comparative abundance of prehistoric remains, particularly within moorland landscapes where they have not been disturbed by more recent agricultural activity. The remains are evidence for the widespread exploitation of these uplands throughout prehistory. Many remains date from the Bronze Age (c.2000-700 BC) and relate to diverse activities: funerary and ritual practice as well as agriculture and settlement. Of these broad categories, habitation sites are the most rarely identified, generally being represented by unenclosed hut circle settlements. These consist of small scatters of hut circles: shallow scoops or low circular banks representing the remains of round houses. These are typically sited on south facing hillsides, often located within a set of small enclosures defined by low banks and lynchets forming a small field system whilst others can be associated with cairnfields, unenclosed small field areas where stones have been gathered into cairns. Although excavation has suggested that some unenclosed hut circle settlements within the North York Moors were occupied in the Iron Age (from c.700BC), later prehistoric settlements on the Moors appear to have been more typically in the form of enclosed hut circle settlements, nucleated sites each set within a single enclosure; however by the Iron Age, settlement on the North York Moors appears to have been marginal: the main distribution of the population having shifted to the fertile lowlands beyond the Moors. Unenclosed hut circle settlements, especially those with associated field systems, provide an important insight into prehistoric society. Sites surviving as upstanding earthworks also retain important buried deposits and structural remains. They often include flora, faunal and other remains allowing an understanding of past environmental conditions.
Prehistoric field systems occur in several different forms across the country ranging from extensive coaxial systems of fields resembling brickwork, laid across the landscape with little regard for topography to cover up to 15,000ha, down to more limited, accreted patterns of small plots covering a few hectares at most. The earliest fields are thought to be represented by cairnfields - scattered heaps of stones cleared from the adjacent ground which was then cultivated. Upland accreted field systems are believed to have been typically created by gathering clearance stones to form linear boundaries. These straight or curvilinear banks formed small plots or fields, sometimes as little as 25m2. Sometimes the plots were terraced into south facing slopes forming lynchets. Often some plots include one or more hut circles, although these were not necessarily always domestic: some may have been used as storage or livestock shelters. They are described as being accreted because the pattern of fields typically suggest that they were laid out over a number of years as required, rather than being set out to a unified design. The regularity of the plots, in terms of size and alignment, varies greatly: some, typically those with rectangular fields, can be quite regular in appearance; whereas others are more irregular, even amorphous. The regularity of many field systems can also vary across their extent. Farming was the primary basis of the Bronze Age and later prehistoric economy, thus its field systems are an important resource to allow a greater understanding of past society.
The late prehistoric settlement and field system remains north east of Wayworth Farm were first identified and investigated by Frank Elgee, being included in his 1930 book "Early Man in North East Yorkshire". In 2013 the more prominent earthworks were mapped from aerial photographs by Archaeological Research Services Ltd in partnership with English Heritage and the National Park Authority. Although there is no known positive dating evidence for the monument, in form the settlement is similar to those often considered to be of Bronze Age date, although the monument may have persisted into, or even originated in the Iron Age. The monument includes a wide range of upstanding earthworks related to both hut circles and field boundaries. This includes hut circles that are considered to be domestic, but others likely to represent other structures such as animal shelters or stores. The range of field shapes and forms is also suggestive of a range of uses, although this may also have been the result of evolution of the site over time.
Details
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: late prehistoric hut circles, settlement enclosures and field system remains surviving as both upstanding earthworks and buried remains.
DESCRIPTION: the site comprising some 5.6 hectares extends across a set of natural, south east facing terraces which have been modified to form an area of slightly irregular but generally rectangular enclosures forming a typical Bronze Age to late prehistoric accreted field system. These enclosures are defined by low earthwork banks typically up to 0.3m high and 1m wide, their northern edges appearing to cut into the rising ground, their southern boundaries appearing as stony lynchets, sometimes curving to make the enclosure more D shaped than rectangular. Across the area there are many shallow pits, hollows and other earthworks, at least some of which are considered to represent hut circles. The best defined example, even being mapped and labelled by the Ordnance Survey, is towards the eastern end of the complex at NZ 65099 09994. This is a circular, low earthwork bank approximately 6m in diameter with a southern entrance: this matching the description of the hut circle with a stone slab floor that Elgee partially excavated in the 1920s. Centred about 60m to the south west of this hut circle there are a pair of curvilinear embanked enclosures each about 30-40m across, divided from each other by a hollow way; these enclosures include further hut circles and appear to form the focus of the prehistoric settlement. Fields further to the west are more rectangular in form and generally appear to be more regular.
AREA OF SCHEDULING: prehistoric earthwork remains extend across Commondale Moor, with less well defined remains also extending into the improved fields to the south of the road. The monument is focused on a concentration of well defined earthworks which is considered to be the main focus of the prehistoric settlement. The southern boundary is drawn 3m north of the road edge to exclude the disturbed ground beside the road. The west boundary follows, but does not include, a curving trackway onto the moor which starts from opposite the drive to Wayworth Farm. The eastern boundary is marked by a stream before heading west to a marked break of slope on the hillside which forms the northern boundary, this being mapped to follow the 245m contour. This area does not include the northernmost set of earthworks mapped by Elgee which included two cairns, one being depicted by the Ordnance Survey as a tumulus at NZ 64946 10134. These remains are less well defined than those included in the area of scheduling, and form part of a more extensive area of dispersed prehistoric remains which extend across the moorland.
EXCLUSIONS: there are no exclusions from the scheduling within the area of the monument.
