Iron Age and Romano-British Settlement south of Hungerhills Plantation, Parlington

Summary

The buried remains of an Iron Age and Romano-British Settlement south of Hungerhills Plantation, Parlington. It is visible as a series of cropmarks on aerial photographs.

Reasons for Designation

The Iron Age and Romano-British settlement, south of Hungerhills Plantation, Parlington, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Rarity: as a relatively rare example of a large nucleated Iron Age and Romano-British rural settlement in a lowland area; a survey covering 1,525 sq km identified only seven such examples and this is considered to be one of the most densely occupied;
* Potential: cropmarks visible on aerial photographs and artefactual finds indicate that the settlement will hold good archaeological potential; excavation of a comparable site under similar soil conditions in Parlington revealed well preserved buried remains;
* Period: as a complex type of rural settlement that is considered to have been long-lived, with evidence for several phases of development and highly representative of its period, forming part of the agricultural base in England for several hundred years;
* Diversity: cropmarks indicate a densely occupied settlement, which is likely to have a high diversity of components including the remains of roundhouses, rectangular houses, agricultural and industrial buildings, corn-dryers, hearths, ditches, stock pens, trackways, burials, grain storage pits, cess pits, refuse pits and drainage gullies;
* Documentation: our understanding of the site is enhanced by an archaeological survey published in 2010 that has contextualised the monument in relation to the surrounding landscape and other related archaeological features;
* Group value: with the surrounding contemporary field system, trackways, farmstead enclosures and settlements, and as part of a wider local cluster of sites near Aberford, including the scheduled Iron Age settlement and Roman villa at Dalton Parlours.

History

Later Iron Age and Romano-British occupation in Britain included a range of rural settlement types. The surviving remains comprise farmsteads, hamlets, villages and hillforts, which together demonstrate an important sequence of settlement. At a small scale Iron Age (800 BC-AD 43) farmsteads formed the dwelling places of individual families or kinship groups engaged in mixed farming, often at subsistence level. They typically consist of clusters of roundhouses and rectangular timber structures within curvilinear ditched enclosures, although not all farmsteads were enclosed. Farmsteads predominated as a settlement form through the Roman period (AD 43- 410). Some settlements were formed of several farmsteads grouped together within a single enclosure. Where excavated, these sites are often found to contain pits or rectangular post-built structures for the storage of grain and other produce, evidence of an organised and efficient farming system. The enclosures that surrounded farmsteads would have provided protection against cattle rustling and tribal raiding. Some curvilinear enclosures are superseded by rectilinear or triangular shaped enclosures with rectilinear buildings. Many examples were occupied over an extended period and some grew in size and complexity, such as appears to be the case at this settlement at Parlington, West Yorkshire. Iron Age and Romano-British rural settlements are often situated in areas in England which are now under arable cultivation. As a result, although some survive as earthworks, many have been recorded as crop- and soil-marks appearing on aerial photographs. The settlement at Parlington is no longer visible at ground level but survives buried below the present ground surface, and is clearly visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs. These marks are caused by the richer soil in ditch fills causing the crops to grow taller, with darker shades of colour than the surrounding crop.

The cropmarks at Parlington indicate a settlement complex of several farmstead enclosures, with evidence for dense occupation and phases of development, contained within a broad ditched enclosure surrounded by a field system (the latter not included in this assessment). Comparisons with other sites known from cropmarks, geophysical survey and excavation, indicate that the enclosures date from the Later Iron Age through to the Romano-British period. The enclosures are considered to have variously delimited farmsteads, stock pens, paddocks and industrial activities. They are likely to contain the remains of circular roundhouses and/or rectangular post-built structures, but the postholes associated with these buildings are normally too small to be visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs (Roberts 2010, 28).

INVESTIGATION HISTORY
The site has been known from aerial photographs since at least 1973. In 2002-04 the cropmarks of this settlement and the surrounding landscape were recorded and transcribed as part of the Lower Wharfedale Project for the English Heritage National Mapping Programme. The project indicated that it was one of seven Iron Age and Romano-British nucleated enclosure groups or settlements within the landscapes of the Magnesian Limestone belt (an area of 1,525 sq km mainly covering the eastern parts of South and West Yorkshire), such as the scheduled site at Dalton Parlours (National Heritage List for England 1017560) (Roberts 2010, 34-35).

Details

PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS: the buried remains of an Iron Age and Romano-British settlement situated on gently-sloping ground near the summit of a ridge, south of Cock Beck and west of Aberford. The settlement survives as buried features below the present ground surface, and is clearly visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs. Artefacts found on the site have included 16 Roman coins dating to the C3 and C4 AD.

DESCRIPTION: the Iron Age and Romano-British settlement is delimited by a large sub-triangular enclosure formed by a broad ditch. The enclosure is orientated north-west to south-east and is approximately 265m long and from c15m wide at the north-west to c220m wide at the south-east. It has a causewayed entrance at the south end of the east side. There are two curvilinear enclosures, up to c72m by 70m and c51m by 48m, within the northern half of the enclosure. A complex series of about 16 curvilinear and rectilinear enclosures occupy the southern half of the main enclosure. They vary in size from approximately c66m by 63m to c20m by 10m. Several are conjoined and appear to include internal subdivisions. At least two or three sets of ditches and enclosures overlap on the site, showing successive changes in the layout and organisation of the settlement over a period of time. There are several causewayed entrances facing east, broadly in-line with the entrance through the main enclosure. Within the settlement are the cropmarks of about 125 macula, which are considered to mark the position of grain storage pits, cess pits, refuse pits, burials, post holes and gullies. There are two large sunken features; a rectangular feature, c12m by 10m, (SE 42383 36860) and a T-shaped feature, c13m long and up to 8.5m wide, (SE 42470 36805). Partly abutting the main enclosure, are two sub-square enclosures, which are c24m by 24m and c32m by 32m.

EXCLUSIONS: The monument excludes all modern fences and fence posts, gates and gate posts. However the ground beneath these features is included.

Sources

Books and journals
Roberts, I, Understanding the Cropmarks Landscapes of the Magnesian Limestone: The archaeology of the Magnesian Limestone and its margins in South and West Yorkshire and parts of North Yorkshire and north Nottinghamshire , (2010)

Websites
Historic England, National Record of the Historic Environment: Monument No.54606, accessed 1 Feb 2016 from http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=54606
English Heritage, Lower Wharfedale National Mapping Programme Project: Summary Report., accessed 1 Feb 2016 from http://www.historicengland.org.uk/research/research-results/recent-research-results/yorkshire/lower-wharfedale-nmp/

Other
Historic England Archive, RCHME National Mapping Programme: Quartersheet AR98477 Parlington

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