An Iron Age or Romano-British enclosure at South Heddon, Northumberland
Author(s): T Pearson, Abby Hunt
In Spring 2003, English Heritage undertook an archaeological investigation of an area of historic landscape at South Heddon on the south side of Heddon Moor in the Cheviot Hills, Northumberland National Park. The remains extend over an area of 11ha (27 acres) and principally comprise a rectilinear enclosure of Iron Age or Romano-British date (although it has been recorded previously as a medieval moat), and an extensive Romano-British landscape of enclosures and field system. There are also the remains of a medieval or later farmstead with associated areas of ploughing. The investigation was carried out to develop a better understanding of the remains in order to inform plans for their long-term management and conservation. This report presents the resulting analytical earthwork survey and landscape investigation, along with pollen analysis and scientific dating of a core sample taken from a kettle-hole at the south-east edge of the site, which used together have greatly enriched the interpretation of the site and its use from the end of the Neolithic to the present day. The work was one of several surveys undertaken by English Heritage as part of the Northumberland National Park Authority’s project entitled ‘Discovering our hillfort heritage.’
- Report Number:
- 127/2004
- Series:
- Other
- Pages:
- 57
- Keywords:
- Bronze Age Iron Age Plant Remains Pollen Prehistoric Radiocarbon Dating Field System Analytical Landscape Survey Enclosure Farmstead Earthwork Palaeoecology Cairn Palynological Assessment Romano-British Scientific Dating Shieling
