Summary

Enclosures and a ring ditch 290m north east of Peamore Cottage.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 17 November 2015. The record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes two rectangular enclosures and a ring ditch situated on low slopes in the valley of the Alphin Brook. The rectangular enclosures and ring ditch survive as entirely buried features visible on aerial photographs. The two enclosures are apparently complete and measure approximately 35m long by 25m wide. One has a single entrance to the north east, the second apparently bivallate with a south eastern entrance. The ring ditch is an arc of approximately 25m in diameter.

In 1975 a trial excavation of one of the rectangular enclosures produced late 2nd century pottery and five fragments of Roman tile and further field walking in the area found 24 flints including an arrowhead. The enclosures are thought to be late Iron Age or Romano-British farmsteads and the ring ditch may be a hut circle or barrow but is probably earlier in date than the enclosures.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

The precise nature and date of the bivallate enclosure and the ring ditch 290m north east of Peamore Cottage is unknown, but it would appear to be a defended small scale settlement or farmstead given its shape and the nature of the apparent fortifications and the ring ditch is likely to be the preserved remains of some form of burial barrow. The other enclosure is dated to the second century from partial excavations and is a likely farmstead. Such preserved features are unusual close to major urban centres and in areas of rich agricultural land, because they have been consistently used through time as a much valued resource. The enclosures and ring ditch indicate the past importance which was attached to such a resource, hence its likely defensive nature and the potential territorial significance of the ring ditch. It helps to explain social and strategic pressures and will also contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to their construction, use, date, and the nature of the settlement as either an agricultural or military consequence of existing land use pressure or political and social manoeuvrings.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:-447911

Source: Historic England