Summary

Hawford Roman settlement 300m south of Hawford Grange.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 20 May 2015. This 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. As such they do not yet have the full descriptions of their modernised counterparts available. Please contact us if you would like further information.

This monument includes a Roman settlement located north east of the confluence of the River Salwarpe and the River Severn. The monument is known from cropmarks visible on aerial photographs and survives as two rectangular enclosures, one incorporating a round house. A large single ditched rectangular enclosure measures 91m on the east side with surviving elements on the north and southern sides. The ditch is 3.3m wide and U shaped in profile. A second rectangular enclosure has a single ditch on the east and west sides with a double ditched northern boundary. A 15m diameter ring ditch (representing the remains of a round house) is incorporated into the northern boundary of this enclosure. Archaeological excavations in 1955 and 1965 dated the monument to the 2nd century AD.

Further archaeological remains survive within the vicinity of the monument, but are not currently protected because they have not been formally assessed.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Although they can frequently only be located through aerial photography. All homestead sites which survive substantially intact will normally be identified as nationally important. Romano-British aggregate villages are nucleated settlements formed by groups of five or more subsistence level farmsteads enclosed either individually or collectively, or with no formal boundary. Most enclosures, where they occur, are formed by curvilinear walls or banks, sometimes surrounded by ditches, and the dwellings are usually associated with pits, stock enclosures, cultivation plots and field systems, indicating a mixed farming economy. In use throughout the Roman period (c.43-450 AD), they often occupied sites of earlier agricultural settlements. In view of their rarity, all positively identified examples with surviving remains are considered to merit protection. Despite the insertion of the Worcester Road, Hawford Roman settlement survives comparatively well. The monument has been ploughed and the archaeological remains survive exclusively as buried features or remains. The large enclosure with a circular enclosure forming part of its northern boundary makes this monument unusual and distinct from other archaeological remains in the vicinity. The enclosures will have potential for remaining layers and deposits that will contain important archaeological information relating to the use, construction and occupation of the monument in addition to providing environmental evidence.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Hancox, E. & Russell, O. 2009, Recent Changes to Scheduled Monuments in Worcestershire. Worcestershire Historic Environment and Archaeology Service
Hereford and Worcester SMR:-4543
Pastscape Monument No:-116332

Source: Historic England