Summary

Prehistoric and Roman remains 130m NNE of the church of St. Bartholomew.

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 prehistoric and Roman settlement located on a plateaux north west of the confluence of the River Salwarpe and the River Severn. The settlement remains are known from cropmarks visible on aerial photographs and survive as a triple ditched rectangular enclosure. The triple ditched rectangular enclosure has rounded corners and measures approximately 75m by 60m. The three ditches denoting the enclosure are approximately 1m apart with a wide outer ditch and progressively thinner inner ditches. Excavation has shown that the three ditches represent two phases of the enclosure. The first phase is defined by the two inner ditches that were dated to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. The wider outer ditch denotes the second phase and is V–shaped in profile with a rectangular slot at the base. Artefacts dated this ditch to the 3rd and 4th centuries AD.

Enclosures and archaeological features survive to the north 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 ploughing, partial excavation and the insertion of the metalled track, the prehistoric and Roman remains 130m NNE of the Church of St. Bartholomew survive comparatively well as buried features. The monument is significant individually and as part of a wider archaeological landscape of prehistoric and Roman settlements. The triple ditched enclosure is unusual and distinct from the other archaeological remains in the vicinity and has an interesting multi phased occupation. The enclosures and ditches 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
Jackson, R. & Dalwood, H. 2007, Archaeology and Aggregates in Worcestershire. Worcestershire Historic Environment and Archaeology Service and Cotswold Archaeology
Pastscape Monument No:- 116349

Source: Historic England