Summary

Enclosed Romano-British farmsteads 400m south-east of Poplars Farm.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 2 June 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 enclosed Romano-British farmsteads situated on level ground on the western bank of the Longbridge Brook and on the floodplain and to the north of the River Avon. The farmsteads survive as entirely buried structures, features and deposits visible on aerial photographs and crop and soil marks with no visible surface remains. The crop marks are extremely clear and include an irregular shaped but largely curving enclosure and several successive rectangular ones superimposed on one another and of varying size. Also present are possible track ways, pits, paddocks and fields and other ancillary structures. Occupation of the area has clearly been prolonged.

Further archaeological remains in the immediate vicinity are the subject of separate schedulings.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Later Iron Age and Romano-British occupation included a range of settlement types. The surviving remains comprise farmsteads, hamlets, villages and hillforts, which together demonstrate an important sequence of settlement. The non-defensive enclosed farm or homestead represents the smallest and simplest of these types. Most early examples are characterised by a curvilinear enclosure with circular domestic buildings and associated agricultural structures. Where excavated, these sites are also 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 surrounding enclosures would have provided protection against cattle rustling and tribal raiding. The simple farmsteads are sometimes superseded by rectilinear or triangular shaped enclosures with rectilinear buildings and many examples were occupied over an extended period and some grew in size and complexity. In central and southern England, most enclosed Iron Age farmsteads are situated in areas which are now under intensive arable cultivation. As a result, although some examples survive with upstanding earthworks, the majority have been recorded as crop- and soil-marks appearing on aerial photographs. Despite cultivation the enclosed Iron Age or Romano-British farmsteads 400m south east of Poplars Farm survive comparatively well and will retain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, development, longevity, function, chronological relationship between features, agricultural practices, domestic arrangements and overall landscape.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
PastScape 333589
Warwickshire HER 966

Source: Historic England