Summary

Settlement enclosure, 485m south of Canonby Hall.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 23 February 2016. 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.

The monument includes the remains of a settlement enclosure of Iron Age/Romano-British date, situated on a north west facing slope overlooking Scad Beck to the north west and with the Solway Firth forming the north west horizon. The enclosure, which is preserved as a cropmark, is oval in plan and is surrounded by a single ditch with the analysis of aerial photographs revealing a trackway running west from the interior of the enclosure.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

In Cumbria and Northumberland several distinctive types of native settlements dating to the Roman period have been identified. The majority were small, non- defensive, enclosed homesteads or farms. In many areas they were of stone construction, although in the coastal lowlands timber-built variants were also common. In much of Northumberland, especially in the Cheviots, the enclosures were curvilinear in form. Further south a rectangular form was more common. Elsewhere, especially near the Scottish border, another type occurs where the settlement enclosure was `scooped' into the hillslope. Frequently the enclosures reveal a regularity and similarity of internal layout. The standard layout included one or more stone round-houses situated towards the rear of the enclosure, facing the single entranceway. In front of the houses were pathways and small enclosed yards. Homesteads normally had only one or two houses, but larger enclosures could contain as many as six. At some sites the settlement appears to have grown, often with houses spilling out of the main enclosure and clustered around it. At these sites up to 30 houses may be found. In the Cumbrian uplands the settlements were of less regimented form and unenclosed clusters of houses of broadly contemporary date are also known. These homesteads were being constructed and used by non-Roman natives throughout the period of the Roman occupation. Their origins lie in settlement forms developed before the arrival of the Romans. These homesteads are common throughout the uplands where they frequently survive as well-preserved earthworks. In lowland coastal areas they were also originally common, although there they can frequently only be located through aerial photography.

The settlement enclosure 485m south of Canonby Hall is preserved as a cropmark with the presence of ditches indicating that the monument will contain archaeological deposits relating to its construction use and abandonment and environmental deposits relating to the use of the surrounding landscape. The monument provides insight into the character of settlement and subsistence during the Iron Age/Romano-British period.

Source: Historic England