Summary

Multiple settlement enclosures and hut circle, 735m SSW of Wolsty Castle (site of).

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 at least three settlement enclosures and a hut circle, all of Iron Age/Romano-British date, situated on level ground with the coast lying 900m to the west. The three enclosures, which are preserved as cropmarks, are sub-rectangular in plan each being surrounded by a single ditch. The enclosures are overlapping with the southernmost enclosure containing a hut circle with an entrance facing to the west.

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 multiple settlement enclosures and hut circle 735m SSW of Wolsty Castle are preserved as cropmarks. Buried features such as ditches will contain archaeological deposits relating to the construction, use and abandonment of the monument 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

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:- 9533

Source: Historic England