Details

The monument includes an oval enclosure, scooped into the hillside in Poolscar
Wood, on Otley Chevin. It originally had a small annexe on the north side, but
this has been destroyed by a forestry track. The main enclosure is bounded on
the south by a scarp where it is scooped into the hillside. The remainder of
the enclosure is bounded by a rubble bank with occasional large boulders, some
of which are set on edge. The rubble bank varies from a slight bank or scarp
on the north and west sides, to a substantial bank, about 5m wide and 1m high
close to the entrance on the east side. Geophysical survey has provided
evidence for a possible hut circle in the north west corner of the enclosure.
Trial excavation produced pottery of Roman date. The occupation of this
settlement may be contemporary with the use of a rubble-banked enclosure
complex in nearby Danefield Wood.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

The Pennine uplands of northern England contain a wide variety of prehistoric
remains, including cairns, enclosures, carved rocks, settlements and field
systems. These are evidence of the widespread exploitation of these uplands
throughout later prehistory. During the last millennium BC a variety of
different types of enclosed settlements developed. These include hillforts,
which have substantial earthworks and are usually located on hilltops. Other
types of enclosed settlement of this period are less obviously defensive, as
they have less substantial earthworks and are usually in less prominent
positions. In the Pennines a number of late prehistoric enclosed settlements
survive as upstanding monuments. Where upstanding earthworks survive, the
settlements are between 0.4ha and 10ha in area, and are usually located on
ridges or hillside terraces. The enclosing earthworks are usually slight, most
consisting of a ditch with an internal bank, or with an internal and external
bank, but examples with an internal ditch and with no ditch are known. They
are sub-circular, sub-rectangular, or oval in shape. Few of these enclosed
settlements have been subject to systematic excavation, but they are thought
to date from between the Late Bronze Age to the Romano-British period (c.1000
BC-AD 400). Examples which have been excavated have presented evidence of
settlement. Some appear to have developed from earlier palisaded enclosures.
Unexcavated examples occasionally have levelled areas which may have contained
buildings, but a proportion may have functioned primarily as stock enclosures.
Enclosed settlements are a distinctive feature of the late prehistory of the
Pennine uplands, and are important in illustrating the variety of enclosed
settlement types which developed in many areas of Britain at this time.
Examples where a substantial proportion of the enclosed settlement survives
are considered to be nationally important.

The Roman period native settlement in Poolscar Wood survives well. It is
outside the region in which such settlement is thought typical, and thus
provides a significant contribution to the understanding of the nature and
distribution of Romano-British settlement in northern England.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Site II, WYAS, Danefield Wood Otley Chevin West Yorkshire, (1997)

Source: Historic England