Summary

A medieval longhouse located at Latterbarrow that is an outlier of the larger Smithy Beck settlement.

Source: Historic England

Details

The monument includes the upstanding and buried remains of Latterbarrow longhouse, a building forming a south eastern outlier to Smithy Beck settlement. It is located on the hillside south of Smithy Beck 860m north west of Low Gillerthwaite. The building is a partly double-walled rectangular hut with two entrances, one in each of the long sides. Around the southern side there is a large, very prominent, double-walled bank. The site is clearly terraced into the hillside and this bank defines the edge of the terracing. Adjacent to the east side of the hut there is a semi-terraced enclosure which is well-defined to the north by a substantial well-dressed well-edged wall which butts up to the building. Overall the feature stands up to 1.lm high and measures 22m long by 17m wide.

Extent of Scheduling
The scheduling includes the upstanding and buried remains of Latterbarrow longhouse, a south eastern outlier of the Smithy Beck settlement as surveyed by Lancaster University Archaeological Unit between 1995-1997. The boundary runs 10m beyond the outer edge of the monument thus forming a protected area measuring 42m by 37m.

Other features such as clearance cairns, a short length of stone wall and a poorly preserved possible structure, are located to the east. These features were recorded during the 1995-7 archaeological survey but many have been damaged during forestry work and are now largely covered by subsequent regrowth. This poor preservation coupled with the survival of much better preserved examples elsewhere in Ennerdale Valley means that they are not included in the scheduling.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

The Latterbarrow longhouse 860m north-west of Low Gillerthwaite is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Survival: the medieval longhouse survives well and contains a range of features;
* Potential: despite being located within forestry the relatively undisturbed nature of this monument increases the survival of artefactual evidence. Additionally the longhouse has the potential for increasing our understanding of medieval settlement in the Ennerdale Valley;
* Group Value: the longhouse appears to be associated with other contemporary medieval monuments within the Ennerdale Valley;
* Documentation: our understanding of this longhouse and its contribution to settlement in Ennerdale is significantly enhanced by the archaeological surveys undertaken between 1995-97 and in 2003.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Lancaster University Archaeological Unit, Ennerdale Forest, Cumbria. Archaeological Survey. Final Report, March 1998,
Oxford Archaeology North, Ennerdale, West Cumbria. Historic Landscape Survey, November 2003,

Source: Historic England