Summary

Prehistoric and Roman settlement remains 800m north of Woollashall Farm.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 21 May 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 a prehistoric and Roman settlement located on the south side of the River Avon. The monument is known from cropmarks visible on aerial photographs and survives as three trapezoid enclosures, a circular double ditched enclosure, three square enclosures and two ring ditches with pits. The three trapezoid enclosures are orientated north to south and the southern ditches are up to 50m wide. The three enclosures intersect at their southern ends. The circular enclosure has a wide inner ditch 70m in diameter encircled by a thinner ditch approximately 80m in diameter. Three square enclosures are situated to the south of the circular enclosure with sides up to 50m. Two ring ditches are located north of the trapezoid enclosures, the largest being approximately 25m in diameter. Pits are located to the north of the trapezoid enclosures. The extent and character of the site is comparable with a site at Kemberton (NGR: SO 9450 3650) that is dated to the prehistoric and Roman periods.

Further square enclosures and archaeological remains survive to the west and south-west of the monument, but are not currently protected because they have not been formally assessed.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Although they can frequently only be located through aerial photography. All homestead sites which survive substantially intact will normally be identified as nationally important. Romano-British aggregate villages are nucleated settlements formed by groups of five or more subsistence level farmsteads enclosed either individually or collectively, or with no formal boundary. Most enclosures, where they occur, are formed by curvilinear walls or banks, sometimes surrounded by ditches, and the dwellings are usually associated with pits, stock enclosures, cultivation plots and field systems, indicating a mixed farming economy. In use throughout the Roman period (c.43-450 AD), they often occupied sites of earlier agricultural settlements. In view of their rarity, all positively identified examples with surviving remains are considered to merit protection. The prehistoric and Roman settlement site 800m north of Woollashall Farm has been ploughed and the archaeological remains survive exclusively as buried features or remains. The large number of differing feature types on the site make it unusual and distinct from other archaeological remains in the vicinity. The enclosures and pits will have potential for remaining layers and deposits that will contain important archaeological information relating to the use, construction and occupation of the monument in addition to providing environmental evidence.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
Hancox, E. & Russell, O. 2009, Recent Changes to Scheduled Monuments in Worcestershire. Worcestershire Historic Environment and Archaeology Service
Pastscape Monument No:- 118218, 1053739, 118198, 1053737, 117864 & 117867
The archaeology of Bredon Hill and the Carrant Valley. Worcestershire Historic Environment and Archaeology Service

Source: Historic England