Building platform
Building platforms are areas of ground raised or deliberately made to make a level surface for building. These may be made out of the earth dug out in the construction of a scooped settlement or where wattle-and-daub fences have been placed in soft ground - the spaces then being filled with compact rubble or ballast. Circular house platforms may indicate that the house belonged to the prehistoric or Romano-British period, from the Bronze Age onwards. Rectangular house platforms are more likely to be Medieval in date in the uplands. These may be built in isolation - or curt into a slope which provided the material for the lower section. Sometimes vast areas could be made up as building platforms, most of Newcastle's quayside area is based upon Medieval and Post-Medieval building platforms.
To explore more glossary entries click on a letter.