Bronze Age settlement and field system near Soulby Shiel (Cartington)
(NU 08000361) Hut Circles. (1)
Huts at Debdon Whitfield. (2)
'In a somewhat sheltered spot to the west of Whitefield - almost within the policies of Cragside - there are six hut circles, each nine feet in diameter, and two larger ones about 20yds apart to the east, as well as a number of burial mounds'.
During the autumn of 1902, two of the burial mounds on Debdon Moor were opened. The first was 16 feet by 11 feet in diameter, built of earth and stones, and contained no burial. The second, 20 feet in diameter, 3 feet high, of earth and stones, contained an urn protected by several large stones. There was no cist. The urn was decorated with notched markings and contained peat soil, calcined bones and other remains of a burnt body. There were no sherds or flint implements. The mound is close by the footpath over the hill, and only a few yards distant from a large standing stone. (3)
Type H (Ancient village sites, hut circles or stock enclosure). The hut circles on Debdon Moor were excavated by Lord Armstrong in 1907 but no report was published. The huts are in fine preservation and recall those on Ty Mawr, Holyhead, now proved to be of the Roman period.
[Area NU 0703] Two miles north-east of Rothbury, and 1/4 mile south-east of the Rothbury-Alnwick road; a small stone, about 2ft 3ins by 1ft 8ins forming part of the circumference of a burial mound, contains 27 small cups and two grooves. The mound is one of a large group of over 50. [Urn listed as Cinerary Urn. Type not listed]. (4)
[Urn listed as Cinerary Urn. Type not stated]. (5)
The diameter of the ordinary single circles on Whitefield Moor, Cragside, range from from 9 to 10ft, but in one instance there is a combination of four huts opening into each other; the principal one is 33ft. The attached hut foundations, which are irregular in form, measure 10ft 6ins, 11ft and 14ft across, whilst another oblong enclosure with rounded corners is 30ft by 14ft, with a doorway due south. The doorways of the other huts are chiefly south-east. There are ten hut circles all together. One, excavated by Lord Armstrong, revealed charcoal, fragments of deer antler and bones of other animals. (6)
A group of hut foundations situated at approximately 670ft above sea level with abundant water supply immediately to the east of the site. It consists of a principal group 'A', which includes a standing stone, and a secondary group 'B'.
'A'. This group is orientated north-east/south-west and comprises two oval shaped hut circles, (diameters 3m x 4m, and 3.5m x 5m respectively) with traces of a third between them, a D-shaped enclosure containinga rectangular hut in the north-west corner (4m x x 3m) and an isolated hut circle 4m in diameter, entrance in the east side, which lies 5m from the western end of the hut circles.
Immediately to the north-west of the rectangular hut lies a small sandstone standing stone embedded in peat, with a deeply grooved wedge-shaped top. It measures 0.7m high and 0.6m x 0.7m at ground level.
'B'. These lie 22m south-east of the main group and consist of two hut circles, 2m apart, 4m and 5m in diameter, an isolated hut circle, 4m in diameter 50m west of the west end of the main group, and a long rectangular enclosure 10m NNE of the two south-easterly hut circles. It has banks of earth and stone 0.2m high, and measures 10m east-west by 3m in width.
All the hut circles are very well preserved. The banks of a maximum height of 0.5m are constructed of earth and stones and many large boulders. The interior sides are faced with upright stones. The banks vary in width from 1m to 2m.
The burial mounds referred to by Authority 3, are those of NORTHUM 42 SW 8.
Centred NU 07890362. A cairn cemetery lies upon the top, and east and south slopes of a ridge on the west side. There are 30 cairns visible. They are constructed of earth-packed stones of various sizes but containing many large boulders too. The diameters range from 3m to 8m. The maximum height is 0.5m. There are numerous other slight elevations, which may be burial places or outcrops of living rock below the peat and heather.
Towards the southern end of the site are two of the largest cairns, both of which have been excavated, and which are apparently those referred to by Authority 3. The first is situated 64m east of the standing stone, NORTHUM 42 SW 15, and 14m south of the footpath. It is 5m in diameter and has a maximum height of 0.3m. Much of the excavated stone has been strewn around on the turf. In the centre of the cairn is a rock-lined hollow, now water filled.
'A' NU 07890360. 10m east of the above mentioned cairn and 20m south of the footpath, is the larger cairn, and presumably the one from which the cinerary urn was taken. It is 6.5m in diameter and has a maximum height of 0.5m.
No traces of the cup marked stone (Authority 4 refers) could be found. The present location of the urn has not been ascertained. None of the cairns show traces of ditches or retaining circles of stone around them. (7)
The stone-founded form of hut site prevalent here is, by local standards, a native type, although in this context unenclosed groups such as this are rare. The complex is clearly the habitational centre of an extensive agricultural system which includes cairns, standing stones and a cup-marked rock (see NU 00 SE 44,46,47,52 and 54).
This suggests that the whole represents settlement, Bronze Age to Romano-British, with the hut group probably Iron Age/Romano-British. Surveyed at 1:2500.
The cairns fall on the south-east facing side of a minor ridge, and are adjacent to an Iron Age/Romano-British hut group. They are obviously part of an agricultural system associated with this group, although the ground between the cairns is still strewn with loose stone suggesting a partial or abandoned attempt at clearance. It is not clear from Dixon's description from which cairn he recovered the urn. The rock-lined hollow noted by F1 may represent the 'protective stones' in which case little of the covering mound survives, while the other cairn noted by F1 appears to be too insignificant to have been used sepulchrally. Cup marked stone still unlocated.
A further area of cairns centred NU 076037 on the north-west face of the ridge is an extension of the system. Here the ground is well cleared and has a heather cover, but the lack of field pattern suggests that it also was not fully developed. (8)
(NU 0703) Early Bronze Age cairn, 17ft in diameter and 2ft high lying centrally within a semi-circular group of cairns (one of three groups around the headwaters of Black Burn) excavated 1969. Only a thin scatter of charcoal, part of a jet ring and three flints were seen. Minute flint chips associated with a charcoal spread were also seen. (9)
A settlement of Iron Age/Romano-British hut-circles with three associated field systems (one of which contains possible burial cairns).
The settlement at NU 07980361 (See enlargement at 1:2500) consists mainly of two hut groups; 'A' to the north-east contains a cluster of about six conjoined near-circular houses and enclosures, (see sketch at 1:625); and 'B' towards the south-east, of two huts about 5m and 4m in diameter formed by large boulders some vertically placed; with an isolated hut 4m in diameter at NU 07930360. All the huts are well preserved with stone walls averaging 0.5m high and 1m to 2m wide.
At NU 08020362 is the rectangular enclosure mentioned by Authority 2. It measures 10m east to west by 3m wide between centres of walls 0.2m high which are lower and more peat covered than the surrounding huts, appearing much older than them, but this is possibly due to its not being excavated and it is almost certainly a later house foundation, probably medieval.
Almost certainly contemporary with this settlement is a field system (at NU 07780398 defined by stone clearance heaps, occasional low walls and lynchets but no definite fields were apparent) and two areas of stone clearance at NU 07580368 and NU 07900364. The latter (to the immediate north-west of the settlement) contains several obvious clearance heaps. It is possible that some of these are sepulchral and may be the ones referred to by Authorities 3,4,and 5, but there is no way of discerning which they are. One turf-covered stoney mound, prominently situated on a spur at NU 07860368, is 7m in diameter due to robbing and could well be sepulchral but it is difficult to be certain with excavation.
(Snow covered the area during investigation and there may yet be more huts, fields etc to be found). Settlement surveyed at 1:10,000. (Field system and clearance areas delineated on record street). (10)
NU 079036. Debdon Whitfield unenclosed settlement. (11)
One of the kerb stones uncovered by Newbigin's excavation in 1934 had 27 small cups and two grooves. (12)
NU 0779 0375. Unenclosed stone hut circle settlement, cairn fields and a rectangular enclosure 1km SW of Debdon Whitefield. Scheduled RSM No 20902. The remains of an unenclosed stone hut circle settlement and cairnfields of Bronze Age date, containing at least 60 cairns, situated on Whitfield Moor around the headwaters of the Black Burn. The unenclosed settlement is visible as ten enclosures; one discrete group consists of four conjoined hut circles with attached annexes measuring 35m across in total. There are also a pair of hut circles and several single examples; they are all very well preserved and consist of a circular wall 1m to 2m high and some 5m in diameter, surviving on average to a height of 0.5m. Behind the hut circle settlement there are the remains of extensive cairnfields extending over a wide area of moorland between the Black Burn and the Rothbury to Alnwick road. They focus on three main areas, one of which is associated with slight traces of low banks. The vast majority are field clearance cairns but several examples immediately to the NW of the settlement are apparently sepulchral in nature. One of these was excavated in 1969 and shown to contain charcoal, part of a jet ring and three flint tools. (13)
Huts at Debdon Whitfield. (2)
'In a somewhat sheltered spot to the west of Whitefield - almost within the policies of Cragside - there are six hut circles, each nine feet in diameter, and two larger ones about 20yds apart to the east, as well as a number of burial mounds'.
During the autumn of 1902, two of the burial mounds on Debdon Moor were opened. The first was 16 feet by 11 feet in diameter, built of earth and stones, and contained no burial. The second, 20 feet in diameter, 3 feet high, of earth and stones, contained an urn protected by several large stones. There was no cist. The urn was decorated with notched markings and contained peat soil, calcined bones and other remains of a burnt body. There were no sherds or flint implements. The mound is close by the footpath over the hill, and only a few yards distant from a large standing stone. (3)
Type H (Ancient village sites, hut circles or stock enclosure). The hut circles on Debdon Moor were excavated by Lord Armstrong in 1907 but no report was published. The huts are in fine preservation and recall those on Ty Mawr, Holyhead, now proved to be of the Roman period.
[Area NU 0703] Two miles north-east of Rothbury, and 1/4 mile south-east of the Rothbury-Alnwick road; a small stone, about 2ft 3ins by 1ft 8ins forming part of the circumference of a burial mound, contains 27 small cups and two grooves. The mound is one of a large group of over 50. [Urn listed as Cinerary Urn. Type not listed]. (4)
[Urn listed as Cinerary Urn. Type not stated]. (5)
The diameter of the ordinary single circles on Whitefield Moor, Cragside, range from from 9 to 10ft, but in one instance there is a combination of four huts opening into each other; the principal one is 33ft. The attached hut foundations, which are irregular in form, measure 10ft 6ins, 11ft and 14ft across, whilst another oblong enclosure with rounded corners is 30ft by 14ft, with a doorway due south. The doorways of the other huts are chiefly south-east. There are ten hut circles all together. One, excavated by Lord Armstrong, revealed charcoal, fragments of deer antler and bones of other animals. (6)
A group of hut foundations situated at approximately 670ft above sea level with abundant water supply immediately to the east of the site. It consists of a principal group 'A', which includes a standing stone, and a secondary group 'B'.
'A'. This group is orientated north-east/south-west and comprises two oval shaped hut circles, (diameters 3m x 4m, and 3.5m x 5m respectively) with traces of a third between them, a D-shaped enclosure containinga rectangular hut in the north-west corner (4m x x 3m) and an isolated hut circle 4m in diameter, entrance in the east side, which lies 5m from the western end of the hut circles.
Immediately to the north-west of the rectangular hut lies a small sandstone standing stone embedded in peat, with a deeply grooved wedge-shaped top. It measures 0.7m high and 0.6m x 0.7m at ground level.
'B'. These lie 22m south-east of the main group and consist of two hut circles, 2m apart, 4m and 5m in diameter, an isolated hut circle, 4m in diameter 50m west of the west end of the main group, and a long rectangular enclosure 10m NNE of the two south-easterly hut circles. It has banks of earth and stone 0.2m high, and measures 10m east-west by 3m in width.
All the hut circles are very well preserved. The banks of a maximum height of 0.5m are constructed of earth and stones and many large boulders. The interior sides are faced with upright stones. The banks vary in width from 1m to 2m.
The burial mounds referred to by Authority 3, are those of NORTHUM 42 SW 8.
Centred NU 07890362. A cairn cemetery lies upon the top, and east and south slopes of a ridge on the west side. There are 30 cairns visible. They are constructed of earth-packed stones of various sizes but containing many large boulders too. The diameters range from 3m to 8m. The maximum height is 0.5m. There are numerous other slight elevations, which may be burial places or outcrops of living rock below the peat and heather.
Towards the southern end of the site are two of the largest cairns, both of which have been excavated, and which are apparently those referred to by Authority 3. The first is situated 64m east of the standing stone, NORTHUM 42 SW 15, and 14m south of the footpath. It is 5m in diameter and has a maximum height of 0.3m. Much of the excavated stone has been strewn around on the turf. In the centre of the cairn is a rock-lined hollow, now water filled.
'A' NU 07890360. 10m east of the above mentioned cairn and 20m south of the footpath, is the larger cairn, and presumably the one from which the cinerary urn was taken. It is 6.5m in diameter and has a maximum height of 0.5m.
No traces of the cup marked stone (Authority 4 refers) could be found. The present location of the urn has not been ascertained. None of the cairns show traces of ditches or retaining circles of stone around them. (7)
The stone-founded form of hut site prevalent here is, by local standards, a native type, although in this context unenclosed groups such as this are rare. The complex is clearly the habitational centre of an extensive agricultural system which includes cairns, standing stones and a cup-marked rock (see NU 00 SE 44,46,47,52 and 54).
This suggests that the whole represents settlement, Bronze Age to Romano-British, with the hut group probably Iron Age/Romano-British. Surveyed at 1:2500.
The cairns fall on the south-east facing side of a minor ridge, and are adjacent to an Iron Age/Romano-British hut group. They are obviously part of an agricultural system associated with this group, although the ground between the cairns is still strewn with loose stone suggesting a partial or abandoned attempt at clearance. It is not clear from Dixon's description from which cairn he recovered the urn. The rock-lined hollow noted by F1 may represent the 'protective stones' in which case little of the covering mound survives, while the other cairn noted by F1 appears to be too insignificant to have been used sepulchrally. Cup marked stone still unlocated.
A further area of cairns centred NU 076037 on the north-west face of the ridge is an extension of the system. Here the ground is well cleared and has a heather cover, but the lack of field pattern suggests that it also was not fully developed. (8)
(NU 0703) Early Bronze Age cairn, 17ft in diameter and 2ft high lying centrally within a semi-circular group of cairns (one of three groups around the headwaters of Black Burn) excavated 1969. Only a thin scatter of charcoal, part of a jet ring and three flints were seen. Minute flint chips associated with a charcoal spread were also seen. (9)
A settlement of Iron Age/Romano-British hut-circles with three associated field systems (one of which contains possible burial cairns).
The settlement at NU 07980361 (See enlargement at 1:2500) consists mainly of two hut groups; 'A' to the north-east contains a cluster of about six conjoined near-circular houses and enclosures, (see sketch at 1:625); and 'B' towards the south-east, of two huts about 5m and 4m in diameter formed by large boulders some vertically placed; with an isolated hut 4m in diameter at NU 07930360. All the huts are well preserved with stone walls averaging 0.5m high and 1m to 2m wide.
At NU 08020362 is the rectangular enclosure mentioned by Authority 2. It measures 10m east to west by 3m wide between centres of walls 0.2m high which are lower and more peat covered than the surrounding huts, appearing much older than them, but this is possibly due to its not being excavated and it is almost certainly a later house foundation, probably medieval.
Almost certainly contemporary with this settlement is a field system (at NU 07780398 defined by stone clearance heaps, occasional low walls and lynchets but no definite fields were apparent) and two areas of stone clearance at NU 07580368 and NU 07900364. The latter (to the immediate north-west of the settlement) contains several obvious clearance heaps. It is possible that some of these are sepulchral and may be the ones referred to by Authorities 3,4,and 5, but there is no way of discerning which they are. One turf-covered stoney mound, prominently situated on a spur at NU 07860368, is 7m in diameter due to robbing and could well be sepulchral but it is difficult to be certain with excavation.
(Snow covered the area during investigation and there may yet be more huts, fields etc to be found). Settlement surveyed at 1:10,000. (Field system and clearance areas delineated on record street). (10)
NU 079036. Debdon Whitfield unenclosed settlement. (11)
One of the kerb stones uncovered by Newbigin's excavation in 1934 had 27 small cups and two grooves. (12)
NU 0779 0375. Unenclosed stone hut circle settlement, cairn fields and a rectangular enclosure 1km SW of Debdon Whitefield. Scheduled RSM No 20902. The remains of an unenclosed stone hut circle settlement and cairnfields of Bronze Age date, containing at least 60 cairns, situated on Whitfield Moor around the headwaters of the Black Burn. The unenclosed settlement is visible as ten enclosures; one discrete group consists of four conjoined hut circles with attached annexes measuring 35m across in total. There are also a pair of hut circles and several single examples; they are all very well preserved and consist of a circular wall 1m to 2m high and some 5m in diameter, surviving on average to a height of 0.5m. Behind the hut circle settlement there are the remains of extensive cairnfields extending over a wide area of moorland between the Black Burn and the Rothbury to Alnwick road. They focus on three main areas, one of which is associated with slight traces of low banks. The vast majority are field clearance cairns but several examples immediately to the NW of the settlement are apparently sepulchral in nature. One of these was excavated in 1969 and shown to contain charcoal, part of a jet ring and three flint tools. (13)
N2937
EXCAVATION, Excavation at Debdon Moor 1902; DIXON, D D
EXCAVATION, Excavavtion at Whitfield Moor 1907; ARMSTRONG, LORD
EXCAVATION, Excavation at Debdon Whitefield 1934; NEWBIGIN, E R
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1957; A S Phillips
EXCAVATION, Excavation at Black Burn 1969; GRANT, E N M
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1971; R W Emsley
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1976; I S Sainsbury
EXCAVATION, Excavavtion at Whitfield Moor 1907; ARMSTRONG, LORD
EXCAVATION, Excavation at Debdon Whitefield 1934; NEWBIGIN, E R
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1957; A S Phillips
EXCAVATION, Excavation at Black Burn 1969; GRANT, E N M
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1971; R W Emsley
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1976; I S Sainsbury
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