Enclosure near Shawdon Wood House (Hedgeley)
Rectangular enclosure with multiple ramparts at/near Shawdon Wood House. (1)
NU 08471535. The earthwork is situated on a southern slope in a pasture field. Although badly mutilated it appears to have been a double ditched enclosure, with slight inner rampart and an external annex with bank and ditch on the west side.
The ditches have an average width of 10m and vary in depth from 0.5m to 1.2m. The inner rampart has a maximum height of 0.5m. Stones are visible in some of the banks. No trace of internal occupation.
The poor defensive situation suggests that it was for pastoral purposes and probably native in origin. The spring in the centre of the enclosure is possibly of later date. The nearest other water supply is Shawdon Burn, approximately 200m to the south. (2)
Listed under rectilinear sites, but unclassified. (3)
The work prior to ploughing and mutilation appears to have been substantial, and an Iron Age origin seems likely. Some parallels can be drawn with the hill-slope type of enclosure viz proportions and situation, although locally these are normally of simple univallate form. Surveyed at 1:2500. (4)
An Iron Age fort or enclosed settlement, centred at NU 0847 1536, is visible as an earthwork on air photographs. This feature is situated on a south-facing slope in a pasture field near Shawdonwood House. It has been badly mutilated and post Medieval ridge and furrow is visible over the site in vertical photographs from 1946. It appears to have been a double ditched enclosure (where the ditches are closely spaced), with slight internal rampart, and an annexe on its west side. Externally it measures 100m west/east by 90m north/south. The ditches are between 3m and 5m wide (though much levelled in places), and the inner bank measures 3.6m wide. It is possible that an entrance is situated to the south (where the inner and outer ditches join to form a 'hairpin' bend). The enclosed area (within the inner-most rampart) is sub-circular and measures roughly 0.25ha (to its external limits it is 0.77ha). (5) (6a)
NU 08471535. The earthwork is situated on a southern slope in a pasture field. Although badly mutilated it appears to have been a double ditched enclosure, with slight inner rampart and an external annex with bank and ditch on the west side.
The ditches have an average width of 10m and vary in depth from 0.5m to 1.2m. The inner rampart has a maximum height of 0.5m. Stones are visible in some of the banks. No trace of internal occupation.
The poor defensive situation suggests that it was for pastoral purposes and probably native in origin. The spring in the centre of the enclosure is possibly of later date. The nearest other water supply is Shawdon Burn, approximately 200m to the south. (2)
Listed under rectilinear sites, but unclassified. (3)
The work prior to ploughing and mutilation appears to have been substantial, and an Iron Age origin seems likely. Some parallels can be drawn with the hill-slope type of enclosure viz proportions and situation, although locally these are normally of simple univallate form. Surveyed at 1:2500. (4)
An Iron Age fort or enclosed settlement, centred at NU 0847 1536, is visible as an earthwork on air photographs. This feature is situated on a south-facing slope in a pasture field near Shawdonwood House. It has been badly mutilated and post Medieval ridge and furrow is visible over the site in vertical photographs from 1946. It appears to have been a double ditched enclosure (where the ditches are closely spaced), with slight internal rampart, and an annexe on its west side. Externally it measures 100m west/east by 90m north/south. The ditches are between 3m and 5m wide (though much levelled in places), and the inner bank measures 3.6m wide. It is possible that an entrance is situated to the south (where the inner and outer ditches join to form a 'hairpin' bend). The enclosed area (within the inner-most rampart) is sub-circular and measures roughly 0.25ha (to its external limits it is 0.77ha). (5) (6a)
N3161
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1955; E Geary
FIELD SURVEY, Rectilinear earthworks in Northumberland: some Medieval and Later settlements 1960
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH INTERPRETATION, English Heritage: Till Tweed NMP 2003; English Heritage
FIELD SURVEY, Rectilinear earthworks in Northumberland: some Medieval and Later settlements 1960
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH INTERPRETATION, English Heritage: Till Tweed NMP 2003; English Heritage
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