Broomhouse Common settlement (Featherstone)
A previously un-noted Iron Age/Romano-British settlement centred at NY 70126222, about 195m OD, on the gentle north east facing slopes of a rough pastural hill shoulder.
It consists of a near square enclosure about 60m east to west by 60m north to south between the centres of a ditch about 2m wide 0.5m deep. The ditch has an internal turf-covered earth and stone bank (about 3m wide 0.6m maximum height) on the west and south sides, and an external bank of similar dimensions in the north and east. Breaks at the east ends of the north and south sides suggest that there were entrances here, but the banks and ditches merely fade out and there are not true well-defined causeways as such.
Internally, the enclosure is sub-divided by a wall running north to south across it, about 18m parallel to its east side. Access to the larger west compartment thus formed has been at its south end where the wall inturns for about 16m to the west before it is lost in the peat.
Inside this west compartment, further up the slope, are the remains of three turf-covered stone walled huts a, b and c.
'a' is 11.3m in diameter over a well-formed wall 1.7m wide 0.5m high, with an entrance 1.1m wide in the east north east.
'b' is 9m in diameter over a less well-defined wall 1.3m wide 0.3m high. It has an ill-defined entrance in the east.
'c' is 4.6m diameter over a wall 1m wide 0.3m high with an ill-defined entrance in the east.
The huts are connected to the dividing wall of the enclosure on the east by two turf-covered earth and stone banks each about 2m wide 0.4m high.
At 'd' is a flat area about 7m in diameter which may possibly have been the stance for another hut.
Outside the settlement, about 25m south east of its south entrance, is a possible stone clearance heap (about 2m diameter 0.4m high) but otherwise no evidence of any associated cultivation was seen. Discovered during field investigation: surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD with enlargement at 1:1250. (1)
Almost all of the features described above were seen as earthworks on air photographs. Some of the internal banks and the clearance heap could not be discerned on available photography. (2a)
2016 aerial reconnaissance photography shows a large rectilinear enclosure to the immediate south-west of the settlement enclosure described above, which is probably associated. This embanked enclosure is elongated north to south and measures 57m by 105m. (2b)
It consists of a near square enclosure about 60m east to west by 60m north to south between the centres of a ditch about 2m wide 0.5m deep. The ditch has an internal turf-covered earth and stone bank (about 3m wide 0.6m maximum height) on the west and south sides, and an external bank of similar dimensions in the north and east. Breaks at the east ends of the north and south sides suggest that there were entrances here, but the banks and ditches merely fade out and there are not true well-defined causeways as such.
Internally, the enclosure is sub-divided by a wall running north to south across it, about 18m parallel to its east side. Access to the larger west compartment thus formed has been at its south end where the wall inturns for about 16m to the west before it is lost in the peat.
Inside this west compartment, further up the slope, are the remains of three turf-covered stone walled huts a, b and c.
'a' is 11.3m in diameter over a well-formed wall 1.7m wide 0.5m high, with an entrance 1.1m wide in the east north east.
'b' is 9m in diameter over a less well-defined wall 1.3m wide 0.3m high. It has an ill-defined entrance in the east.
'c' is 4.6m diameter over a wall 1m wide 0.3m high with an ill-defined entrance in the east.
The huts are connected to the dividing wall of the enclosure on the east by two turf-covered earth and stone banks each about 2m wide 0.4m high.
At 'd' is a flat area about 7m in diameter which may possibly have been the stance for another hut.
Outside the settlement, about 25m south east of its south entrance, is a possible stone clearance heap (about 2m diameter 0.4m high) but otherwise no evidence of any associated cultivation was seen. Discovered during field investigation: surveyed at 1:2500 on MSD with enlargement at 1:1250. (1)
Almost all of the features described above were seen as earthworks on air photographs. Some of the internal banks and the clearance heap could not be discerned on available photography. (2a)
2016 aerial reconnaissance photography shows a large rectilinear enclosure to the immediate south-west of the settlement enclosure described above, which is probably associated. This embanked enclosure is elongated north to south and measures 57m by 105m. (2b)
N6696
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1979; I S Sainsbury
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH INTERPRETATION, English Heritage: Hadrian's Wall WHS Mapping Project, NMP 2008; English Heritage
AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE, EH Aerial Reconnaissance (North): 2016-17
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH INTERPRETATION, English Heritage: Hadrian's Wall WHS Mapping Project, NMP 2008; English Heritage
AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE, EH Aerial Reconnaissance (North): 2016-17
Disclaimer -
Please note that this information has been compiled from a number of different sources. Durham County Council and Northumberland County Council can accept no responsibility for any inaccuracy contained therein. If you wish to use/copy any of the images, please ensure that you read the Copyright information provided.