Topics > Northumberland > Civil Parishes in Northumberland > Cornhill-on-Tweed Civil Parish > Enclosed settlement, SE of Cornhill Castle
Enclosed settlement, SE of Cornhill Castle
Map showing the enclosed settlement Scheduled Monument area, with Cornhill-on-Tweed to the south and Cornhill Castle to the north-west.
About 700m north of Cornhill-on-Tweed is the site on an enclosed settlement, believed to have had Iron Age and later Romano-British occupation. The site is heavily ploughed, with no visible surface remains. However, the site is a Scheduled Monument (legally protected) with potentially important buried remains.
Scheduled Monument (#1006409): Enclosed settlement, 620m south east of Cornhill Castle
Click the headings below to expand (selected extracts from the Historic England scheduling)
Despite the fact that it has been levelled, the multi-phase enclosed settlement south east of Cornhill Castle retain significant archaeological deposits within the buried features including the ditches. The presence of three closely related phases and the sequence of settlement which they represent, provides insight into settlement and economy during the Iron Age and the Romano-British period. This monument will contribute to our knowledge of the variety and character of wider prehistoric and Romano-British settlement in the region.
The monument includes the buried remains of a multi-phase enclosed settlement of Iron Age/Romano-British date, situated on a north east to south west ridge overlooking the River Tweed. The enclosure is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs and includes at least three separate phases. The first and largest phase of the settlement is visible as an oval enclosure measuring approximately 160m by 105m, within two ditches which are spaced 3m to 8m apart.
Within the western side of this enclosure, aerial photographs reveal the remains of a second enclosure (NT8593 4017) which is considered to represent a second phase of settlement; this enclosure is sub-circular in shape and has a diameter of about 47m, surrounded by a single ditch. Within its interior, there is a circular depression which is interpreted as the remains of a round house.
A third, square-shaped enclosure (NT8598 4019) is attached to the eastern side of the sub-circular enclosure and measures 45m by 45m within at least one ditch with an entrance about 7m wide through its south side. This enclosure represents the third phase of settlement.
Analysis of aerial photographs suggests that the three phases of enclosure were inhabited sequentially. The form of all three phases of enclosure is consistent with others elsewhere dated to the Iron Age to Romano-British period.
