Information for record number MWA5536:
Site of Iron Age Settlement 200m NE of King Stone

Summary The excavation of an Iron Age settlement. Features and finds include enclosures, a ditch, pits, cesspits, an infant burial, animal skulls and pottery. The site is immediately to the north east of the Rollright Stones.
What Is It?  
Type: Settlement, Pit, Ditch, Inhumation, Enclosure
Period: Iron Age - Middle Iron Age (800 BC - 101 BC)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Long Compton
District: Stratford on Avon, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 29 31
(Data represented on this map shows the current selected record as a single point, this is for illustrative purposes only and does not represent an accurate or complete representation of archaeological sites or features)
Level of Protection National - Old SMR PrefRef (Grade: )
Scheduled Monument (Grade: )
Sites & Monuments Record
Description

  
Source Number  
Site of an Iron Age settlement.
1 An enclosure, first recorded by Stukeley in 1743 as an earthwork. It was relocated on a 1961 vertical aerial photograph. A geophysical survey confirmed its location and traced a second enclosure to the NW. In 1982 the Site was partly excavated. A number of pits and the enclosure ditch were excavated. The enclosure is about 0.26 hectares in size. Features occurred, however, outside as well as inside the enclosure. pits were probably used for grain storage and two cesspits were also found. An infant burial and animal skulls may indicate ritual deposits in and around two Features. The enclosure was formed by a substantial rock cut ditch and probably an internal wall. Its scale may indicate that it was defensive. The excavation produced Iron Age pottery including Droitwich briquetage, also animal bones and several small finds.
2 Plan.
 
Sources
Source No: 1
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: The Rollright Stones
Author/originator: Lambrick G
Date: 1988
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 2
Source Type: Plan
Title: The Rollright Stones
Author/originator: Lambrick G
Date: 1988
Page Number: Fig 34
Volume/Sheet:
   
Images:  
There are no images associated with this record.  
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
none Scheduled Monument Scheduled Ancient Monuments (SAMs) are those archaeological sites which are legally recognised as being of national importance. They can range in date from prehistoric times to the Cold War period. They can take many different forms, including disused buildings or sites surviving as earthworks or cropmarks.

SAMs are protected by law from unlicensed disturbance and metal detecting. Written consent from the Secretary of State must be obtained before any sort of work can begin, including archaeological work such as geophysical survey or archaeological excavation. There are nearly 200 SAMs in Warwickshire.
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technique Geophysical Survey The measuring and recording of electrical resistivity or magnetism in order to determine the existence and outline of buried features such as walls and ditches. Geophysical techniques include resistivity survey, magnetometer survey and ground penetrating radar. View Image back
technique Earthwork Earthworks can take the form of banks, ditches and mounds. They are usually created for a specific purpose. A bank, for example, might be the remains of a boundary between two or more fields. Some earthworks may be all that remains of a collapsed building, for example, the grassed-over remains of building foundations.

In the winter, when the sun is lower in the sky than during the other seasons, earthworks have larger shadows. From the air, archaeologists are able to see the patterns of the earthworks more easily. Earthworks can sometimes be confusing when viewed at ground level, but from above, the general plan is much clearer.

Archaeologists often carry out an aerial survey or an earthwork survey to help them understand the lumps and bumps they can see on the ground.
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technique Vertical aerial photograph Vertical aerial photographs are taken from immediately overhead using a camera fixed to the underside of an aeroplane. The camera points directly downwards at 90 degrees to the ground. Vertical photographs are particularly useful for identifying sites that survive as cropmarks. See also oblique aerial photographs. back
technique excavation Archaeologists excavate sites so that they can find information and recover archaeological materials before they are destroyed by erosion, construction or changes in land-use.

Depending on how complicated and widespread the archaeological deposits are, excavation can be done by hand or with heavy machinery. Archaeologists may excavate a site in a number of ways; either by open area excavation, by digging a test pit or a trial trench.
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period Iron Age About 800 BC to 43 AD

The Iron Age comes after the Bronze Age and before the Roman period. It is a time when people developed the skills and knowledge to work and use iron, hence the name ‘Iron Age’ which is given to this period. Iron is a much tougher and more durable metal than bronze but it also requires more skill to make objects from it. People continued to use bronze during this period.
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monument SITE * Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type wherever possible. back
monument SETTLEMENT * A small concentration of dwellings. back
monument INHUMATION * An interment of unburnt, articulated human remains. Use specific type where known. back
monument STONE * Use only where stone is natural or where there is no indication of function. back
monument FEATURE * Areas of indeterminate function. back
monument PIT * A hole or cavity in the ground, either natural or the result of excavation. Use more specific type where known. back
monument WELL * A shaft or pit dug in the ground over a supply of spring-water. back
monument ENCLOSURE * An area of land enclosed by a boundary ditch, bank, wall, palisade or other similar barrier. Use specific type where known. back
monument DITCH * A long and narrow hollow or trench dug in the ground, often used to carry water though it may be dry for much of the year. back
monument BURIAL * An interment of human or animal remains. Use specific type where known. If component use with wider site type. Use FUNERARY SITE for optimum retrieval in searches. back
monument WALL * An enclosing structure composed of bricks, stones or similar materials, laid in courses. Use specific type where known. back
monument EARTHWORK * A bank or mound of earth used as a rampart or fortification. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record