Information for record number MWA9089:
Medieval Agricultural Features, Wishaw Hall Farm, Wishaw

Summary A Medieval lynchet and other features associated with agricultural use of this area in the Medieval period, were uncovered near Grove Lane, Wishaw during site excavations connected with the Birmingham Northern Relief Road project.
What Is It?  
Type: Lynchet, Pond, Pit
Period: Medieval (1066 AD - 1539 AD)
Where Is It?  
Parish: Wishaw
District: North Warwickshire, Warwickshire
Grid Reference: SP 17 95
(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: )
Sites & Monuments Record
Description

  
Source Number  

1 A lynchet was uncovered in the east of the site with colluvium banked up against it and ridge and furrow further up slope. The remains are believed to be Medieval in date.
2 A lynchet lay on, and had exaggerated a slight natural break in, the hillslope. This feature is most likely to have developed from a Medieval land boundary, and may originally have defined the southern limits of the strip fields that formerly lay immediately to the north-west. Other features, such as an enclosure, 5 small pits and a pond/watering hole indicate and wholly agricultural land use on the north side of the stream, distinctly different to that on the south side (site 20).
 
Sources
Source No: 2
Source Type: Bibliographic reference
Title: The Archaeology of the M6 Toll 2000-2003
Author/originator: A Powell, B Powell, P Booth, A P Fitzpatrick and A D Crockett
Date: 2008
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Source No: 1
Source Type: Unpublished document
Title: Birmingham Northern Relief Road
Author/originator: Oxford-Wessex Archaeology Joint Venture
Date: 2001
Page Number:
Volume/Sheet:
   
Images:  
There are no images associated with this record.  
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Glossary

 
Word or Phrase
Description  
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 Medieval 1066 AD to 1539 AD (the 11th century AD to the 16th century AD)

The medieval period comes after the Saxon period and before the post medieval period.

The Medieval period begins in 1066 AD.
This was the year that the Normans, led by William the Conqueror (1066 – 1087), invaded England and defeated Harold Godwinson at the Battle of Hastings in East Sussex.
The Medieval period includes the first half of the Tudor period (1485 – 1603 AD), when the Tudor family reigned in England and eventually in Scotland too.

The end of the Medieval period is marked by Henry VIII’s (1509 – 1547) order for the Dissolution of the Monasteries in the years running up to 1539 AD. The whole of this period is sometimes called the Middle Ages.
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monument SITE * Unclassifiable site with minimal information. Specify site type wherever possible. back
monument RIDGE AND FURROW * A series of long, raised ridges separated by ditches used to prepare the ground for arable cultivation. This was a technique, characteristic of the medieval period. back
monument BOUNDARY * The limit to an area as defined on a map or by a marker of some form, eg. BOUNDARY WALL. Use specific type where known. back
monument FEATURE * Areas of indeterminate function. back
monument POND * A body of still water often artificially formed for a specific purpose. Use specifc type where known. back
monument ROAD * A way between different places, used by horses, travellers on foot and vehicles. 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 ENCLOSURE * An area of land enclosed by a boundary ditch, bank, wall, palisade or other similar barrier. Use specific type where known. back
monument STRIP FIELD * An area of agriculturally used land, which is divided into small, elongated, rectangular fields running parallel to each other. back
monument STREAM * A natural flow or current of water issuing from a source. back
monument LYNCHET * A bank formed at the end of a field by soil which, loosened by the plough, gradually moves down slope through a combination of gravity and erosion. back

* Copyright of English Heritage (1999)

English Heritage National Monuments Record