| Summary : Extensive and well-preserved tracts of lynchets and cultivation terraces on the W, N and E slopes of Ring Chesters hill. The largest stand up to 1.8m high, but most are much slighter. Aerial photographs and field survey demonstrate the regularity in their spacing and layout. The agricultural remains are almost certainly prehistoric in origin, since they predate presumed Romano-British settlements (such as NT 82 NE 23), but no conclusive link with the Iron Age hillfort on the summit (NT 82 NE 24) can be recognised. In places, the prehistoric earthworks are overlain by medieval ridge and furrow on the same alignment. Where the ridges become lynchets, it is often difficult to disentangle the two phases with confidence; therefore, this record covers both phases. |
More information : (NT 867 289 FCE) Prehistoric and later field system.
Between early October and late November 2001, English Heritage carried out a detailed field investigation of Ring Chesters Iron Age hillfort (NT 82 NE 24), together with an area of 24.5ha (60 acres) around it, following a request from the Northumberland National Park (Event record 1300646).
Extensive and well-preserved tracts of lynchets and cultivation terraces survive on the W, N and E slopes of Ring Chesters hill. The largest stand up to 1.8m high, but most are much slighter. Aerial photographs and field survey reveal the regularity in their spacing and layout. The agricultural remains are almost certainly prehistoric in origin, since they predate presumed Romano-British settlements (such as NT 82 NE 23), but no conclusive link with the Iron Age hillfort on the summit (NT 82 NE 24) can be recognised. In places, the prehistoric earthworks are overlain by medieval ridge and furrow on the same alignment. Where the ridges become lynchets, it is often difficult to disentangle the two phases with confidence; therefore, this record covers both phases.
For further information, see the Level 3 report on the field investigation, which includes a full textual description and interpretation of the remains, copies of plans surveyed at various scales, selected photographs and interpretative drawings. The remainder of the archive material is also available through the NMR. (1)
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