More information : Area SK 9669 5448. Earthworks. (1)
Almost certainly mediaeval, bank-and-ditch earthwork. (2)
Scatter of 13th and 14th century pottery ploughed up in 1960 at area SK 9666 5443. (3)
These earthworks have been ploughed out. The published detail
however suggests medieval fields. The pottery is retained at
Welbourn Infants School. (4)
Published survey (25") revised. (5)
The earthwork remains at SK 9669 5448 (GCE) were described in the
nineteenth century by the Ordnance Survey (1st edition 1887, 25
inches to 1 mile, Lincolnshire XCVI.2) as a 'Roman Encampment'. They
lie on the gently falling ground west of St Chad's church over
Jurassic Lias beds (British Geological Survey 1979, Geological Map of
the UK) in OS land parcel 6852. This early edition Ordnance Survey
map depicts the earthworks as a sub-rectangular enclosure 220m x
98m. Of this feature only the northern side, SK 96643 54587 to SK
96745 54440, survives as a low spread bank 7m in width lying 23m to
the north and parallel with the southern boundary of the field
adjacent to the allotment gardens. The remainder of the supposed
enclosure has been lost beneath housing along Hall Orchard Lane.
Lying parallel with the northern hedged boundary of the field is a
second low bank up to 6m in width. A ditch, possibly a quarry ditch
for the railway enbankment, formerly existed along the western edge
of the field. This was partly filled when the disused railway
embankment was reduced in height and the material pushed into the
ditch but remains visible as a slight hollow. In the centre of the
field are the degraded remains of ridge-and-furrow cultivation lying
on a similar alignment to the southern and northern boundaries of the
field. Some redefinition of a number of the furrows is probably
indicative of later land drainage. When the field was ploughed in
the 1960s a scatter of medieval pottery was recovered (auth.4): the
field has been under pasture for at least the last twenty years.
The earthwork remains within the field represent the remains of
ridge-and-furrow cultivation. The supposed northern side of the
'Roman Encampment' perhaps marks the line of a former field division.
(6)
The earthwork remains referred to by the previous authorities have
been ploughed. In the vicinity of the ploughed ridge and furrow
the disperse remains of a Medieval field system, consisting of
eight blocks of ridge and furrow, were seen as earthworks and
mapped from good quality air photographs. Three main groups are
centred at SK 9701 5468, SK 9610 5447, SK 9688 5370. This field
system probably once completely surrounded the Medieval settlement
at Welbourne (SK 95 SE 20). (Morph No. LI.866.1.1)
This description is based on data from the RCHME MORPH2 database.
(7) |