| Summary : Excavations have revealed a settlement site, occupied from the late Iron Age to the Early Anglo-Saxon period, building remains dating to the late 4th century AD building remains, possibly represent a villa, with finds including 1st-4th century AD coins and pottery. Extensive cropmarks are visible on air photographs, their form suggestive of a large field system of Iron Age/Roman date. |
More information : (TA 001577) An IA/RB and AS occupation site at Elmswell excavated by A L Congreve from 1935-37 revealed rectangular stone floors with post holes, pits, hearths and " wattle and daub". RB Pottery ranged from 'rustic' (1st C AD) to Crambeck (4th C) with some AS sherds, indicating a long and continuous occupation of the site. Other finds included objects of bone, glass, jet, bronze and iron, spindle-whorls, querns, hones, unstratified pottery, and slag. Coinage included two IA coins, one of the Iceni (C 25 AD) and the other possibly Cunobelin, with Ro coins up to Theodosian (390-395). "Polished stone axes etc". Found by P Corder in 1938. Finds in Hull Museum. (1)
A Roman zoomorphic fibula in the form of a tortoise found in 1939 (at 'B' - TA 00105773) will probably soon be in the Yorkshire Museum (1953). An inhumation burial found by C and E Grantham in 1952 on the edge of a ditch overlying RB sherds (at 'C' - SE 99935766) is probably Ro, if not later. "Ruined walls and RB sherds were found in 1952" (at 'D' - TA 00095762) according to the Granthams who have the pottery. - Not seen by Brewster. (2)
The Incenian coin mentioned (in Authy 1) is of Evans type 16: 9 (Mack: Coinage of Ancient Britain 1953, type 409, uninscribed AR of the Iceni) Now in BM. (3)
Coin of Coritani found 1937 of Evans type F14 Mack 409, uninscribed AR. In Mortimer Museum, Hull. (4)
(SE 998576) Iron Age, Romano-British & Anglo-Saxon settlement (Site of) (NAT) (5)
The occupation area has been under cultivation for many years and nothing was seen on the ground. Apart from confirming their own participation, the Granthams, who have monitored the site having nothing new to report. (6)
TA 001576. Romano-British and early Anglo-Saxon settlement. A length of mortared wall of the second half of the 4th century was part of the most sophisticated structure excavated by Corder. In 1938 he found a possible corn-drying oven and trial-trenched some two acres in an attempt to determine the limits of settlement and discover if the site represented a villa or its like. (7)
Excavations in 1951 at TA 00175786 by C and E Grantham revealed 2nd to 4th century ditches and floors. Finds retained by them include coins, jet bangles, a fibula, objects of iron and bone, and a large amount of pottery including some samian. (8)
Fragment of inscribed grey ware, and pieces of Crambeck type 5a inscribed bowl found on chalk and cobble pavement on Bramble Hill in 1955. (9)
Romano-British fibula. (10)
Excavation reports. (11-12)
Additional reference. (13)
An Iron Age/Roman field system is visible as cropmarks on air photographs, at TA 0004 5760. The system consists of double ditched trackways, abutting rectilinear enclosures, field boundaries and pits. A major trackway runs towards the field system along a northwest-southeast alignment visible for a distance of 879m. The extensive cropmarks were mapped and recorded as part of the Chalk lowland and the Hull Valley NMP. Elements of the system were originally recorded from air photographs as part of the Yorkshire Wolds project. (14-15) |