More information : (At SD 49158704 - siting from plan) are the remains of enclosures constructed of fragments of rock thrown in between a double row of large slabs of local limestone with an occasional glacial boulder.
(See plan):
A: An oval enclosure, 170' c 90', sinking towards the centre, with a wall 4' to 5' thick.
F: Traces of another enclosure, about 120' x 80'.
D: A mound standing clear of the enclosure; excavated, nothing found.
E: A semi-circular building with diam. about 10' and wall of carefully set stone.
C: Half a rectangular building of similar structure and design.
B: A low mound, over which the wall rises; excavated; an inhumation found with a penannular brooch and a small bronze ring, 'the body was altogether within the corner of the wall, but I am not able to say positively that the mound and interment could not have been of earlier date than the wall'; also found in the mound, but outside the wall, was a blue (melon) glass bead; all the objects datable to 2nd/3rd century AD. (illustrated). There was some reason for thinking that there may have been an entrance to the main enclosure on the east side.
The enclosures are considered to be Romano-British, both from their form and from the burial, but they could be more recent sheep-folds (large sheep-folds being customary in the area), or an RB work reused as a sheep-fold. The farmer remembers the walls much higher, but his father had carted away many hundreds of loads for walling etc. (1)
The stone walling has all gone except for a few loose piles scattered on the ramparts, and the two excavated mounds have disappeared. There is a possible entrance on the north side of the main enclosure with suggestions of inturning. Eleven yards SW of this and against the inner scarp of the rampart is a circular sinking suggesting a hut. In the centre of the enclosure is a slight irregular sinking, while on the east, against the former rampart, there is a further sinking, which however may be due to excavation (and evidently marking 'E' or 'C' of previous entry). About 23 yards SW of the smaller enclosure is a turf-covered circular mound about 6 yards diameter and 1 1/2' high, and about 20 yards west of this are a number of small irregular mounds which would appear artificial. (See plan). (2)
The brooch is Fowler type A (PPS 26) common in Northern England at Roman forts and native sites 1st-4th century AD. (3)
Some of the earthworks described by the previous authorities can be seen on lidar taken in 2009. This shows what appears to be an oval enclosure with an outer enclosure to the south and a possible entrance on its northern side. A depression, perhaps over the wall on the eastern side may be the remains of a pond. There is a similarity between this and two enclosures within Levens Park (see monuments 1575243 and 1575244). (4)
The earthwork was targeted for follow-on ground investigation in Stage 2 of English Heritage's NAIS Upland Pilot Project (covering parts of the Southern Lakes, Western Dales & Arnside) and was visited on February 2014. The earthworks are centred at NGR SD 49186 87034; they seem to describe a main oval settlement enclosure to the north with a smaller sub-rectangular adjoining ensure at its south end. The north enclosure is delimited by a stony bank about 3m wide and mostly 0.3m high, rising to 0.5-0.6m on the west side enhanced by a natural raised north-south bench beneath, with a clear entrance break at the north end. Inside the north-west and south-west corners are piles of clearance stones that appear to sit in circular hollows which might represent interior cells or further hut platforms sitting within a shelf or terrace around the inside of the bank (similar to those seen at the Borwens settlement, see UID 44109). To the west of the entrance, a couple of very lichen covered stones positioned about 1.5m apart at either top of the bank scarp suggest remnants of former faced wall around the top rather than a rubble bank. This wall line has been much robbed. An outlying hut circle, located about 3-4m north-east of the north-east edge of the enclosure was mapped by Authority 4 as a C-shaped feature open to the east. On the ground this appears to be more of a complete circle, 9-10m in diameter and up to 0.25m high, with narrow opening on the east side; however, the east side has also been heavily worn by later farm track. A further possible hut appears to overlie the north-east section of the enclosure, seen as a depression in a widened segment of the bank, and may therefore be later; it is highly unlikely that this could have functioned as a pond as suggested above. The outer enclosure at the south end has no internal features and may have been used for animals; however, it oddly has no obvious break in the bank for access either from the open ground outside or from the settlement to its north. (5)
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