More information : SD 648769. A `native' settlement at Leck Hall was recorded from the air in July 1978. Nothing visible on O.S. air photographs. (1-2)
An Iron Age/Roman settlement and associated field system are visible as earthworks on air photographs and lidar, at SD 6492 7676. The settlement consists of a banked and ditched curvilinear enclosure, with a potential entrance to the north-west. The enclosure measures approximately 91m x 81m in diameter. A number of earthworks are visible within the enclosure, but are indistinct in form.A field system abuts the enclosure to the north-west, and is formed by a series of irregular embanked field boundaries.
(3)
The site 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 briefly perambulated, but not surveyed, in October 2013.
The site comprises the remains of a large oval multivallate enclosure, located at between 145m and 155m OD on the south-west-facing hillside immediately south-west of Terrace Wood, within the parkland setting of Leck Hall. A small fenced-off stand of mature deciduous trees within a landscape of parkland pasture occupies the south-west half of the interior.
The enclosure measures approximately 115m NW-SE by 105m NE-SW at its maximum dimensions, and seeming to consist of a closely concentric pair of outer bank circuits, a possible inner bank circuit and a number of small platforms or terraced cells in the interior.
The exterior of the enclosure is less conclusive on the ground than mapped from lidar by authority 3. The best-preserved stretch of the outer bank circuits of the enclosure is around the north and west sides, appearing to comprise a low spread outermost bank, c0.2-0.3m high, with a more substantial bank circuit, c0.5-0.6m high, set a few metres inside the previous, and a slight ditch running between the two banks. A break in the banks and a causeway across the slight ditch at the north-west side could represent an original entrance, but it may simply be a later access feature relating to a terraced track that cuts up the hill towards this position from the north. Only around this north and west segment are the enclosing banks distinct from later disturbance. For example, the southern stretch of the outermost circuit is more of a marked scarp with no visible ditch at this point. It is curious that the bank and ditch are not traceable around the north-east side, where the natural terrace adjacent doesn’t suggest that a ditch has been filled-in and the trees have not encroached to disturb the ground.
The interior (now mostly under trees) appears like a large platform with a marked stony scarp on the southern edge with a steep drop on the front/outer edge and some slight bankiness within. This could represent a possible inner (third) circuit; however, this line also marks the south edge of the woodland area and could purely represent the remains of a former embanked wall around the plantation. There is also a narrow stony bank towards the north of the interior, although this could relate to localised instances of ridge and furrow pasture improvement (uid 1574879), mapped by authority 3 to immediate north, east and south of the monument, and across part of the north and east of the interior, although not very obvious on the ground. Most interior features have been disturbed by the later tree stand, but a small number of indistinct platforms or terraced cells are visible in the grass-covered northern portion of the interior. There is some evidence of stone-robbing, clearance and improvement of land across the interior and the north-eastern edge of the site; it is plausible that the stone ha-ha around the south-west edge of Terrace Wood might have been constructed using stone robbed from the settlement site.
There is evidence that a modern cable trench has recently been put in, cutting directly through several element of the earthworks of the monument. The backfilled course of the trench is visible from Leck Hall to SD 65023 76758, then to SD 64889 76806 and dog-legging to SD 64747 76785 and beyond towards Leck village.
The area in which the enclosure sits is labelled as ‘Over Leck’ on the 1st edition Ordnance Survey 6-inch map of 1847 (4a) and shows no indication of the localised plantation; however, an stand of trees is clearly depicted here on the 25-inch Ordnance Survey map of 1893 (4b) and on all subsequent editions.
The site appears to be similar in scale and form to nearby enclosed settlement sites of likely early prehistoric date at Castle Hill (uid 43942) and ESE of Hipping Hall (uid 44014). These also have parallels with Yarlsber Camp near Ingleton (uid 44963). However, as well as being partially covered by mature trees and disturbed by later activity, the site is dissected by a number of post-and-wire stock fences making it difficult to comprehend the overall form of the site, or any sequencing of the component features. Interpretation of the settlement remains would benefit from detailed level 3 earthwork survey.
Beyond the enclosure to the NNW are a series of perpendicular scarps, mapped by authority 3, which may relate to an associated field system.
No survey undertaken. (4)
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