More information : SD 645758: An enclosure, possibly Medieval, was recorded from the air at Hipping Hall in July 1978. Nothing visible on OS air photographs.
(1-2)
An Iron Age/Roman settlement site is visible as earthworks on air photographs and lidar, at SD 6480 7564. The feature consists of a curvilinear enclosure, with a possible annexe on the eastern side. The embanked enclosure measures approximately 94m in diameter. Within the curvilinear enclosure, medieval ridge and furrow (UID 1574875) and medieval/post medieval extraction have levelled any internal features with the exception of one boundary bank that splits the enclosure in half. Within the annexe numerous earthworks survive but are irregular in form and some may represent medieval re-use of the site. A post medieval barn was constructed adjacent to the enclosure and the demolition of this feature has produced further earthworks, not part of the prehistoric remains. The feature is extant on the latest 2009 lidar.
(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 a large sub-circular embanked enclosure, measuring approximately 100m in external diameter and between about 85m and 95m in internal diameter, with what appears to be a later settlement (c90m x c40m in plan) appended to the exterior of the north-east portion of the circular enclosure bank. The enclosure is centred approximately 500m ESE of Hipping Hall, a short distance north-west of the Wire Gill Beck; it is situated at approximately 120m OD on land currently used for grazing pasture.
The main circular settlement is demarcated by a broad earthen bank measuring 5-6m wide at its north side; the eastern and southern stretches of the bank are of similar scale but only survive intermittently due to later disturbance. The natural ground height drops away steeply by 2m or more from the exterior of the southern and eastern parts of the enclosing bank. There is no sign of an external or internal enclosure ditch, thus implying that the banks have been created by pushing material out from the interior to create an embanked rim. The inside of the enclosed area has a distinctly stepped profile, occupying three level terraces of different heights, and it is bisected by a stony earthen cross bank, aligned east-west, which seems to ride over the enclosure bank at both sides, and is probably a ruined field wall. South of this boundary the interior drops significantly by about 1.3m, and towards the south-east side of the southern half of the interior the ground steps down again, variously by 1.2-0.5m. However, this second stepping could, at least in part, be the result of later disturbance: it has several slight scoops set against it or cut into it giving a very irregular edge, and a 5m-wide band of stony dumps on top of the scarp look like remnants of clearance and extraction. Both north and south-west of the cross boundary the interior has been subject to medieval ridge and furrow ploughing (uid 1574875) which has removed any internal features. The ploughing, however, does respect the outer enclosing bank and the cross bank, apparently treating both as boundaries and leaving them largely intact.
Appended to the north-east exterior of the circular enclosure, is a partially enclosed settlement annexe containing irregular embanked platforms and cells. Most of the annexe features are contained within the same modern field as the main circular enclosure, with the exception of the northern arm of external bank which sits within the field to the north and is the most prominent element of the annexe, measuring 8-10m wide and standing to c0.75m high on inside, but only c0.2m high on outside. The earthworks of this annexe do not appear to have been disturbed by ploughing in the same way that the main earlier enclosure has.
The position of the small (demolished) barn mentioned by authority 3 is labelled as ‘Low Barn’ on all Ordnance Survey maps published from 1894 through until at least 1983 (4a, 4b) and is clearly visible as an area of disturbance on the ground.
The site appears to be similar in form and scale to two other nearby earthwork enclosure sites of likely early prehistoric date: the well-preserved example on Castle Hill (uid 43942) and another west of Leck Hall (uid 44013); none have yet been excavated or dated, however. Its size and appearance also has some parallels with Yarlsber Camp near Ingleton (uid 44963).
No survey undertaken. (4)
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