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Summary

ROMAN SETTLEMENT BY FEN ROAD, SOUTH OF POPLAR FARM

Full description

PRN 32907
In the area of TF15813132 there is a probable Romano-British settlement. A cluster of small, ditched enclosures and ditched causeways under plough, visible on aerial photographs of 1946. {1}{2}{3}
The area is almost completely under crop but slight surface disturbances are visible, generally ditches and some ridge and furrow ploughing. No finds of any consequence were made, and the farmer knows only of a George III penny, a trade token and 'old drain tiles'.{1}
The grass field shows very well-marked hut platforms and droveways. Ploughed fields on the south-west appear to be ploughed out earthworks. There is a large surface scatter of Roman pottery including samian, colour coated, greywares and mortaria.{4}{5}
Aerial photographs show a possible settlement site. North of the road greywares were found; to the south was a marked system of ditched enclosures.{4}
Pottery found here including greyware, calcite gritted, whiteware, colour coated, medieval and post medieval including Nottingham Pale and a stoneware rim.{6}
At TF158314 there are ditches and earthworks on J. Pickering's aerial photographs.{6}{7}
The monument includes the site of a small Roman settlement, comprising of two or three farmsteads, with associated yards and paddocks, laid out to either side of a drove. The eastern half of the site survives under pasture, in which the platforms and ditches which define buildings, yards and other enclosures are visible as earthworks. In the western half of the site, where the earthworks have been levelled by arable cultivation, the pattern of the underlying ditches is traceable in soil marks which have been recorded by means of air photography. There is a full description in the scheduling document (Scheduled monument no.20814). {8}
During fieldwalking at TF 1579 3146 and TF 1575 3144, a surface scatter of Romano-British pottery (including samian and mortaria fragments) along with sparse bone, quern fragments and fired clay fragments was recorded. A soilmark was also noted. {10}

<1> OS CARD INDEX, TF 13 SE:9,1965, JNH (Index). SLI2685.

<2> HALLAM, S.J., 1970, ‘Settlement around the Wash’ in The Fenland in Roman Times, GAZ 1531 P 266-67 (Article in Monograph). SLI63.

<3> HALLAM, S.J., 1970, The maps for ‘Settlement around the Wash’ in The Fenland in Roman Times, SHEET A MAP 1C (Map). SLI3705.

<4> SMR FILE, TF 13 SE:N, R (Index). SLI3221.

<5> City and County Museum Collection, LCNCC 115.77 (Artefact). SLI8.

<6> Parish card index of the former South Lincolnshire Archaeology Unit, -,1977, - (Index). SLI2173.

<7> PICKERING, J., 1962-86, RCHME, A23;A26,1977, (Aerial Photograph). SLI154.

<8> ENGLISH HERITAGE, 1995, SCHEDULING DOCUMENT 20814, MPP 22 (Scheduling Record). SLI4339.

<9> 1945-84, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY COLLECTION, AKN50,1965, (Aerial Photograph). SLI173.

<10> Hayes, P. P. and Lane, T. W., 1992, The Fenland Project No.5: Lincolnshire Survey, the South-West Fens, Gaz: POI 22, 23 (Bibliographic Reference). SLI1079.

Monument Types

• ARTEFACT SCATTER (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• ENCLOSURE (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• FARMSTEAD (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• SETTLEMENT (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Associated Finds

• QUERN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)
• SHERD (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Associated Events

• Fenland Survey Field Walking

Protected Status

• Scheduled Monument

Sources and further reading

Related records

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