If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Cropmarks of possible prehistoric settlement, Ruskington and Leasingham.

Full description

A large area of cropmarks, visible on aerial photographs, and interpreted as the remains of possible prehistoric settlement by the National Mapping Programme. {1}

Faint traces of enclosures are visible on earlier aerial photographs. {2}{3}

The part of this site nearest to Moor Farm was initially interpreted as Roman by the Ordnance Survey. Later visits to the site by OS field inspectors found no evidence of Roman occupation on the ground, however, and the local farmer claimed that no evidence had ever been found. {4}

A linear anomaly, thought to represent a former boundary ditch of prehistoric or Roman date, was recorded in August 2014, during a magnetic gradiometer survey on land at Deepdale Farm, Moor Lane, Leasingham. The anomaly is aligned on a north-east to south-west axis, and appears to extend the line of one of the cropmark features previously identified by the National Mapping Programme. A number of isolated positive magnetic anomalies were also recorded in this area, and, whilst inconclusive, these anomalies could possibly represent small, pit-like features, associated with the probable settlement activity. {5}{6}

<1> Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England, 1992-1996, National Mapping Programme, TF 04 SE; 0749; 0750; LI.851.4.1-7 (Map). SLI3613.

<2> Ruskington SMR File, TF 04 SE; W, AF, X (Index). SLI3238.

<3> 1945-84, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY COLLECTION, CJV6,10; ABK27, 29 (Aerial Photograph). SLI173.

<4> Ordnance Survey, Ruskington Ordnance Survey Cards, TF 04 NE; 32 (Index). SLI2701.

<5> Archaeological Project Services, 2014, Land at Deepdale Farm, Moor Lane, Leasingham, APS site code: LEDF14 (Report). SLI14735.

<6> Archaeological Project Services, 2014, Land at Deepdale Farm, Moor Lane, Leasingham, LCNCC 2014.152 (Archive). SLI14736.

Monument Types

• BOUNDARY DITCH (Early Neolithic to Roman - 4000 BC? to 409 AD?)
• ENCLOSURE (Early Neolithic to Roman - 4000 BC? to 409 AD?)
• FIELD SYSTEM (Early Neolithic to Roman - 4000 BC? to 409 AD?)
• HUT CIRCLE (Early Neolithic to Roman - 4000 BC? to 409 AD?)
• PIT (Early Neolithic to Roman - 4000 BC? to 409 AD?)
• SETTLEMENT (Early Neolithic to Roman - 4000 BC? to 409 AD?)
• TRACKWAY (Early Neolithic to Roman - 4000 BC? to 409 AD?)

Associated Events

• Aerial photographic survey of the Roman road and surrounding land, Leasingham and Ruskington
• Aerial photographic survey of the Roman road, Leasingham and Ruskington
• Ordnance Survey field inspection west of Moor Farm, Ruskington
• Land at Deepdale Farm, Moor Lane, Leasingham

Protected Status

• SHINE

Sources and further reading

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.