Slate Hill Settlement
Shown within Northumberland | |
Location | near Bolam |
---|---|
Coordinates | 55°8′1.68″N 1°52′47.82″W / 55.1338000°N 1.8799500°WCoordinates: 55°8′1.68″N 1°52′47.82″W / 55.1338000°N 1.8799500°W |
OS grid reference | NZ 077 822 |
Type | Defended settlement |
History | |
Periods | Iron Age |
Designated | 20 May 1963 |
Reference no. | 1011834 |
Slate Hill Settlement is an archaeological site in Northumberland, England, near the village of Bolam and about 7 miles (11 km) west of Morpeth. The site, a defended settlement dating from the Iron Age, is a scheduled monument.[1]
Description[]
On Slate Hill there are four concentric ramparts, terraced on the sloping hillside, in a semicircle forming on the north and west sides of an enclosure; quarrying has affected the east side where one rampart remains. The ramparts, of stone and earth, are about 5 metres (16 ft) wide and 1.4 metres (4 ft 7 in) high. On the south side a steep slope provides defence. The enclosure within the defences is about 98 metres (322 ft) west to east and 62 metres (203 ft) north to south. A break in the west side is thought to be an original entrance.[1]
The site is regarded as an example of a type of defended settlement of the 7th to 5th centuries BC in the northern uplands of what is now England, sometimes located on hilltops. Within the enclosure there would be a number of stone or timber roundhouses for the inhabitants, probably a single family group, and perhaps space to keep livestock in winter.[1]
Archaeological sites nearby[]
- Huckhoe Settlement, an Iron Age and Romano-British settlement
- The Poind and his Man, a Bronze Age burial mound
- Shaftoe Crags Settlement, a Romano-British defended settlement
References[]
- ^ a b c Historic England. "Defended settlement on Slate Hill, 300m north west of Bolam Lake (1011834)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 December 2021.
- Scheduled monuments in Northumberland
- Archaeological sites in Northumberland
- Belsay