A folly on Kit Hill (original) (raw)
Related papers
Cornish Archaeology, 2005
Between 1998 and 2000 three seasons of archaeological recording were carried out by Cornwall Archaeological Unit within Imerys’ Stannon China Clay Works. The first two seasons of fieldwork focused on excavation of an Early Bronze Age cairn group and Middle Bronze Age and Middle Iron Age settlement activity. The third season was evaluative, designed to confirm the existence of a number of cairns and a field system and to sample palaeoenvironmental sites on the Northern Downs. The cairn group comprised three ring cairns and two ‘tailed’ cairns. One ring cairn, Site 9 was reused as a ceremonial monument in the Middle Bronze Age and again in the Iron Age as a house site. An artefactual assemblage including Bronze and Iron Age pottery and stonework was recovered. Three beads, one of faience, one of amber and another of glass, were also found. Twelve radiocarbon determinations spanning the Early to Middle Bronze Age and two Iron Age determinations were obtained from three of the excavated cairns. Two pollen columns on the Northern Downs were also dated, one of which provided environmental information from the Mesolithic to the early medieval period. The dating revealed that significant impact on the vegetation of the Down commenced during the Neolithic, with more extensive clearance during the Bronze Age. Widespread open grassland was in evidence by the Middle Bronze Age. The results from analyses of charred environmental material produced only limited evidence for cereal cultivation and the palynological evidence suggests that the economy in the Middle Bronze Age was based on pastoralism. It is suggested that the cairns formed a coherent group of monuments which were part of a wider landscape cosmology, which involved the grouping of particular monument types and the referencing of prominent rocks and tors.
Telling Tales from the Roundhouse: Researching Bronze Age buildings in Cornwall
Recent Archaeological Work in South-Western Britain. Papers in Honour of Henrietta Quinnell ed by S Pearce, 2011
Roundhouses lie at the heart of prehistoric settlements and are a principal dataset providing insights into the daily lives of Bronze Age communities. Understanding how they were built and what they were used for are key in revealing significance and importance of settlement and place during the second millennium BC. This paper reviews advances in the investigations of Bronze Age buildings in Cornwall over the past 25 years. Detailed studies of individual buildings have revealed tremendous variety particularly across the lowland scene. This growing area of research sheds light on differences in architectural styles alongside poential varied uses and life histories of these buildings. The dominant homogeneous picture of, and the generalised traditional study of the British Bronze Age roundhouse is changing.
The Penrith Henges: A Survey by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England
Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 58, 1992
Detailed topographical surveys and geophysical examinations of the Penrith 'henges' were undertaken in order to assess the present state of the monuments for management purposes. At May burgh geophysical prospection was designed to assess the validity of the early reports of the presence of two concentric settings of stones. Some possible parallels in Ireland are noted. The nearby site of King Arthur's Round Table was also sampled by geophysical techniques, but was found to be too disturbed for the recovery of any further information as to its original form. The 'cremation trench' discovered in preWar excavations at this site was relocated. The position of the enigmatic Little Round Table was re-established by both topographical and geophysical methods, and its north entrance firmly located. The classification ofMayburgh and of the Little Round Table is considered. The apparent disunity of these three distinctly different monuments within one complex is emphasised-all are traditionally classified as 'henge-r elated', yet the structure and orientation of each site is markedly different. Contemporary topographical considerations are now difficult to reconstruct.
Looking for Early Medieval buildings in Cornwall: Recent work at Tintagel Castle, North Cornwall
The Distinctiveness of Cornish Buildings ed by Paul Holden ISBN 978-1-915774-05-7, 2023
Paper discusses looking for structural evidence of the vernacular building traditions in late Antique and Early Medieval Cornwall. Summary results of recent research excavations at Tintagel Castle, North Cornwall, UK, are presented where there is high survival of the form and fabric of early stone buildings due to the historical neglect of this settled coastal promontory from the 17th century. An overview of these results is given alongside other evidence for early buildings in south western Britain. Paper was presented at 50th Anniversary conference of Cornish Buildings Group in St Austell March 2019.
2009
This volume presents the results of archaeological investigations undertaken at four sites in Kent. The two ‘linear’ schemes: the West Malling and Leybourne Bypass and Weatherlees–Margate–Broadstairs Wastewater Pipeline, provided transects across the landscape revealing settlement and cemetery evidence of Neolithic, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon date. Two Bronze Age metalwork hoards were also recovered and a variety of World War II features. Medieval settlement remains included sunken-featured buildings at West Malling, Fulston Manor, and Star Lane, Manston, that appear to belong to a type of building specific to Kent that had combined uses as bakeries, brewhouses, and/or kitchens. A short study of these, their distribution, form and possible functions, is included. In addition to evidence for Bronze Age occupation, Manston Road, Ramsgate produced Anglo-Saxon settlement evidence with six sunken-featured buildings and a sizeable assemblage of domestic items. Specialist reports for the Margate Pipeline excavations mentioned in this volume are available online.
The Linear Earthworks of Cornwall: What if They Were Early Medieval?
Offa's Dyke Journal Volume 5, 2023
This article examines various linear earthworks in Cornwall that may date to the early medieval period. The dating evidence for the earthworks is discussed. While incontrovertible evidence for when they were built is lacking, the article asks how they might fit into the early medieval period if that is when most or all of them were built. The article postulates that they may have provided refuges against raiding, probably from the kingdom of Wessex in the eighth and ninth century, so allowing the Cornish to preserve their distinctive identity and language until the modern era (Padel 2017).
Beyond the Grave. New Perspectives on Barrows , 2007
By examining the roles barrow ditches may play in the performances of rites and ceremonies enacted on Bronze Age barrows, we may enhance our understanding of the complex architecture of these sites and their potential as mechanisms for the construction of community histories and the making of memories. This paper was originally presented at TAG in 2003. It looks at three case studies of barrows excavated in Cornwall in the past 30 years - Watch Hill, Little Gaverigan Barrow and Trelowthas Barrow. At all three sites, ditches play a key role in event-making and show that ditches are more than just physical markers and they have the capacity to host and archive a community's precious ancestry as a major resource.