Romano-British settlement on Stoke

Moor
List Entry Summary
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and
Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the
Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a
copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media
and Sport.

Name: Romano-British settlement on Stoke Moor

List entry Number: 1011125

Location

The monument may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County: Somerset

District: Mendip

District Type: District Authority

Parish: Rodney Stoke

County: Somerset

District: Sedgemoor

District Type: District Authority

Parish: Cheddar
National Park: Not applicable to this List entry.

Grade: Not applicable to this List entry.

Date first scheduled: 07-Oct-1977

Date of most recent amendment: 24-Mar-1994

Legacy System Information

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System: RSM

UID: 22809

Asset Groupings
This list entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings
are not part of the o icial record but are added later for information.

List entry Description

Summary of Monument
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Reasons for Designation

Roman settlements are known to have existed in the Somerset Levels from
the first century AD and some continued in use until the fourth century AD.
Few sites have been excavated and many have only been identified through
the recovery of Roman material such as pottery or coins found during
irrigation work. The recorded settlements are mainly confined to the valleys
of the Rivers Brue and Axe although some are sited along the coastline. In the
upper Axe valley many of the Romano-British settlements appear to be
associated with flood defences. These settlements are also linked by an
irrigation system suggesting that the sites formed part of a wider network,
possibly planned as such to reduce the risk of flooding over a wide area. In
some cases the presence of large-scale drainage works together with finds of
quern-stones suggest that the land may have been drained to allow
agricultural activity. Elsewhere, where there is no evidence for similar
drainage schemes, settlements are likely to have been concerned largely with
the exploitation of marine resources. Those settlements investigated by
partial excavation or recorded through survey or aerial photography,
generally cover an area of c.15 ha, although some are much larger. The
Romano-British settlement at Stoke Moor is a good example of this type of
settlement, surviving in the form of low earthworks and buried remains
covering an area of 18.5 ha. Partial excavation of the site in 1925 has
demonstrated the survival of archaeological remains relating to the
monument and the landscape in which it was constructed.

History
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

Details

The monument includes a Romano-British settlement on Stoke Moor,

situated on low-lying ground in the Axe Valley in the area of the Somerset
Levels. A series of low earthworks as well as features visible only on aerial
photographs represent the known extent of the settlement which covers an
area of 18.5 ha. The settlement was unenclosed and developed alongside a
former channel of the River Axe; this old river channel remains visible as an
earthwork to the west of the settlement.

An archaeological survey conducted in 1985 identified that the settlement

included a series of buildings surrounded by rectilinear enclosures, while
partial excavation during 1925 revealed the presence of paved roadways and
pitched courtyards in the central area of the settlement. There is, in addition,
a series of linear features which are likely to relate to the drainage of the site;
some of the larger examples in the south-eastern area of the settlement may
represent flood defences.

A Roman date for the site is confirmed by the abundance of Roman finds
within the monument. These include two Romano-British urns discovered
during 1925 in the central area of the settlement. One of the urns contained a
hoard of forty-three Roman coins ranging in date from AD 138 to AD 296.
Further pottery dating from the second century AD has also been recovered,
including a stamped samian base dated to AD 150-180, black burnished ware
and grey ware. Additional finds include a quern fragment, a bronze angular
brooch and a fragment of a bronze fibula.

Environmental evidence from the area suggests that salt-marsh conditions

prevailed in this area during the Roman period contradicting earlier theories
that the area would have been submerged. One reason for the site`s
existence was in order to exploit the natural resources of the area.

Excluded from the scheduling are the surfaces of the metalled roads which
traverse the monument from east to west and north to south, the Stoke Moor
pumping station, the main Culvert Drove irrigation ditch and all fence posts,
but the ground beneath all these features is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map
extract.

Selected Sources
Books and journals
McDonnell, R, 'Proc of Som Nat Hist Arch Soc' in The Upper Axe Valley, (1979),
81
McDonnell, R, 'Proc of Som Nat Hist Arch Soc' in The Upper Axe Valley, (1979),
79
Other
Description of finds made in 1925,
Description of other associated finds,
Description of samian and pottery,
Description of urns found in 1925,
Mention of survey by Dennison,

National Grid Reference: ST 45999 48984

Map
 Crown Copyright and database right 2017. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.
British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2017. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.
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The above map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
For a copy of the full scale map, please see the attached PDF - 1011125 .pdf
(http://mapservices.HistoricEngland.org.uk/printwebservicehle/StatutoryPrin
t.svc/26697/HLE_A4L_NoGrade|HLE_A3L_NoGrade.pdf)

The PDF will be generated from our live systems and may take a few minutes
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This copy shows the entry on 22-Aug-2017 at 06:28:32.

End of o icial listing