The Wolds Research Project - Wharram Crossroads

Implementation: Wharram Crossroads

Introduction:

The overall research strategy for the Yorkshire Wolds Project has noted that: "at some point during the Iron Age, we see evidence of ladder settlements on the Wolds" which "clearly indicate a sharply intensified demarcation of land". Thus, "by the eve of Rome's move north of the Humber, a complete agrarian landscape had formed". Yet detailed understanding of these late Iron Age developments remains beyond our grasp, and the overall impact of that Roman conquest on the Wolds landscape has still to be defined.

Two particular aspects of the ladder settlements require clarification: How do they relate to earlier systems of land divisions such as earthworks and general activities on the Wolds such as Iron Age domestic/funerary practices? And did the arrival of legions signal a new system of landscape organisation or comprise, in essence, continuity with Iron Age frameworks of landholding, perhaps augmented by the insertion of 'villas'?

From previous work, it is clear that a significant number of the Iron Age enclosures which existed on the Wolds were linked by drove-ways. The linear complexes thus formed, which have been named 'ladder settlements', ran for several kilometres in places, some aligning with earlier landscape boundaries but others seeming to ignore these pre-existing divisions. The best-preserved examples of ladder settlements, such as that southeast of Burton Fleming, are difficult to date. However, morphologically-similar features encountered beneath the Roman villa at Rudston suggest a pre-Roman context for initial development here and more recent work has yielded considerable quantities of associated material of Iron Age date, adding further weight to the argument.

Background to the Wharram Area:

The area within the Parish of Wharram Percy offers an excellent opportunity to take the question of ladder settlements, their relationship with pre-Iron Age landscape features and with the arrival of Roman power in the region one step forward. Specific evidence has been published for two settlements at Wharram Grange and Wharram-le-Street, interpreted by the excavators as villas, and this will soon be augmented by detailed work from Wharram Percy itself. This site-specific research is given a broader context by the research of Colin Hayfield elsewhere in the same parish. He suggests that many pre-Roman sites here may have continued in use into the first two centuries AD, though perhaps with communication systems cut through by Roman-period roads. 'Villa' sites may have been imposed into this system from sometime after AD200, with landscape utilisation maximised by the early-4^th century.

Two parts of the Wharram landscape provide an important focus for taking forward the debate about the relationship between ladder-settlements and other forms of more explicitly 'Romanised' settlement: at Wharram-le-Street (SE867667) and at the Wharram cross roads site (SE852650) and are discussed in detail below.

At Wharram-le-Street, aerial photographic and geophysical investigation of the fields just east of modern village, when set beside the results of field-walking and test-pitting, have clearly demonstrated that this site contains a Roman building of some significance, set within one of a series of enclosures of unknown. Artefacts from that initial field-walking suggest a focus of activity during the 3^rd and 4^th centuries AD. Recently, more intensive field-walking shows this to be a focus of interest well before the Roman period (unsurprising, given the adjacent pond which forms the source for the Gypsey Race). However, the main focus of activity seems to be from the 3^rd century AD, though whether this indicates the presence of a villa or another high-status site remains unclear.

Recent aerial photographic evidence 'road' which flanks the late-Roman focus is part of a major, earlier major north-south landscape division stretching for several kilometres to both south and north. Of equal significance, a major ladder settlement, southwest-northeast, is evident to the north of the 'villa' running for several kilometres from the north edge of the Duggleby Howe in the east, whose position in the landscape it appears to respect. Clearly, therefore, this whole area represents an ideal opportunity to investigate the complex relationship between pre-Iron Age landscape divisions, an extensive ladder settlement, and a high status Roman structure, all concentrated around the main water source on the Wolds.

Objectives:

Wharram Cross Roads lies 2.1km to the west of the Wharram-le-Street complex and the other side of a dry valley. There is corresponding aerial photographic and geophysical evidence for a ladder settlement at least 800m in length, running southwest-northeast. To the northeast, the apparent limit of this settlement occurs opposite the projected line of another major landscape feature, running northwest-southeast, which also forms the southern limit of the second 'villa' at Wharram Grange. Geophysical survey has both confirmed the aerial photographic evidence and added detail to the ladder's plan form. Field walking across the surface of the settlement seems to confirm a late-Iron Age date for its initial development.

To the east of the presently known limit of ladder settlement and of the associated landscape division, limited field walking and trial trenches suggest a focus of late-Roman activity. It is entirely unclear, from present evidence, whether or not the ladder settlement continues to the northeast of its aerial photographic limit. Equally unclear is whether the creation of a focus of late-Roman activity represents the demise of the earlier settlement or an addition to it.

In line with the overall Wolds research design for the Late Iron Age and Roman periods, the objectives of further evaluation work at Wharram Cross Roads comprise:

To identify the interrelationship between all landscape features of the first half of the first millennium AD and hence to elucidate their relationship with pre-existing landscape divisions;
To establish spatial extent of activities on the site and determine their range and distribution between different zones by finds collection and analysis;
To define the extent of the ladder settlement in plan and thus elucidate its spatial relationship with both pre-existing major landscape divisions, and any later Roman features imposed onto that landscape.

Methodology for data gathering and processing:

In order to address the project aims, a range of investigative techniques will be employed:

Surveying the surface topography of this area;
Systematic field walking of the area north of the 'cross roads', allowing us to chart the continuity, or otherwise, of occupation down to the dry valley, and thus compare with the results with those obtained previously to the south and west;
Undertaking both a magnetometry and resistivity survey of as much of the zone as is possible;
Full processing and analysis of the survey and geophysical data;
Full processing and preliminary analysis of artefact assemblages generated by field walking, including that originally recovered by Colin Hayfield in work to the west but never analysed in detail;
Production of summary reports, and designing a forward strategy for the next stage(s) of the project (responsibility of SPR/Mel Giles).

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