Hazlerigg, round house and ditches

HER Number:
1969

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Hazlerigg, round house and ditches

Place:
Hazlerigg

Map Sheet:
NZ27SW

Class:
Monument

Site Type: Broad:
House

Site Type: Specific:
Round House (Domestic)

General Period:
Prehistoric

Specific Period:
Iron Age-Roman

Form of Evidence:
Physical Evidence

Description:
On an aerial photograph is what appears to be a fragmentary rectilinear enclosure, probably of Iron Age date. In 2013 part of the site was archaeologically excavated. The earliest remains were a linear ditch cut into the natural clay. The ditch was 1.2m wide and 0.3m deep. Oak charcoal from the ditch fill produced a C14 date of 790-539 cal BC (early Iron Age). A curvilinear gully was up to 0.5m wide and up to 0.15m deep. The gully was the remains of a roundhouse approx 8m in dimater. The entrance was probably on the SE side. Alder charcoal from the gully filled produced a C14 date of 753-410 cal BC. A second concentric v-profiled gully 0.2m wide and 0.1m was probably for the eaves drip. A small sub-rectangular pit may have been a hearth. Another curvilinear gully 0.4m wide and 0.15m deep contained several fire-cracked stones in its northern terminus. It would have enclosed a feature less than 3m in diameter. It was presumably a wooden structure, function unknown. Hazel charcoal from the gully produced a date of 350-53 cal BC (middle Iron Age). The other feature of this phase was a curvilinear gully with v-shaped profile. Of later Iron Age or Roman date was a parallel ditch 1m wide and 0.4m deep. The sides had slumped while the ditch was in use. A silty clay which overlaid these deposits was C14 dated to 64-220 cal AD. North of the parallel ditch was the western terminus of another ditch 0.75m wide and 0.3m deep. West of the roundhouse was a short linear gully 0.4m wide and 0.25m deep. The east terminus contained packing stones for a post. A sherd of Roman pottery was recovered from this gully. A curvilinear ditch 0.2m wide and 0.2m deep had steep sides and a concave base. Medieval or post medieval furrows covered most of the excavation area, each 2m wide and 4.5m apart. Two field boundary ditches were recorded. Finds - three pieces of Roman pot, probably from the same vessel, plus 17th, 18th and 19th century pottery. 8 fragments of cracked and heat-reddened sandstone (undated), the tip of a cast iron agricultural machine blade. Palaeoenvironmental analysis recovered spelt wheat (appears middle to late Bronze Age) and barley, hazel nutshell, charred hay from fodder or bedding or burnt turves used for fuel or roofing. Oak was readily available.

Easting:
2333

Northing:
7119

Grid Reference:
NZ23337119

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
<< HER 1969 >> Tyne and Wear Museums, 2001, Supplementary Archaeological Assessment of Newcastle Great Park Aerial Photograph, NMR, 1977 MAL/77024, frames 49 and 79, 07-07-1977 Timescape Archaeological Surveys, 2000, Newcastle Great Park (cell C), Geophysical Survey Report; Archaeological Services Durham University, 2014, Cell C, Newcastle Great Park, Newcastle upon Tyne, post-excavation full analysis