Reasons for Designation
The North York Moors is an area which has an abundance of prehistoric remains
particularly within moorland landscapes where they have not been disturbed by
more recent agricultural activity. These are evidence for the widespread
exploitation of these uplands throughout prehistory. Many remains date from
the Bronze Age (c. 2000-700 BC) and relate to diverse activities, funerary and
ritual practice as well as agriculture and settlement. For the end of the
first millennium BC the range of evidence is more restricted. Settlement at
this time was concentrated in the lowland areas surrounding the moors,
although some settlement was located on the periphery and in the valleys.
These late prehistoric settlement sites on the higher ground are of two types:
those consisting of a small number of unenclosed hut circles and those found
within small square or sub-rectangular enclosures. Some examples of the former
are thought to date from the Bronze Age, but excavation of others and of a few
of the enclosed settlements suggests that they were occupied during the Iron
Age to the Romano-British period (c.700 BC-AD 400). A number of late
prehistoric enclosed settlements on the North York Moors survive as
upstanding monuments and these are between 0.1 and 0.5ha in area. The
enclosing earthworks are usually slight and consist of a ditch with an
internal bank, but examples are known with an internal and external bank and
with an internal ditch or no ditch at all. They are square or sub-rectangular
in shape and often have at least two rounded corners, giving a characteristic
`D'-shape. Few of these enclosed settlements have been subject to systematic
excavation but examples which have been excavated have presented evidence of
settlement, including the presence of buildings. Some of the enclosures may
also have had a function as stock enclosures. Enclosed settlements are a
distinctive feature of the late prehistory of the North York Moors and are
important in illustrating the variety of enclosed settlement types which
developed in many areas of Britain at this time. Examples where a substantial
proportion of the enclosed settlement survives are considered to be nationally
important.
The Tabular Hills in the Wykeham Forest area contain a dense concentration of
prehistoric monuments, dating from the Neolithic to the Iron Age, which
includes field systems, enclosures and land boundaries as well as both round
and square barrows. The spatial and chronological relationships between the
round and square barrows in this area, and between both types of barrow and
other prehistoric monuments, are of considerable importance for understanding
the development of later prehistoric society in eastern Yorkshire.
Despite disturbance, significant information will be preserved about the date
and form of construction of the enclosed settlement in Wykeham Forest, 630m
south east of Mount Misery. Important evidence for the nature and duration of
the occupation will survive within the enclosed area. Evidence for earlier
land use, the contemporary environment and economy will also survive beneath
the banks and within the lower ditch fills. The settlement is situated close
to a number of square barrows and this type of association provides important
scope for understanding the different social and ritual uses of the landscape
in the late prehistoric period.
Details
The monument includes an enclosed settlement situated on level ground towards
the northern scarp edge of the Tabular Hills.
The settlement is visible as a ditch in an elongated `C'-shape which is up to
1.5m wide and 0.3m deep. Alongside the ditch there is an outer bank which is
up to 2m wide and 0.5m high. Originally the ditch and bank would have formed
the west side of a sub-rectangular enclosure, orientated approximately north
to south, which measured internally 28m. However, over the years the eastern
part of the enclosure ditch and bank have become filled in and eroded, and
subsequently obscured as a result of forestry ploughing. Within the enclosure
there was an internal bank up to 1.5m wide and 0.3m high, but this has also
become levelled over the years and is now only visible as fragmentary traces
at the north west and south west corners of the enclosure.
The settlement lies within a dense concentration of prehistoric burial
monuments, in an area which also includes the remains of other prehistoric
settlements.
MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.
It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.
