Monument record 0560800000 - C.400M WSW OF SOUTHLANDS FARM

Summary

Possible late prehistoric or Roman enclosure recorded on aerial photographs and in fieldwalking

Protected Status/Designation

  • Archaeological Notification Area: Probable iron Age and Roman cropmark enclosure (DBC8847)
  • SHINE: Iron Age and Roman enclosure visible as a cropmark on aerial photos and confirmed by fieldwalking, W of Southlands Farm (DBC8365)

Map

Type and Period (9)

  • ENCLOSURE? (Late Iron Age to 5th Century Roman - 100 BC? to 409 AD?)
  • SETTLEMENT (Iron Age to 5th Century Roman - 800 BC? to 409 AD?)
  • DITCHED ENCLOSURE (Iron Age to 5th Century Roman - 800 BC? to 409 AD?)
  • RECTILINEAR ENCLOSURE (Iron Age to 5th Century Roman - 800 BC? to 409 AD?)
  • TRACKWAY (Iron Age to 5th Century Roman - 800 BC? to 409 AD?)
  • DITCH (Iron Age to 5th Century Roman - 800 BC? to 409 AD?)
  • BOUNDARY DITCH (Iron Age to 5th Century Roman - 800 BC? to 409 AD?)
  • PIT (Iron Age to 5th Century Roman - 800 BC? to 409 AD?)
  • MACULA (Iron Age to 5th Century Roman - 800 BC? to 409 AD?)

Description

Plan Form - Square.
Visible on APs (B1).
Fieldwalking by Mr H O Allen suggests siting, on a slope, is unlikely for an enclosure/building. However, 10 Belgic/Roman sherds found by the cropmark & to N at SP8790 3030, together with much post-Medieval pottery, brick, tile (See 01:000)(B2-3).

A phased settlement of ditched enclosures, boundaries and trackways of probable Iron Age and/or Romano-British date is visible on historic aerial photographs as cropmarks and was mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located along a ridge in a field about 385 metres west of Southlands Farm and centred at SP 87877 30224, the settlement extends over an area about 300 metres N-S and 190 metres W-E. There appears to be sections of curving boundary ditches that form up to three possible double ditched trackways, one extending N-S, one WNW-ESE and a third ESE-WNW that appear to converge in the centre of the palimpsest. On all sides of these trackways but not really overlying them are a number of overlapping ditched enclosures, most of which are rectilinear. Circular and subcircular pits are scattered over the features, with a large rectilinear macula of uncertain function in the very south. On aerial photographs taken in the 1940s, there is no real evidence of any medieval ridge and furrow cultivation earthworks, though connecting furlong boundary banks do pass through the site, visible on recent remote sensing data as a plough-levelled earthwork (4-10).

Cropmarks of a complex of enclosures, ditches and pits representing mulitple phases of probable later prehistoric settlement visible on aerial photographs at SP 8785 3022 within a single field to the north of Grove Farm (11).
This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 4 June 2025 licensed under the Open Government Licence (12).

Sources (13)

  • ---SBC28723 Aerial Photograph: Historic England. 2011. Historic England 2011 oblque areial photo NMR 27063_043. No.
  • <1>SBC4859 Bibliographic reference: FARLEY M E (BCM) JULY 1986 (SEE A/P'S).
  • <2>SBC415 Unpublished document: ALLEN H O & BABB L M C (BCM) JUNE 1992.
  • <3>SBC416 Unpublished document: ALLEN H O & FARLEY M E (BCM) SEPT 1992 (BCM ENTRY FORM NO. 0668).
  • <4>SBC25847 Aerial Photograph: Historic England. 2022. RAF-106G-UK-1380 RP 3105 09-APR-1946.
  • <5>SBC25848 Aerial Photograph: Historic England. 2022. RAF-3G-TUD-UK-86 RV 6129 26-MAR-1946.
  • <6>SBC25593 Aerial Photograph: Google Earth. Google Earth Pro. EARTH.GOOGLE.COM 26-JUN-2005 Accessed 10-JUL-2022.
  • <7>SBC25062 Digital archive: Environment Agency. Environment Agency LiDAR data. LIDAR SP83SE Environment Agency National LIDAR Programme DTM 1 Metre dated 2021 SP8730.
  • <8>SBC26522 Aerial Photograph: Historic England. 2023. NMR 27036_052 27-JUN-2011.
  • <9>SBC26523 Aerial Photograph: Historic England. 2023. NMR 27168_040 15-JUL-2011.
  • <10>SBC26524 Aerial Photograph: Historic England. 2023. NMR 27822_036 22-JUL-2013.
  • <11>SBC28724 Verbal communication: Fiona Small (Historic England Air Photo Interpreter). 2014. Information from 2011 Historic England aerial photograph.
  • <12>SBC27441 Digital archive: Historic England. National Record of the Historic Environment (NRHE).

Location

Grid reference Centred SP 87883 30231 (210m by 306m) (2 map features)
Civil Parish STOKE HAMMOND, Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

Related Events/Activities (3)

  • Event - Survey: (EBC11069)
  • Event - Survey: Aerial investigation and mapping project (Ref: 7768) (EBC18304)
  • Event - Survey: EH Aerial Reconnaissance (South): 2011-2012 (EBC18851)

Record last edited

Jan 7 2026 2:56PM

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