A Romano-British Settlement at Hawbank Field, Skipton

Abstract

An excavation in early 2021 investigated the remains of Romano-British settlement at Hawbank Field, on the north-eastern edge of Skipton. Activity had begun at least by the second century AD and extended into the late fourth or early fifth centuries, concentrated around a series of ditched and banked enclosures. Stone structures and surfaces and numerous ditches and pits were associated with the Romano-British settlement. Two inhumations were radiocarbon dated to the third-fourth century AD. Fragmentary remains, found alongside the Romano-British features, suggest some activity in the medieval period as the rest of the site was incorporated into an open field system.

Keywords:

• Roman
• structure
• settlement
• enclosure
• Skipton

Acknowledgements

The project, undertaken by staff of Archaeological Services WYAS, was commissioned by Nansi Rosenberg of Prospect Archaeology on behalf of Stonebridge Homes. All plans and section drawings were produced by Matt Wells whilst Miranda Schofield drew the finds. Due to limited publication space, it has been necessary to reduce the description of the archaeology to select features and to integrate specialist data and interpretations within the archaeological narrative. The original client report, which includes the full specialist reports and feature descriptions, has also been deposited with the Archaeology Data Service as part of their OASIS programme. This can be accessed at OASIS Id: archaeol11-514961. Specialist contributions to this paper are as follows: Diane Alldritt (carbonised plant macrofossils and charcoal), Denise Allen (glass), Ann Clarke (worked stone), Chris Cumberpatch (medieval and post-medieval pottery), Gail Drinkall (metal finds), Malin Holst (human bone), Ruth Leary (Roman pottery), Gerry McDonnell (slag), Jo Mills (samian pottery), Phil Mills (burnt clay), Paola Ponce (Human bone) and Jane Richardson (animal bone). Finally, the author would like to acknowledge the effort of the site team who worked without complaint, through winter weather and mud, during the Covid-19 lockdown.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Matt Wells

Matt Wells is a project manager at Archaeological Services WYAS. Matthew has worked on a plethora of varied projects, from small watching briefs to large, multi-period excavations. He also carries out building recordings, desk-based assessments and contributes to publications.