Birmingham & Warwicks Arch Soc Trans (117)

Archaeological investigations carried out by Pre-Construct Archaeology in advance of redevelopment on land off Sir Herbert Austin Way, Northfield, Birmingham in 2011 revealed evidence for Romano-British, medieval and post-medieval activity. The site lies a short distance west of a Roman road which ran from Metchley Roman fort, located about four kilometres north-east of Northfield, to Droitwich. The site had been subject to considerable truncation by modern activity, but the remains of a possible roundhouse gully with a small internal pit were recorded along with a boundary ditch. The most substantial feature was a large pit which was stepped along one side to create a shallow level area on which a stone surface had been laid; this included a reused Roman quernstone. This is interpreted as a pit for clay extraction which had been modified for use as a watering hole. Very small quantities of cultural material of definite Romano-British date were recovered, suggesting that the site was used for agricultural activity during this period and lay on the extreme periphery of settlement. Plough furrows, gullies and field boundary ditches of medieval and post-medieval date attest to agricultural use of the land during later periods.

Expression of status was ever a potent factor in the developing landscape; castles and, subsequently, moated sites indicated status as much as any defensive role. After the Norman Conquest forests were established by royal command and lesser lords might create hunting parks of their own, but on a much smaller scale. All these features influenced the present-day Warwickshire landscape and have often left surviving or relict features which can still be seen. Status was also a factor in the foundation of churches and monasteries. The distribution of features in the county was influenced by many factors, both geographical and cultural. This article reproduces, with minor additions, several short chapters on this theme that were originally commissioned from the author as a contribution to an unpublished Warwickshire Atlas. The first covers castles, fortified houses and moated sites, the second forests and parks, and a third ecclesiastical buildings.