Archaeologia Aeliana Series 4

The visible pattern of early settlement to NW of Alnham includes two cairnfields, two palisaded enclosures, a multivallate hillfort and several settlements of the Roman period. Excavation of High Knowes A confirmed the existence of three circular timber buildings within a double palisade of 150 ft diameter. A fourth known building was left unexcavated. There were no finds, and the ring ditch of House I presents problems of interpretation. 100 yards away, High Knowes B is a double-palisaded enclosure containing sixteen round timber buildings; an overlying stone house yielded a few probable RB pottery fragments. Palisaded settlements probably predate the Roman occupation of the north by several generations at least; West Brandon, West Plean and Braidwood are the best parallels to this site. Cairnfield A, lying 300 yards from the palisaded settlements, has twenty-two simple stonebuilt cairns, nearly all robbed. One yielded a cremation with a bronze ring-headed pin intermediate between the Danes Graves example and Irish ones of 1st-2nd century AD. A second cairn, robbed, had originally contained an inhumation; fragments of a bellbeaker with everted collared rim and barbed-and-tanged arrowheads were found. A small hengiform enclosure produced a flint scraper, a fragment of jet ?cup, but no traces of a burial. In Cairnfield B a circular trench surrounded a robbed area which had contained two cremations in pits; flints and fragments of two urns were found. No BA settlement site relating to this cairnfield is yet known.

Documentary evidence relating to the site from 11th to 20th centuries is summarised; fieldwork involved a new survey of, and a section through, the south curtain wall of the castle. Some Roman flagstones were revealed but gave no assistance in determining the exact position of the fort of Pons Aelius. Documents suggest that the curtain wall may have been added during Henry II's alterations towards the end of 12th century; at some time after that the access stair to the wall was modified. The study of medieval pottery in NE England is insufficiently advanced to give much assistance in dating the structures, although this report, which contains the first large collection of stratified medieval and post-medieval pottery to be published in the NE, should now encourage further studies. Following the disuse of the curtain wall in or before the 16th century, there seems to have been partial demolition and rubbish-tipping on the site until 19th century, when buildings including a kiln and cobbler's workshop were in use on both sides of the curtain. The Roman pottery found includes two types so rare and localised in the north as to suggest import via the Tyne. The Samian collection has some unusual features. The medieval and post-medieval pottery (over 220 catalogued sherds) includes a wide range of imports from the Continent, as well as varied English wares; the approximate date range is 12th century to early 18th century.