Archaeologia Aeliana Series 5

NY 686882. Excavation of a rectangular ditched enclosure on a low riverine spur revealed a couple of prehistoric pits, an Iron Age-RB settlement of three phases, and medieval and post-medieval occupation. The first Iron Age phase was a fenced enclosure, the second had a palisade and four superimposed round timber houses, and the third had (?)two round stone houses enclosed by a rectangular earthwork typical for the area and dated 2nd century AD. A rotary quern and ploughmarks attest agriculture at this time. A long farm building of 17th century consisting of dwelling and byre was examined though extensively robbed; it is documented under the name Doubledykes.

NY 982648. Collates all that is known of the internal layout and phasing, and provides plans for each phase. Fort IA was founded c 90 for ?ala Petriana; IB, not much later, was fired c 105. Fort II, built c 106, ended c 121; there was no break before III, which had a new garrison (infantry only) c 122-5. There followed a fifteen-year gap but the fort was kept in repair. Period IVA used stone buildings but retained the turf rampart; its garrison was a 500 ala, its date of foundation secure at 139-40. Period IVB represents occupation c 158-63, and in Period V Corbridge was no longer a fort.

After a historical survey of the Scandinavian invasions and settlements there is a review of the documentary evidence which suggests the existence of an estate-like structure in pre-Viking Northumbria. The Scandinavians seem to have taken over these landblocks as going concerns. The place-name and documentary evidence for south Durham points not only to the presence of Scandinavian overlords and their followers but also to Scandinavian peasant farmers living on estates controlled by Anglo-Saxons. Sculptures such as those at Middleton and Sockburn could be the memorials of Scandinavians farming in the surrounding district for which these churches acted as foci. R N B

NY 693885 etc. Work was continued on the medieval and post-medieval sites, concentrating on those for which little or no documentation is available, and only surveying the rest. At Belling Mill a kiln of unknown function was excavated: date mid-17th to late 18th century. At Sandboard Knowe a solidly built one-room house with annexes was uncovered; it contained nothing later than 1730. Long Walls was a two-roomed long building with hearth, but lack of occupation material made its status doubtful. Such shortlived settlements almost certainly exist elsewhere beyond the 'late medieval frontiers of settlement'.