Archaeologia Aeliana Series 5

NY 667898. Excavations on the Kielder Reservoir site revealed four structural phases within a subrectangular enclosure. The earliest activity was represented by a few Meso-Neo flint artefacts and some Beaker sherds and ?domestic pits. In Iron Age and Roman times three phases of timber houses within successive palisades preceded the building of the enlarged ditched enclosure which contained at least three round stone houses with paved causeways. Arable farming is inferred from broken quernstones, animal husbandry from food bones and the large yard. The recurrence of palisades by or well before the Roman conquest is noted.

Results of two intensive field surveys are reported, as is a limited excavation of the RB site of Woolaw (NY 815985), a two- or three-phase rectilinear enclosure with four round stone houses linked by walling. Field survey enabled several types of settlement to be planned in an area 25km x 18; population density is as high as in the N Tyne Valley.

NU 224074. After a plane table survey of the earthworks, sampling for soil phosphate was done at three levels within the soil - the 30cm depth favoured by Scandinavian workers, and depths of 15 and 45cm for comparison. It was found that 30cm was a useful level for detecting variants in phosphate intensity which would guide excavation strategies, but that where intensive survey was possible the 15 and 45cm levels were worth examining, especially where the soil profile had been truncated.

Extant accounts of the castle have mistaken its phasing and nature; it was probably built as a stone hall in early 14th century (Caernarvon-headed doorway) and had a solar tower added to it in late 14th/early 15th century. Two centuries later part of the tower forebuilding was demolished, the N wing extensively remodelled, and an upper floor built over the hall, all this by the time of the 1624 inventory which names the rooms. Further drastic overhaul c 1700 was followed by piecemeal adaptations. Halton Castle was thus a partly defended manor house, possibly transitional to the later pele towers.