Archaeologia Aeliana Series 5

Trial excavation in 1986 at New Bewick showed that one of eight similar cropmark features was a sunken-floored building, with loomweight fragments. This settlement was unusual, having no evidence of a palisaded enclosure or of large rectangular buildings (cf Yeavering). Some forty similar features associated with the Anglian palace site at Milfield, and others at Thirlings, are now interpreted as Grubenhauser. F B

An unenclosed large house (16.8m diameter) typical of the 1st millennium BC in the region was replaced by a smaller round house (9.3m diameter). The relationship of a third house to these two and to the ?RB ditched and palisaded enclosure is not clear. No finds. F B

Examines threat perception, the Roman art of war, and the state of military technology at the time of Hadrian. Particular attention is paid to varieties of tormenta (engine for throwing arrows or stones), which were specially effective against native forces. The later addition of a 'hot pursuit' capability to the Wall strongly suggests reaction to an incursion. F B/Ed

The earliest occupation, late 11th/12th to early 14th century, had timber or stone proto-longhouses but no recognizable manor house. In 14th-17th centuries the village was rebuilt as four terraces of longhouses flanking the green, with crofts and outbuildings; and a pele house is documented in later 16th. In late 17th the terraces were modified into farmsteads; depopulation occurred in 1719-22. A survey of the whole township recorded four farms, small settlements, and field systems. Wider issues are also examined: the life-span and methods of construction of village houses, use of crucks (before 1320 here), village planning and economy, the 'rebuilding of Northumberland', and implications of deserted village excavation. This, the most completely excavated example in England, proves the need for large scale excavation, since superficial indications are misleading and undeveloped areas are informative. Funds to complete the work have dried up. F B/Ed