Greystone is a Romano-British native settlement on Barningham Moor in the southern Pennines of County Durham (formerly North Riding of Yorkshire), associated with a prominent carved outcrop bearing prehistoric cup-and-ring marks that was incorporated into the later landscape. The settlement is one of a cluster of small enclosed farmsteads on the moor, likely occupied during the later Iron Age and into the Roman period (broadly 1st–4th centuries AD), representing a low-status pastoral and mixed farming community.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
It forms part of the dense pattern of indigenous upland settlement that persisted under Roman rule in the Stainmore/Tees hinterland, lying within the territory of the Brigantes and within the broad military zone supplied by forts such as Greta Bridge and Bowes. Its economic role was almost certainly the supply of livestock, wool, and hides into the regional Roman economy rather than direct involvement in administration or industry.
The site is known from earthwork survey rather than excavation, with visible enclosure banks, hut circle foundations and associated field systems recorded as part of broader surveys of Barningham Moor (notably by Laurie and English Heritage), and the adjacent carved rock is one of many prehistoric petroglyphs on the moor. No published excavation has produced a closely dated artefact assemblage from this specific settlement, so its precise chronology rests on morphological comparison with
Greystone is a Romano-British native settlement on Barningham Moor in the southern Pennines of County Durham (formerly North Riding of Yorkshire), associated with a prominent carved outcrop bearing prehistoric cup-and-ring marks that was incorporated into the later landscape. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Carved rock and Romano-British settlement known as Greystone, 250m south of Moorcock Farm, Barningham Moor is classified as a Roman settlement — a civilian site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Greta Bridge (4 km), Scargill Moors Roman shrines (7 km), Lavatris (8.5 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
Aubrey Research generates detailed historical reports for any location in Britain, incorporating Roman heritage, Domesday Book records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and much more. Enter a nearby address to begin.
Aubrey generates in-depth historical research for any address in Britain — drawing on Roman heritage, Domesday records, scheduled monument data, archaeological finds and medieval history to reveal the complete story of a landscape.
Research the area around Carved rock and Romano-British settlement known as Greystone, 250m south of Moorcock Farm, Barningham Moor