Edlington Wood, on the magnesian limestone ridge west of Doncaster (Roman Danum), is the site of a rural settlement and field-system complex of the Romano-British period, broadly active from the later Iron Age through the 2nd–4th centuries AD. It comprises earthwork enclosures, trackways, and small rectilinear fields preserved beneath ancient woodland — a landscape typical of the native farming communities of the South Yorkshire limestone belt.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The site forms part of the dense pattern of indigenous agrarian settlement in the hinterland of Danum and along the Roman road network linking Doncaster, Templeborough and Castleford, contributing to the agricultural surplus supporting these military and small-town centres. Its survival under woodland is regionally important, since most comparable settlements on the open limestone plateau have been ploughed flat and are known only from cropmarks.
Field survey and limited investigation (notably by Magilton and others in the later 20th century) recorded stone-walled enclosures, hut platforms, lynchets and quarry pits, with surface finds of Romano-British pottery indicating occupation into the later Roman period. No large-scale modern excavation has been published, and the internal chronology and status of the settlement remain poorly resolved.
Edlington Wood, on the magnesian limestone ridge west of Doncaster (Roman Danum), is the site of a rural settlement and field-system complex of the Romano-British period, broadly active from the later Iron Age through the 2nd–4th centuries AD. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Edlington Wood Roman settlement 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 Romano-British enclosure and earthworks in Pot Ridings Wood (3.2 km), Conisbrough Parks Romano-British Villa (4.3 km), Icehouse 720m south east of Bath House Farm (5.3 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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Research the area around Edlington Wood Roman settlement