This is a Romano-British upland settlement comprising stone-built hut circles within an enclosure, accompanied by a round cairn, situated on the lower slopes above Brothers Water in the Hartsop valley of the Lake District. Likely occupied during the 2nd to 4th centuries AD, it functioned as a small farmstead supporting a household engaged in pastoral agriculture, exploiting the valley floor pastures and upland grazing.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
The site forms part of the wider pattern of native Romano-British settlement in the Cumbrian fells, demonstrating how indigenous communities continued traditional upland lifeways largely beyond direct Roman administrative control, while lying within reach of the road network linking the forts at Ambleside (Galava) and Brougham. Such settlements illustrate the persistence of Iron Age building traditions and subsistence economies into the Roman period in northern Britain.
The site is known principally from earthwork survey rather than excavation, with visible remains including circular stone hut foundations, enclosure walling and an associated round cairn, recorded as a Scheduled Monument. No significant excavation has been undertaken, so dating relies on morphological comparison with excavated parallels such as Aughertree Fell and the Crosby Ravensworth settlements.
This is a Romano-British upland settlement comprising stone-built hut circles within an enclosure, accompanied by a round cairn, situated on the lower slopes above Brothers Water in the Hartsop valley of the Lake District. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a settlement site from the Roman period in Britain.
Romano-British enclosed stone hut circle settlement and round cairn 350m south of Hartsop Hall 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 enclosed stone hut circle settlement at Heck Beck, Bannerdale (4.5 km), Romano-British enclosed stone hut circle settlement and Romano-British farmstead north west of Tongue House Barn. (7.1 km), High Street, Roman road (7.9 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 Romano-British enclosed stone hut circle settlement and round cairn 350m south of Hartsop Hall