IRON AGE SETTLEMENT

Within the Rolling Hills boundaries there is an old Iron Age settlement for all to visit.

During the Iron Age and Roman period a variety of settlement types were constructed throughout Britain. Small enclosed settlements consisting of discreet areas of occupation, bounded by continuous single or concentric ditches, banks or walls, and palisades. A community would have occupied them, perhaps a single family or several related family groups, who would have kept herds of cattle, sheep, goats and pigs for meat and skins. Woodlands were cleared to make fields for growing oats, wheat, barley, rye, peas, beans, onions and cabbage. The people lived in what are now called roundhouses. These were built with upright timber posts, interwoven with coppiced wood that was covered with clay, soil, manure and straw to make it warm and waterproof. The roof was thatched. In the centre of the roundhouse was an open fire, which would have been used for cooking, heating and light, with the smoke escaping through a hole in the roof. (Our own roundhouses are somewhat more luxurious)

These settlements became common features in the landscape during the second half of the first millennium BC and throughout the Roman period. All small enclosed settlements where earthwork or standing structural remains survive are considered to be of national importance.