West Midlands Regional Research Framework for Archaeology, Seminar 1: Halsted
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Bronze Age Settlement in Shropshire: research potential and
frameworks for settlement studies in the West Midlands
John Halsted
Birmingham University Field Archaeology Unit, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT
J.HALSTEAD@bham.ac.uk
Introduction: Early Bronze Age settlement in Britain
Early Bronze Age settlement sites are particularly rare in Britain and this has been repeatedly
explained as representing a transient system of residency. Fleming, for example, suggested
that groups converged upon round barrows seasonally within systems of transhumance in the
(1971). Bronze Age settlement mobility has been emphasised again recently by Joanna Brück
(1999), who has emphasised the lack of evidence for permanently-settled locales (ibid, 5560). The high degree of settlement mobility argued for the Neolithic (e.g. Thomas 1999, 733), has been reiterated and applied to an Early Bronze Age context. It has been argued that
arable agriculture may not have engendered a sedentary settlement pattern but may have
existed alongside a more diverse subsistence economy exploiting wild resources and allowing
a pattern of residential mobility (Brück 1999, 66-7).
It has been suggested that ceremonial monuments such as round barrows or henge
monuments formed a component of this mobile pattern of residency and that objects
representing domestic activities, such as quern stones, reflect periodic settlement activity at
such sites at specific times of the year (ibid, 68). However, it is also possible that objects such
as quern stones were intentionally deposited in ceremonial contexts away from the utilitarian
sphere. At Cranborne Chase, Dorset, for example, quern stones were deposited together with
animal burials beneath a round barrow (Barrett et al 1991, 132-4). It is equally possible that
any domestic activity associated with ceremonial monuments was short-lived and not
representative of a wider settlement pattern. It is also possible that such activity was
associated with only a proportion of a social group, which suggests that others occupied more
permanently settled locales elsewhere. Such sites may be less visible and identifiable in the
landscape than contemporary funerary and ceremonial monuments.
Enclosed and nucleated settlement sites have been recorded in southern England from the
mid-second millennium BC (e.g. Drewett 1982; Barrett et al 1991). However, the form of
settlement apparent for the Early Bronze Age appears to be more ephemeral and therefore
perhaps less easy to identify. Most Early Bronze Age settlement sites are represented by flint
scatters and sometimes pottery scatters, accompanied by ephemeral features in the form of
stakeholes or insubstantial gullies which do not appear to represent sustained phases of
occupation (e.g. Bamford 1982).
There are, however, examples of Early Bronze Age settlement locales in Britain which
appear to show a degree of longevity in their occupation. Stackpole Warren, Dyfed in a
lowland context on the south Wales coast, has evidence for two phases of an Early Bronze
Age roundhouse (Benson et al 1990, 189) which may suggest settlement continuity at a
specific location. The presence of Collared Urn sherds and flint tools in association with
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charred cereal grains (ibid, 187) may suggest that domestic settlement at this site focussed
upon a location favourable for cereal cultivation in the early second millennium BC.
Similarly, in a contrasting upland environment at Lairg in northern Scotland, evidence has
been recorded for Early Bronze Age roundhouses succeeding each other on the same spot
(McCullagh & Tipping 1998, 38). Saddle querns and naked barley seeds recorded at Lairg
(ibid,) also suggest an association with arable agriculture in an upland context. To what
extent such cereals were grown as well as processed in such contexts is unknown. However,
the presence of settlement locales at higher altitudes supports current debates which have
questioned the notion of environmentally and economically marginal locations as having
inhibited settlement in prehistory (Young & Simmonds 1999).
Early Bronze Age settlement recorded in the vicinity of the West Midlands
Locations which show evidence for settlement in the Early Bronze Age have also been
recorded in areas adjacent to the West Midlands region. The sites at Oversley Farm (Garner
2001 and forthcoming), Arthill Heath Farm (Nevell 1988) and Tatton Park (Higham & Cane
1999) are all situated close to the River Bollin in Cheshire. All have evidence for structures
with radiocarbon dates, which when calibrated, fall within the late third and early second
millennia BC. These sites represent the only recorded Early Bronze Age structures in the
counties bordering Wales.
There are three important points to make about these sites:
1. They show that Early Bronze Age settlement locales exist in a lowland context in close
proximity to rivers and water sources and appear to have a preference for well-drained
sand and gravel situations.
2. Radiocarbon dates from these sites suggest that comparable locations were chosen for
settlement potentially from the early third millennium and early to late second millennium
BC. Radiocarbon dates and the ceramic assemblage from Oversley farm (Garner 2001)
suggest that one location was occupied recurrently during the Bronze Age
3. The location of these sites in relation to the known distribution of Early Bronze Age
barrows in Cheshire suggests that they may have been sited at an intentional distance
from contemporary funerary and ceremonial monuments, the nearest of which lie between
1 and 4 kms away from each site.
The presence of a Middle Bronze Age roundhouse in a comparable position in the upper
Severn Valley at Glanfeinion, Powys, on well-drained gravels above the floodplains of the
river (Britnell et al 1997), suggests that this settlement pattern extended beyond Cheshire. It
may also suggest a degree of settlement continuity from the Early to Middle Bronze Age.
Early Bronze Age settlement in Shropshire
There is clearly the potential, therefore, for Early Bronze Age settlement sites such as those
recorded in lowland Cheshire to be present in the West Midlands counties, including
Shropshire. It is also possible that this region has settlement locales that were occupied
repeatedly during the Bronze Age.
However, no Early Bronze Age settlement structures have been recorded in Shropshire. A
hearth associated with fragments of Beaker pottery and a flint scatter at Rock Green, Ludlow
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(Carver & Humler 1991), may represent a transient settlement episode and appears to be
consistent with the ephemeral nature of settlement evidence recorded for the Late Neolithic
and Early Bronze Age in Britain generally.
Evidence for two episodes of tree clearance in mid-Shropshire dating to the Late
Neolithic/Early Bronze Age and the Middle Bronze Age, have been recorded as part of the
North West Wetlands Survey (Leah et al 1998, 53) together with evidence for cereal
cultivation (ibid, 66-67). Despite the possibility that such samples represent localised
environments only (ibid, 61), it is clear that further settlement locales remain to be identified
in the county.
In Shropshire the only clear indication of Bronze Age activity across the landscape is in the
form of ceremonial monuments and limited stray finds of Bronze implements. It may,
however, be possible to infer the location of a general settlement pattern by examining their
context in the landscape.
The relationship between drift geology and the location of round barrows in north-west
Shropshire
The recorded Early Bronze Age settlement sites in Cheshire all lie upon sand and gravel
geology, and lowland Middle Bronze Age sites in Wales also appear to be located in similar
well-drained contexts. It may be possible in Shropshire therefore to examine the distribution
of barrows in relation to drift geology in the lowlands of the county, in order to establish the
extent to which barrow sites reflect areas of lowland settlement. The area examined is in
north-west Shropshire, southern Cheshire, and the border with the Welsh uplands. Although
there is not a distinctive association between barrows and geology, there appears to be a
slightly greater number (51) recorded on sand and gravel contexts than on boulder clays (36)
in a lowland context.
The distance between settlement sites and barrows in Cheshire of around 1–4 kms suggests
that the monuments were within easy reach of settlement locales but not necessarily
contiguous with them. Barrows may have been situated in landscape zones that were
occupied on a seasonal or temporary basis. It is interesting to note in this context that barrows
have also been recorded on boulder clays and in upland contexts that may have been more
marginal in this period.
Therefore barrows may have been situated in areas of contrasting land use, and used within
agricultural cycles or social events that may have taken place away from more permanent
nodes of settlement. This suggests settlement mobility, but such settlement mobility may not
necessarily have required the wholesale movement of a group from a fixed settlement locale.
The relationship between round barrows and metalwork finds in Shropshire
It is possible that the distribution of Early Bronze Age metal artefacts in Shropshire may also
reflect a relationship between settlement and ceremonial monuments. There does appear to be
a general relationship between metal axe finds and barrow groups in Shropshire, though the
majority of axes were found between 0.5 and 2 kms from the nearest barrow, suggesting an
alternative focus in the local landscape for their deposition.
The location of these finds is not inconsistent with the relationship between settlement sites
and barrows in northern Cheshire. It is possible therefore that these finds may represent nodes
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of residency away from barrows but close enough to allow limited movement to ceremonial
monuments from fixed settlement nodes. However, the fact that no Early Bronze Age axes
have been recorded from settlement sites undermines this interpretation. It is possible that the
deposition of Early Bronze Age axes is removed from the context of their utilitarian sphere at
the end of their life cycle (e.g. Bradley 1990; Needham 1993). The fact that Early Bronze
Age axes have been found at Titterstone Clee (Chitty 1926, 235-6) and the Wrekin,
Shropshire, may have been influenced by perceptions of such hills as significant ritual foci in
the landscape (Bradley 2000). The fact that a number of hilltops including Titterstone Clee
and Sharpstones Hill (Barker et al 1991) also have evidence for Bronze Age funerary activity
may support this.
It is possible that neither barrows nor metalwork finds accurately reflect the location of
settlement nodes in the Early Bronze Age. The location of settlement sites can perhaps only
be inferred from the situations of known Early and Middle Bronze Age settlement sites that
have been recorded in Cheshire and Wales. The relationship between settlement, ceremonial
foci and locations of artefact deposition needs to be clarified in order for social and economic
interactions in the period to be more fully understood.
The identification of Early Bronze Age settlement sites in the West Midlands
The evidence from Arthill Heath Farm, Tatton Park and Oversley Farm in Cheshire suggest
that similar contexts witnessed phases of occupation from the late third millennium into the
mid-late second millennium BC. In the case of Oversley Farm, the evidence suggests that
specific points in the landscape were repeatedly chosen for settlement in prehistory. These
sites do not necessarily equate with the location of ceremonial monuments or the deposition
of metal objects in the Early Bronze Age. Therefore the identification of further such sites in
the landscape is problematic.
All Early Bronze Age settlement sites to the north in Cheshire and in Wales have been found
by chance, either by random trial trenching as part of developer funded projects through
PPG16 planning policy, or through the excavation of later Romano-British or Medieval
settlements during research excavations.
In order to identify Early Bronze Age settlement sites in the West Midlands we should be
looking more widely around barrow cemeteries. It is necessary to identify suitable locations
for settlement within c. 4 kms radius of round barrows, using the location of settlement sites
in Cheshire as a precedent. This would require an examination of well-drained locations in
close proximity to water sources with an environment suited to cultivation in the period.
This can be achieved most realistically by a combination of selective fieldwalking, test pitting
and environmental sampling, alongside existing PPG16 developer funded excavation in the
landscape and assessment of data (particularly environmental) obtained from the excavation
of round barrows and ring ditches in the West Midlands region. The excavation of flint
scatters following fieldwalking surveys may also increase the understanding of Early Bronze
Age settlement and enable settlement patterns to be measured against the prevailing
interpretation of transient and mobile settlement envisaged for southern England. The fact
that Early Bronze Age settlement sites have been recorded in the same location as later
episodes of settlement, also suggests that greater emphasis should be placed on identifying
phases of prehistoric settlement when Romano-British or Medieval sites are excavated, as
part of PPG16 excavation specifications.
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