ULAS
University of Leicester Archaeological Services

Earl Shilton barrows and boundaries

During construction of the Earl Shilton Bypass, archaeologists from ULAS have undertaken a series of targeted excavations to recorded remains affected by the road scheme. The most significant site lies on the crest of a hill to the east of Earl Shilton and close to a circular cropmark thought to be of prehistoric date.

Trenching followed by large scale machine stripping on the line of the road exposed a pair of large, circular, ring ditches each some 27m diameter. Apparently associated with these were a line of large more or less square pits, running from the crest of the hill downwards on both sides, and towards the adjacent valleys.

The Ring Ditches
For several reasons it was thought likely that these circular features represented round barrows of prehistoric date, ploughed out much later and thus having lost their barrow mounds. One reason they were initially interpreted as barrows was that neither ring ditch had evidence for an entrance or gap as would be the case with a settlement enclosure. The barrow mounds would have been imposing features on the crest of the hill in prehistoric times.

Although the barrows were ploughed out, probably in the post-medieval period, some evidence for activities associated with burial practices was found on site. This evidence included burnt bone material, pottery and flint artefacts deposited in features, and most interestingly a curious pit. This pit was of a D-shape, and just to the north of the first barrow ring ditch.

The lower pit fill produced cremated bone and pottery, associated with a post structure, and which had then been sealed with a thick layer of granite fragments. Above this granite, the upper fill suggests this feature may have been left as an open feature. Analysis has just started on the finds from this site, and we hope further work on the burnt bone will provide further insight into prehistoric burial practices

The Pit Alignment

Running both north and south from the crest of the hill on which barrow 1 stands, was an alignment of pits, as shown above. Excavation of these pits showed they were more or less square in the cut and regularly placed, and certainly the pits to the south of barrow 1 became larger as they neared the crest of the hill. The pits produced few finds - it seems they were dug and left open rather than being backfilled with domestic rubbish. That they were left open is significant, and it may be that the upcast soil from them was placed between the pits. One pit however was just off the alignment, and produced a quern stone for milling grain and a large amount of pottery.

There are various ideas as to the original function of these pit alignments, but basically they acted as some form of territorial boundary feature. It may be that the upcast was originally placed between the pit cuts, but the pit alignments were most likely more symbolic than functional. Frequently pit alignments were replaced at a later date by functional boundaries such as ditches and banks, and we see this too at Earl Shilton.

Other Boundary Features

Running up to the hill crest and down the other side were a series of ditches, following the same alignment as the earlier pits. Excavation of these ditches produced pottery that show that this boundary alignment remained in use through the Iron Age and into the Roman period - some 1500 years after the first territorial features on this hill.

Wayne Jarvis
Field Officer
ULAS