Monument record 14196 - Possible Enclosure at Ashfields

<1> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Strawson B, 18/02/2018 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

A large circular enclosure c.120m in diameter is visible on Environment Agency LIDAR (see 3).

<2> The GeoInformation Group, 2005, 1940s RAF Aerial Photographs from Operation Review, CPE\UK\1935, no.4360, 17/01/1947 (Aerial Photograph). SCH4608.

<3> Environment Agency, 2003-2020, Environment Agency LiDAR Surveys, D0140519 (DSM 1m), 26/02/2011-06/03/2011 (Digital Archive). SCH7819.

<4> Various, Various, Oral communication to the HER, Edwards R & Monk J, 23/02/2018 (Oral Communication). SCH2330.

The site is visible on RAF aerial photographs (see 2) and the LIDAR (see 3), but isn’t as well defined as either the trapezoidal enclosure to the north-west (CHER 185/1) or the marl pit and drain to the immediate south. The western arm of the possible enclosure does appear to coincide with a small depression associated with a brook or palaeo-channel. It’s unfortunate that a marl pit at this location is obscuring the relationship. The LIDAR DSM dataset was processed (slope and relief) to highlight the topography of the site and its surrounding area. The possible enclosure isn’t as clearly defined as it would appear in the 'raw' DSM. It is possible that what is perceived as an enclosure is actually a group of unrelated features, namely natural topography, palaeo-channels and marl pits. Unfortunately there isn’t sufficient evidence to definitively determine whether the site is archaeological or not. If it is an settlement enclosure, it’s condition and the overlying cultivation earthworks, may suggest an earlier date. However, it would be difficult to assign a date more precisely than late Iron Age to early Medieval (c.800 BC – 1100 AD).