Halangy Down

Last updated

Halangy Down Ancient Village
Iron Age House, Halangy Down, St. Mary's - geograph.org.uk - 929468.jpg
Halangy Down Ancient Village
Isles of Scilly UK location map.svg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Shown within Isles of Scilly
Region Isles of Scilly
Coordinates 49°55′55″N6°18′23″W / 49.93194°N 6.30639°W / 49.93194; -6.30639
History
FoundedIron Age
PeriodsIron Age, Roman-Britain

Halangy Down (or Halangy Down Ancient Village) is a prehistoric settlement located on the island of St Mary's, in the Isles of Scilly. The ancient site covers the lower slope of Halangy Down hill, overlooking the coastal inlet between the island of St. Mary's and Tresco Island. On the site are the remains of an Iron Age village, two entrance graves, prehistoric field systems, standing stones, post-medieval breastworks, and a Victorian kelp pit. The settlement was in continuous use for 500 years, from the late Iron Age until the end of the Roman occupation in Britain.

Contents

Description

Halangy Down is a hill on the island of St. Mary's in the Isles of Scilly. At the top of the hill, on its southwestern border and overlooking the coastal inlet between St. Mary's and Tresco Island, lies the Bronze Age entrance grave, Bant's Carn. Below the grave, further down the slope, are the remains of the Iron Age settlement, "Halangy Down Ancient Village". The settlement complex, spanning four narrow terraces, is 50 metres (55 yards) long by 30 metres (35 yards) wide, and stretches across the lower slope of the Down on its southwest boundary. [1] The remains of the ancient village show evidence of continuous settlement from the prehistoric to the Roman period in Britain. Another entrance grave stands at the foot of the slope. [2]

Between the Bronze Age grave and the ancient settlement are the remnants of prehistoric field systems that are discernible as a sequence of terraces and raised banks. The layout of the once thriving village can be seen in the large stone and rubble remains of stone huts, buildings and a courtyard complex with multiple rooms. [3] [2] At the foot of the northwestern slope, is a prehistoric standing stone made of granite. It measures 1.75 metres (5'9") high by 1 metres (3'3") wide and 0.7 metres (2'3") thick. Behind the cliff's edge, there is a line of low bank and ditch fortifications, built in the mid-seventeenth century and in use during the English Civil War. From the late seventeenth to the early nineteenth centuries, soda-ash was manufactured on Halangy Down in a stone-lined kelp pit. The kelp pit is situated 2.5 metres (3 yards) behind the edge of the cliff and can easily be seen as a stone-lined, circular hollow. The pit is 1.4 metres (4'8") in diameter, 0.6 metres (2') deep, and shaped as like an upturned cone. [4]

History

The Halangy Down settlement The Halangy Down settlement - geograph.org.uk - 560649.jpg
The Halangy Down settlement

The Halangy Down Ancient Village was first settled during the Bronze Age. Archaeological excavations conducted in 1935, 1950, and 1964 to 1970, revealed that the first stone structures were built during the Iron Age (800 BC - 100 AD). Evidence shows that the buildings were continually altered and replaced over the 500 year period of occupation, from the later Iron Age to the Roman period of occupation in Britain (43 AD - 410 AD). The village was made up of a complex of attached stone houses. One house, a large multi-room residence with an interconnecting courtyard, had been built in the Romano-British period. [2] The excavation findings included Iron Age, Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon pottery; flint and quartz tools; a slate spindle-whorl; several millstones; bronze brooches and iron slag. [3]

In the early years of development, the village consisted of oval or round stone houses with thick walls. The houses had cone-shaped, thatched roofs and small storage chambers that were built into the walls. Houses were faced with large stones and rubble. The size of the houses varied from 7.5 metres (25') by 5.1 metres (16'), to 7 metres (23') by 6.75 metres (22'2"). The structures also had one or two entrances, which consisted of faced passages up to 2.2 metres (7'3") wide. In the last stages of development, a large courtyard complex, including a large house with multiple rooms, was built at the south east end of the settlement. The complex was laid out with several rooms leading off a small courtyard, and the entire complex was surrounded by an enormous wall. The entry to the complex was through a narrow passage. A large midden adjacent to the north west wall of the courtyard house was uncovered during excavation, revealing a large pile of limpet shells. Other detritus at the site included fish, cattle, sheep, pig and horse bones. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Abel-beth-maachah</span>

Tel Abel Beth Maacah is a large archaeological tell with a small upper northern section and a large lower southern one, connected by a saddle. It is located on the northern border of present-day Israel, about 2 km south of the town of Metula and about 6.5 km west of Tel Dan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chysauster Ancient Village</span>

Chysauster Ancient Village is a late Iron Age and Romano-British village of courtyard houses in Cornwall, United Kingdom, which is currently in the care of English Heritage. The village included eight to ten houses, each with its own internal courtyard. To the south east is the remains of a fogou, an underground structure of uncertain function.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carn Euny</span> Archaeological site near Sancreed, Cornwall

Carn Euny is an archaeological site near Sancreed, on the Penwith peninsula in Cornwall, United Kingdom with considerable evidence of both Iron Age and post-Iron Age settlement. Excavations on this site have shown that there was activity at Carn Euny as early as the Neolithic period. There is evidence that shows that the first timber huts there were built about 200 BC, but by the 1st century BC, these had been replaced by stone huts. The remains of these stone huts are still visible today.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Durrington Walls</span> Late Neolithic palisaded enclosure

Durrington Walls is the site of a large Neolithic settlement and later henge enclosure located in the Stonehenge World Heritage Site in England. It lies 2 miles (3.2 km) north-east of Stonehenge in the parish of Durrington, just north of Amesbury in Wiltshire. The henge is the second-largest Late Neolithic palisaded enclosure known in the United Kingdom, after Hindwell in Wales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Entrance grave</span> Prehistoric burial monument found primarily on the Isles of Scilly, England

Entrance grave is a type of Neolithic and early Bronze Age chamber tomb found primarily in Great Britain. The burial monument typically consisted of a circular mound bordered by a stone curb, erected over a rectangular burial chamber and accessed by a narrow, stone lined entrance. Entrance graves have been discovered in the Isles of Scilly, west Cornwall, southeast Ireland, southwest Scotland, Brittany and the Channel Islands. They are often referred to as the Scillonian Group, named for the Scillonian Islands where the majority of entrance graves have been discovered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bant's Carn</span> Scillonian entrance grave

Bant's Carn is a Bronze Age entrance grave located on a steep slope on the island of St Mary's in the Isles of Scilly, England. The tomb is one of the best examples of a Scillonian entrance grave. Below Bant's Carn, lies the remains of the Iron Age village of Halangy Down.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Porth Hellick Down</span> Neolithic entrance grave on the Isles of Scilly

Porth Hellick Down is a Neolithic and Bronze Age archeological site located on the island of St Mary's, in the Isles of Scilly in Great Britain. The ancient burial monument encompasses a large cairn cemetery that includes at least six entrance graves, other unchambered cairns, and a prehistoric field system. The site is notable for having the largest assembly of surviving entrance graves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cairnpapple Hill</span>

Cairnpapple Hill is a hill with a dominating position in central lowland Scotland with views from coast to coast. It was used and re-used as a major ritual site over about 4000 years, and in its day would have been comparable to better known sites like the Standing Stones of Stenness. The summit lies 312 m above sea level, and is about 2 miles (3 km) north of Bathgate. In the 19th century the site was completely concealed by trees, then in 1947–1948 excavations by Stuart Piggott found a series of ritual monuments from successive prehistoric periods. In 1998, Gordon Barclay re-interpreted the site for Historic Scotland. It is designated a scheduled ancient monument.

Dunragit is a village on the A75, between Stranraer and Glenluce in Dumfries and Galloway, south-west Scotland. Dunragit is within the parish of Old Luce, in the traditional county of Wigtownshire. The modern village grew up around the west gate of Dunragit House, an 18th-century country house, though there is evidence of Neolithic settlement in the area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mynydd Carningli</span>

Mynydd Carningli is a mountain in the Preseli Hills near the town of Newport, Pembrokeshire, Wales. It has both prehistoric and historic remains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tall Zira'a</span>

The Tall Zira'a is an archaeological tell in Jordan. Surveys and geophysical investigations showed the site's great potential for excavations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Moesgaard Museum</span> Cultural history museum, archaeological museum in Beder , Denmark

Moesgaard Museum (MOMU) is a Danish regional museum dedicated to archaeology and ethnography. It is located in Beder, a suburb of Aarhus, Denmark.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Ashbee</span>

Paul Ashbee was a leading British archaeologist, noted for his many excavations of barrows, or burial mounds, and for co-directing the Sutton Hoo digs from 1964 to 1972. He was also president of the Just William Society. He died of cancer on 19 August 2009, aged 91.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Obadiah's Barrow</span> Neolithic entrance grave on the Isles of Scilly

Obadiah's Barrow or Obadiah's Grave is a Neolithic entrance grave located on the island of Gugh in the Isles of Scilly. The grave sits on a steep slope on the southwestern side of Kittern Hill, the highest point on Gugh. The grave was excavated in 1901 by British archaeologist, George Bonsor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High Pasture Cave</span> Cave and archaeological site in the United Kingdom

High Pasture Cave is an archaeological site on the island of Skye, Scotland. Human presence is documented since the Mesolithic, and remains, including Iron Age structures, point to ritual veneration of either the landscape or deities associated with the place. The cave system extends to about 320 metres of accessible passages

Benie Hoose, also Bunyie Hoose, is a Neolithic site in the parish of Nesting, northeastern Whalsay, in the Shetland Islands of Scotland. It is located approximately 100 yards (91 m) to the northwest of the Standing Stones of Yoxie, and about 140 metres (460 ft) southeast of the Pettigarths Field Cairns. Benie' is believed to be a local term for 'Bone House' or graveyard or a transliteration of the Old Norse 'Boenhus', which means 'a house of prayer' or chapel. Based on architectural details and its location with respect to Yoxie, a nearby site, it is conjectured that the Benie Hoose was the residence of the priests who were associated with performing worship at the temple at Yoxie. Benie Hoose and Yoxie demonstrate characteristics of 'paired houses'. OS (NKB) visited the site on 30 May 1968. The one-room site measures 24.4 by 12.8 metres, and features a horned forecourt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Innisidgen</span> Two entrances graves in the Isles of Scilly

Innisidgen is the site of two Bronze Age entrance graves on the island of St Mary's in the Isles of Scilly. The two burial monuments, lie on a steep slope of Innisidgen Hill overlooking Crow Sound with a view towards the Eastern Isles.

This is a list of scheduled monuments in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Monuments are listed by Historic England as part of the National Heritage List for England. For the scope of this list, the Isles of Sicily are included and the ceremonial county boundaries are used.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castallack Round</span>

Castallack Round or Roundago is a prehistoric site near Castallack in Cornwall, England. It is a scheduled monument.

References

  1. "Halangy Down". Mapcarta. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  2. 1 2 3 "Bant's Carn Burial Chamber and Halangy Down Ancient Village". English Heritage. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  3. 1 2 "Halangy Down Ancient Village". Historic England: Pastscape. Retrieved 19 July 2020.
  4. 1 2