Kilham : Romano-British Period And After

Towards the end of the first millennium BC, pollen evidence suggests that all remaining upland forest had been cleared, and small-enclosed settlements or “homesteads” were established in increasing numbers on slopes and high moorland. Some of these new settlements seem to have been established within the ramparts of earlier hillforts, or overlying the defences, which in some cases were seen to have been abandoned for some time (Welfare 2002, 75).

There are, unfortunately, very few well-dated first millennium BC settlement sites, and it is often not possible to determine without excavation whether an individual settlement belongs to the Bronze Age, Iron Age, or Roman period. It some cases, such as at Hetha Burn Head in the College valley, settlements seem to have continued in use throughout all of these periods. The well-preserved settlement 320m northeast of Longknowe (NT 871310) is thought to be Romano-British in date though a late pre-Roman Iron Age date is also possible.

This part of Northumberland lay beyond the Roman frontier for much of the period of occupation, and the influence of Roman culture is likely to have been slight and very indirect (Higham 1986, 224-6). Small enclosed homesteads such as these are likely to have continued to be used for several centuries and were perhaps only eventually abandoned in favour of lower-lying hamlets and villages, many of which are in existence today, during the Early Medieval period, following a political takeover by new warrior elites originally deriving from Northern Europe and Scandinavia.