Foxrush
Farm
Further
Information
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further information
2002
Excavation.
In
October 2002 an archaeological excavation was
undertaken by Tees Archaeology and Teesside Archaeological
Society, which demonstrated that Iron Age features
survive within the enclosure north of Foxrush
Farm.
Two
trenches were opened in that year, trench A and
trench B.
Trench
A was aimed at locating the enclosure ditch, and
a section across the ditch was excavated. In addition
this trench demonstrated that there are features
located outside the enclosure, possibly related
to agricultural activity.
Trench
B looked at features within the enclosure such
as ditches, gullies, pits and postholes, which
may represent structures and boundaries within
the enclosure. There has been some disturbance
by ploughing, as shown by clear furrows running
across the site, but some shallow features such
as stakeholes have survived.
2003
Excavation.
In
2003 another two trenches were opened. One revisited
the previous years trench B, which was not completed.
And a new trench was opened on the other side
of the farm buildings to look at some of the features
identified by the geophysical survey.
The Enclosure
Ditch.
The
Iron Age enclosure at Foxrush Farm is a type of
defended enclosure that was common in Yorkshire
and Durham during the 500 years preceding the
beginning of the first millennium. There are in
excess of 1,000 of these sites known in Yorkshire
and Durham although not all were farmsteads or
settlements: some may have been enclosures for
livestock. However, where excavations have taken
place at these sites, the evidence for the cultural
wealth of the community, industries, crafts, economy,
agriculture and the date of the sites has shown
that there are different trends across the region.
An example of this is the date of enclosure construction.
In Eastern Yorkshire the settlements are unenclosed
around 400BC, with enclosure occurring prior to
the Roman settlement in the north. In the North
East, the evidence from the enclosure at Thorpe
Thewles (Heslop, 1987) is for enclosures to be
constructed around 400BC, with open settlements
forming around the turn of the millennium.
The
enclosure at Foxrush Farm appears to be similar
to Thorpe Thewles in some respects: the enclosure
ditch was 6m wide and nearly 2m deep, and was
later to serve as the rubbish dump for the community
with animal bones and pottery sherds deposited
in the ditch fills. Seemingly the community at
Foxrush could command the support of a large number
of people to enclose a substantial area: communal
or community activities such as this are often
seen as high status.
The
location of the enclosure at Foxrush Farm is a
notable feature; it is at a low altitude, being
10m above sea level and is within two kilometres
of the present coast and wetland environments
of the River Tees. This is of interest because
few sites in the area have been examined in this
type of location and it is of note that many of
the recently excavated Iron Age sites have revealed
evidence for the exploitation of salt. Sherds
of briquetage have been excavated from inland
sites such as Kilton Thorpe suggesting the manufacture
of salt from seawater; this activity was known
to take place at Coatham Marsh in the medieval
period. The site at Foxrush is ideally located
to exploit this resource in earlier times.
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