Thorpe
Thewles Iron Age Settlement
An almost complete fossilized landscape.
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The Thorpe Thewles Iron Age settlement is situated
on the east side of the A177, approximately 1.5
kilometres to the north of the village of Thorpe
Thewles, near Stockton On Tees in the north-east
of England.
Map Reference NZ 397 245.
The site was first identified from an aerial
photograph taken in 1976 by Leslie Still. The
rectangular cropmark lies, significantly, on
the same alignment as the modern road (the A177),
which is in turn, reputed to follow the course
of a Roman road between Stockton on Tees and
Chester le Street. It is possible that the Roman
road itself followed the course of an earlier
trackway which was contemporary with the Iron
Age site at Thorpe Thewles. Enclosures of this
type are relatively common in the north-east
of England but Thorpe Thewles is much larger
than most, covering an area of almost 7,000 square
metres.
Between 1980 and 1982 Cleveland County Archaeology
Section excavated over 50% of the enclosure.
The ditch forming the enclosure was over 3 metres
wide and 2 metres deep and the considerable upcast
had been used to form a bank, probably on the
inside. The bank would have been capped with
either a stout wooden fence or a thick set hedge
to protect the community’s livestock from
bad weather and marauding wolves, wild boars
and brown bears, then still native to the north
of England. The entrance was at the southern
edge.
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house | animals | artefacts
gallery | reports | further
information |
