In contrast to the previous focus on forts, towns and villas, the past quarter-century or so has witnessed an unprecedented level of investigation of Late Iron Age and Romano-British rural settlements, much of it undertaken in advance of development. In the area under discussion here, there seems to be no let-up in the flow of fieldwork projects and in turn of new data: there are currently more applications for major infrastructure schemes — solar farms, new pipelines and cables — in the county of Lincolnshire than any other. Fortunately, those now working on such projects can benefit from some long-term research projects that have produced a significant body of evidence for Roman rural settlement. Apart from the earlier large-scale work on the Fens and the Humber Wetlands, and a programme of aerial photography, they include long-term campaigns in North Lincolnshire by Steve Willis and his teams. These have so far resulted in major reports on the Nettleton/Rothwell areas of the Lincolnshire Wolds (reviewed in this journal in 2017), and in the Waithe Valley site of Hatcliffe Top at their north-east fringes (also reviewed in this journal in 2022), with a useful general discussion. Another volume is in preparation. Many fresh insights into the various ways in which Roman presence affected native settlement — at least at roadside locations and adjacent areas — have also been provided by the well-designed investigations at Hayton and Shiptonthorpe, across the Humber in east Yorkshire, by Halkon, Millett and colleagues. The value of all the above projects has been further enhanced by some national initiatives and databases, providing a wider context and useful comparanda. Most notable, of course, is the huge project co-ordinated by Mike Fulford and Neil Holbrook at Reading University that generated an online database and three substantial volumes, New Visions of the Countryside of Roman Britain (2016–18).
The volume under review stems from a road scheme required to improve communications from the principal east–west route (A180/M180) to the port of Immingham at the north-eastern fringe of Lincolnshire. About 5 km of road construction works were planned, requiring a mixture of excavation (at the Brocklesby Interchange), survey and monitoring, all carried out under the supervision of Ruben Lopez Catalan. Following earlier surveys and site evaluations, the fieldwork began in earnest in 2015. To the credit of this report, co-ordinated by Nigel Andrew Cavanagh, the detailed account of the investigations is preceded by a review of existing knowledge of the area for each period. The excavations are described lucidly, with clear illustrations, and then discussed by period in terms of their significance. The volume has also benefited from Willis’s advice, and the bibliography that concludes the report confirms the impression that the work has been well researched.
The excavations revealed much of significance in terms of the earlier prehistoric material, and some focal points in the landscape continued to have an influence on later settlement patterns: for instance, Iron Age field-systems oriented similarly to Bronze Age pit alignments. From the point of view of this journal, the principal discoveries included evidence of settlement from the Late Iron Age and well into the Roman period. There was some resemblance here to what May uncovered at Dragonby in the 1960s–70s, one of the larger open settlements in the region. The evidence from the investigations on the new road indicated that the larger farming establishments continued into the late Roman period, while the marginal, mainly single farmsteads did not necessarily survive beyond the early Roman period. The authors suggest that a continuing mixed farming regime is represented, with some ‘craft-level industrial activities’. Some re-modelling of the main excavation site at Brocklesby interchange took place in the second century a.d., interpreted here as reflecting the establishment of a single farmstead with some architectural pretension. While this impression was echoed for a while in terms of the artefactual evidence, by the third century there was an apparent lowering of status and the shift to increased dairy production, but still within the context of a mixed economy. More change followed, with new, smaller enclosures — as also identified by Willis at the Hatcliffe Top site.
The results of the project may be compared with those from some other recent investigations in the same region. One large-scale investigation took place at North Killingholme, on the south bank of the Humber, and covered about 12 hectares. The archaeological contractor, Allen Archaeology, revealed isolated Middle Iron Age settlements, followed by a more complex pattern in the Late Iron Age that formed the basis for the Romano-British field system and larger settlements perhaps linked to estates. More recently, the detailed report has appeared on a gas-pipeline route adjacent to the Humber in Goxhill parish, where the Romano-British period witnessed an intensification of pastoral farming along with arable cultivation, and from the mid-Roman period a change from roundhouses to rectilinear buildings (Richard Gregory et al., On the Banks of the Humber: Archaeological and Paleaoenvironmental Investigations at Goxhill, North Lincolnshire and Paull, East Yorkshire, 2016–20, Archaeopress, 2026). The body of evidence now available from these sites along and adjacent to the coastal marsh will require even recent syntheses to be updated. For the present, each project appears to produce a variation on a theme of mixed farming, with slightly different emphases through time and based on local factors, and suggesting the cattle raising dominated where arable cultivation was more difficult.
Much the largest element of the present report (47–207) is taken up by Sections 4 and 5, containing reports on ‘Material Culture’ and scientific and environmental analyses. Here the project has been well served by the input of a range of recognised specialists, encouraged to report in detail. No category of material or scientific evidence is neglected. The prehistoric and Roman pottery assemblage analysed by Ian Rowlandson and H.G. Fiske has material similar to that found by Willis at Nettleton/Rothwell, but, more like Hatcliffe (a ‘working rural community’), containing much more evidence for late Roman occupation. Analysis of the bowls produced some evidence for diet, with a substantial number indicating the presence of ruminants. The animal bones (Matilda Holmes) were dominated by cattle, increasing in proportion to other mammals from the start of the Roman period, with other modest changes over time, perhaps a reflection of increasing Roman influence. While the evidence implies that many of the animals were kept for the purposes of feeding the local population, later changes may have been needed to supply larger markets.
In general, this excellent report displays a clear awareness of the evolution of the landscape, its environmental context, and the significance of the research, for instance in the context of the Research Agenda and Strategy for the East Midlands Historic Environment. Finally, it is gratifying to note that the BAR series still continues to thrive after more than 50 years, offering outlets for both research and for accounts of fieldwork such as this. The price of the volume, however, even for the eBook (£49), might discourage all but academic libraries.
