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 Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...

. 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 The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

village, two

entrance grave 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 access ...

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

field systems,

standing stones A menhir (from Brittonic languages: ''maen'' or ''men'', "stone" and ''hir'' or ''hîr'', "long"), standing stone, orthostat, or lith is a large human-made upright stone, typically dating from the European middle Bronze Age. They can be foun ...

, post-medieval

breastworks A breastwork is a temporary fortification, often an earthwork thrown up to breast height to provide protection to defenders firing over it from a standing position. A more permanent structure, normally in stone, would be described as a parapet or ...

, and a Victorian

kelp Kelps are large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera. Despite its appearance, kelp is not a plant - it is a heterokont, a completely unrelated group of organisms. Kelp grows in "underwat ...

pit. The settlement was in continuous use for 500 years, from the late Iron Age until the end of the Roman occupation in Britain.

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 The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

entrance grave,

Bant's Carn 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 Iro ...

. 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. The remains of the ancient village show evidence of continuous settlement from the prehistoric to the Roman period in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. Another entrance grave stands at the foot of the slope. Between the

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. 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 The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

. 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.

History

The Halangy Down Ancient Village was first settled during the Bronze Age.

Archaeological Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscap ...

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 The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, a ...

period. The excavation findings included Iron Age, Romano-British and Anglo-Saxon pottery; flint and quartz tools; a slate spindle-whorl; several

millstone Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones. Millstones come in pairs: a convex stationary base known as the ''bedstone'' and ...

s; bronze

brooch A brooch (, also ) is a decorative jewelry item designed to be attached to garments, often to fasten them together. It is usually made of metal, often silver or gold or some other material. Brooches are frequently decorated with vitreous enamel, ...

es and iron slag. 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 Rubble is broken stone, of irregular size, shape and texture; undressed especially as a filling-in. Rubble naturally found in the soil is known also as 'brash' (compare cornbrash)."Rubble" def. 2., "Brash n. 2. def. 1. ''Oxford English Dictionary ...

. 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 A midden (also kitchen midden or shell heap) is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofact ...

adjacent to the north west wall of the courtyard house was uncovered during excavation, revealing a large pile of

limpet Limpets are a group of aquatic snails that exhibit a conical shell shape (patelliform) and a strong, muscular foot. Limpets are members of the class Gastropoda, but are polyphyletic, meaning the various groups called "limpets" descended indep ...

shells. Other detritus at the site included fish, cattle, sheep, pig and horse bones.

References

{{Isles of Scilly, state = collapsed History of the Isles of Scilly Prehistoric sites in Cornwall Stone Age sites in Cornwall English Heritage sites in the Isles of Scilly St Mary's, Isles of Scilly

Description

History

See also

References