Reasons for Designation
Rounds are small embanked enclosures, one of a range of settlement types dating to between the later Iron Age and the early post-Roman period. Usually circular or oval, they have a single earth and rubble bank and an outer ditch, with one entrance breaking the circuit. Excavations have produced drystone supporting walls within the bank, paved or cobbled entrance ways, post built gate structures, and remains of timber, turf or stone built houses of oval or rectangular plan, often set around the inner edge of the enclosing bank. Other evidence includes hearths, drains, gullies, pits and rubbish middens. Evidence for industrial activities has been recovered from some sites, including small scale metal working and, among the domestic debris, items traded from distant sources. Some rounds are associated with secondary enclosures, either abutting the round as an annexe or forming an additional enclosure. Rounds are viewed primarily as agricultural settlements, the equivalents of farming hamlets. They were replaced by unenclosed settlement types by the 7th century AD. Over 750 rounds are recorded in the British Isles, occurring in areas bordering the Irish Seas, but confined in England to south west Devon and especially Cornwall, where many more examples may await discovery. Most recorded examples are sited on hillslopes and spurs. Rounds are important as one of the major sources of information on settlement and social organisation of the Iron Age and Roman periods in south west England. Despite reduction in the height of the ramparts through cultivation and having been bisected by a road, the round 420m south east of Melancoose survives comparatively well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, longevity, function, agricultural practices, trade, social organisation, domestic arrangements and overall landscape context.
Details
The monument, which falls into two areas of protection, includes a round, situated on the upper north western end of a ridge between two unnamed rivers leading to Porth. The round survives as an oval enclosure. It is defined by a rampart of up to 1m high with a largely buried outer ditch of up to 0.4m deep which survives as partially upstanding earthworks and elsewhere as largely buried features and deposits.
A road, which bisects the round, is excluded from the monument. A field boundary which crosses the rampart to the north west is also excluded, although the ground beneath is included.
Sources: HER:-
PastScape Monument No:-429301
