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. The round on Tregearedown Beacon, 295m north east of the Nook appears to be rather unusual because, although planned, it appears not to have been completed. It survives well and will contain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, use, abandonment, social organisation, domestic arrangements, agricultural activity and overall landscape context.
Details
The monument includes a round, situated on the upper slopes of a prominent hill called Tregearedown Beacon. The round survives as roughly-circular enclosure with an internal diameter of approximately 50m. It is partly enclosed by an intermittent bank of up to 1.8m high with a corresponding outer ditch with traces of a counterscarp bank in places.
Sources: HER:-
PastScape Monument No:-436205
