Monument record MDR7088 - Willington Iron Age settlement, north of Egginton Brook, Willington

Complex of cropmarks (2, 3) showing linear features and enclosures. The features were part excavated in 1972 by TVARC revealing, among other things, Iron Age settlement with ring ditches and hut circles. (1) The Iron Age at Willington was represented by a variety of features over a wide area, of which only a part was excavated. It included a ditch system apparently first laid out in the early Iron Age and probably continuing in use throughout the Iron Age occupation of the site. The many resettings of the three ditch complexes indicates the importance attached to their line in antiquity and they may well have formed part of a stable and long-lived division of land, a field system organised and maintained over many generations. A number of round houses were identified in the excavated areas, associated with pits and hearths. These appear to have been short-lived. All were built with a continuous post-trench for the walls, the commonest type in the Trent Valley. It is probable that no more than one or two were in use at any one time. They are not served by their own enclosures but lie close to elements of the ditch system, sometimes tucked into the corner of a large enclosure. Their small size should be noted: the two largest were under 7m in diameter, three were closer to 5m and one was under 4m. In addition to the field system, a large palisaded enclosure (possibly a cattle pound) was also identified, as was a five-post structure, interpreted as a possible granary. (4) The cropmarks have been plotted on a map overlay at a scale of 1:10000. (6)