The Hagg Community Archaeology Project with SWAAG

Hagg Farm, Fremington, Swaledale (North Yorkshire, UK).

Surveys and exploratory excavations by the Swaledale and Arkengarthdale Archaeology Group (SWAAG) over the past few years (beginning in 2009) at The Hagg have suggested the presence of roundhouses, walls, trackways and features associated with a possible settlement/farming complex.

Analysis of finds indicated that the site is Romano-British, abandoned towards the end of the 4th century AD. However there has as yet been no evidence indicating when the site was established or how it developed.

To date

The excavations on the site support the picture of a small successful farmstead, active between the 2nd and the 4th centuries AD. Evidence of three hut circles and one roundhouse (from a pre-Roman phhse) have been recorded, with the LIDAR evidence suggesting at least the possibility of two further structures. The farmstead produced flour, worked on cultivated crops and likely also mined for surface lead, suggesting a busy prosperous settlement.

The 2017 grant-funded excavation proved invaluable to the interpretation of the site, with the presence of a large courtyard established with entrances from the east and a further entrance to the south leading to a southern annexe. This led to a further two seasons in the summers of 2018 and 2019 which presented evidence of a multi-platformed interconnected site with distinct courtyards and working areas. Pottery remains, as well as quernstone fragments, coins, tools, jet jewellery, glass and a crossbow brooch of a rare type also added to the evidence uncovered.

2020 Season

Dates not as yet confirmed. To enquire please contact the following: