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Croes Phillip, St Davids, Parchmarks of Possible Township

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NPRN419617
Map ReferenceSM72NW
Grid ReferenceSM7414026440
Unitary (Local) AuthorityPembrokeshire
Old CountyPembrokeshire
CommunitySt Davids and the Cathedral Close
Type Of SiteBUILDING
PeriodMedieval
Description
Royal Commission aerial reconnaissance on 16th July 2013 and subsequently revealed extensive parchmarks in a pair of arable fields at Croes Phillip which appear to show a polygonal stone-built enclosure or boundary bank in the eastern field, associated with rectangular parched shapes, and a further group of three parched shapes in the western field. The 1st edition County Series mapping for the fields shows no relict features.

The enclosure in the eastern field appears to represent a stony bank or wall describing a polygonal field, at odds to the present field boundaries but contained within them. At the western edge of the field can be seen three or four square and rectangular parchmarks. Some 130m west in the second field, towards its western perimeter, are a detached group of three further rectangular parchmarks.

The archaeological interpretation of these unusual parchmarks would favour a settlement or township of rectangular long houses with stone-built foundations, associated with a boundary wall or field; perhaps a medieval settlement of buildings. However, given the unusual parching signature of the remains it may be that a more mundane military or agricultural origin would explain the markings.

T. Driver, RCAHMW, 2013.