By the Late Bronze Age there was a change in the farming practices undertaken at Lingsmead Quarry, Horton. The farms and field systems used in the Middle Bronze Age went out of use and were abandoned. This may have been because the land had been over-farmed or because the area had become much wetter, forcing people to live further away in higher, drier locations.
Evidence for activity in the Iron Age (700 BC- AD 43) was limited to the north-eastern parts of the site, with examples of settlement and farming practices showing a distinct change to those seen during the Bronze Age. Settlement and farming practices appear to have moved towards a smaller and more contained riverside settlement characterised by roundhouses, post-built structures and enclosure ditches. Evidence for agricultural and domestic activities was recorded.
A large roundhouse of Early/Middle Iron Age date appeared to be the main focus of activity at this time. Two contemporary four-post structures were located nearby. Several areas of pit clusters suggest repeated and established activities in the area, possibly for the quarrying of clay for pottery making or for use as refuse pits. One zone of pit digging may have been an area of industrial activity, perhaps for loomweight production.
Areas of settlement were removed during the Late Iron Age, to be replaced by substantial agricultural enclosure ditches as part of a large-scale restructuring of the landscape. Domestic use of the land was relocated to an unknown area, as the sub-division of the area into workable plots of land for pasture and arable farming took effect. Many of these alignments and enclosures were reused or modified in the Romano-British period.
