Low Coniscliffe - Archaeological Sites and Finds

Archaeological Sites and Finds

A Palaeolithic axehead was found somewhere in the area. Roman coins were found in 1856 and 1978 in Cocker Beck, and the later finds were dated 308−346 AD. Bishop Bek ordered a tower to be built in Low Coniscliffe in the 13th century; the site is unknown, but it may be the site of the manor house. There is an unknown site of a gallows, pre−1293 AD, south of the Tees, and west of Howden Hill Farm. The extreme south−west end of the present built−up area of the village is probably the site of the old medieval manor house, 1066−1540. The site includes earthwork enclosures, and a 1960s excavation revealed a 15th−16th century round dovecote. There is supposed to be another dovecote here; location unknown. The house at the south−west end of the village, numbers 55−57, is a 17th century listed building: a roughcast brick and rubble structure with a pantiled roof. This is a pair of houses; once a farmhouse with a cottage on the right. Well Bank House, number 20 near the south−east corner of the village, is a listed building dated around the late 18th to early 19th century. Like numbers 55−57 it is built of roughcast rubble with a pantiled roof, and this building contains a 19th century iron range.