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HALNAKER HILL CAUSEWAYED ENCLOSURE

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The site of a probable Neolithic causewayed enclosure on Halnaker Hill, partly surviving as an earthwork. A later post mill and World War II searchlight emplacement are also located on the hill. Halnaker Hill is an isolated chalk bluff which projects to the south from a ridge of the Sussex Downs and commands panoramic views over the surrounding landscape, including the Long Down flint mines.

It consists of a single causewayed circuit, of partially angular layout, with an inturned entrance in the south. Three further probable and two possible entrances or causeways can be observed either on the ground or on air photographs. Some of it survives as a slight earthwork enclosing some 1.7 hectares. It measures approximately 175 metres by 145 metres, with its long axis aligned south-south-west to north-north-east. The enclosure originally comprised a fairly continuous low bank and external ditch, but it has suffered severely as a result of modern ploughing. The bank survives up to 5 metres wide and 0.5 metres high. Only very slight traces of the ditch are visible on the ground, with a maximum width of 4 metres and depth of 0.1 metres.

Investigations between 1981-1983 led to the discovery of fragments of pottery within the ditch, some of which have been dated to the Neolithic period. Late Bronze Age and Roman sherds were also found. The later post mill lies close to the southern entrance of the earlier enclosure and survives as a roughly circular mound about 19 metres in diameter and up to 0.8 metres high, with a large central depression. Historical records suggest that the windmill was sited here in 1540 by the Duke of Richmond in order to operate as the feudal mill for the Goodwood estates. During World War II four large searchlights were used on this hill to seek out raiding enemy aircraft. The searchlight emplacements, the middle two of which are situated within the earlier enclosure, were constructed about 100 metres apart in a south west facing, semicircular arc.

DETAIL

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[SU 9205 0970] Camp [G.T.] (1)

Curwen described Halnaker Hill as 'a very ill defined ring-work' which possesses the characteristic peculiarities of Neolithic fortification. A ruined windmill stands in the centre of the ring-work. (2-3)

This earthwork is very similar to the one recently found on Court Hill (SU 81 SE 5). Aerial and earthwork survey of the site was carried out by RCHME in 1995 as part of the Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Project. See the archive report for full details. (4-5)

On Halnaker Hill, a broad spur extending S. from the main South Downs ridge, at a height of 420 ft. OD, there is a much reduced earthwork. It is sub-oval in plan and formerly consisted of a single bank and ditch of very feeble profile which is now reduced to a single scarp nowhere exceeding about 1.0 m in height. This scarp is surmounted by a modern fence for the whole of the S. half of the work. There is a probable original entrance midway in the W. side. The feeble profile and poor defensive position of the earthwork suggest an enclosed settlement rather than a hill fort.
Published survey (25" 1912) revised. (6)

The ploughed-down remains of the earthwork generally as described by Authy 6, though a more likely position for the entrances would be in the N and S sides, since occupied by a later track. No evidence of contemporary occupation within the earthwork. Probably an LBA/EIA settlement enclosure.
Published survey (25") revised. (7)

A discussion of the Halnaker Hill earthworks (see also SU 90 NW 5, 27, 31, 32) notes that no dating evidence exists for the enclosure, but suggests a late Bronze Age or early Iron Age date by analogy with other earthwork enclosures. (8)

A small excavation in the entrance uncovered one of the ditch terminals and raised the possibility that it consists of a series of interlinked pits. Finds from the excavation are not described but include flintwork and some pottery and apparently date from the Neolithic through to the Roman period. No reliable stratigraphic separation was revealed. Animal bone from near the ditch floor produced a C14 determination of 850+/-90 bc. A subsequent excavation on the west side of the enclosure failed to produce any reliable evidence for the date of construction of the enclosure. Limited trenching of other earthworks on the hill (see NMR nos listed above) likewise produced limited dating evidence.

Small-scale trial excavations in 1981-1983 produced inconclusive results as far as the date of the enclosure is concerned. Although one section of ditch proved to have been formed by a pair of interlinked pits, offering a further parallel with Neolithic causewayed enclosures, artefacts recovered ranged in date from the Neolithic to the Roman period. Animal bone from close to the ditch bottom produced a radiocarbon date of 900+/-90bc (uncalibrated). The excavator offered two possible interpretations - either that the enclosure is Early Neolithic and the radiocarbon date is erroneous, or that the enclosure belongs to the later Neolithic, but included residual material from early Neolithic activity on the hilltop.(9-12)

(SU 9205 0970) In December 1995, RCHME carried out an analytical earthwork survey and aerial photographic transcription of Halnaker Hill as part of the project to record Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Period (13).

The earthwork is essentially as described by Sources 6 and 7. The entrance on the S side proposed by Source 7 is certain - there is a clear in-turn of the bank terminals at this point. The entrance suggested on the W by Source 6 is perhaps more likely to result from later damage. There are however several possible causeways visible on aerial photographs which probably support the interpretation of the monument as a causewayed enclosure.

For further details, see RCHME Level 3 client report and plan at 1:1000 scale, held in NMR archive. (13)

Scheduled monument. (14)

Additional references. (15-16)

Scheduled monument revision.
The designated record of the causewayed enclosure can be accessed online from the National Heritage List for England. (17-18)

Recent research into the dating of causewayed enclosures included Halnaker Hill. A bulk animal bone sample from the north entrance butt (Bedwin 1992) was dated to 1310-810 cal BC (95% confidence), prompting the conclusion that either the enclosure is indeed Neolithic and the date is a `rogue' one or that early Neolithic material was redeposited in a later Bronze Age enclosure Unfortunately it was not possible to obtain further radiocarbon dates because the remaining finds, which had remained in private hands, could not be located. The first of Bedwin's alternatives seems the more plausible, because first millennium enclosures are generally finds-rich, so that it would be strange for one to contain only Neolithic material, and because the form of the enclosure looks increasingly Neolithic. (19)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

6" 1961

(2) General reference

Curwen EC. 1929. Prehistoric Sussex Page(s)71

(3) by E Cecil Curwen 1954 The archaeology of Sussex

Page(s)70

(4) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

(5) Aerial photograph

AP 3G/TUD/UK/156 Pt !V 5396-5398

(6) Field Investigators Comments

23/03/1962

(7) Field Investigators Comments

25/09/1972

(8) Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex archaeological collections : relating to the history and antiquities of the counties of East and West Sussex

Pitts, M. Earthworks at Halnaker Hill. 117, 1979 Page(s)223-224

(9) London University Institute of Archaeology Bulletin

Bedwin, O. Excavations at Halnaker Hill, Boxgrove, West Sussex. 19, 1982 Page(s)92-95

(10) London University Institute of Archaeology Bulletin

Bedwin O. Excavations at Halnaker Hill, Boxgrove, Sussex (second season) 20, 1983 Page(s)80-83

(11) London University Institute of Archaeology Bulletin

Bedwin O. Excavations at Halnaker Hill, Boxgrove, West Sussex (third season) 20/21, 1984 Page(s)34-46

(12) Royal Archaeological Institute The Archaeological Journal

Rudling D. Halnaker Hill Enclosure. 142, 1985 Page(s)42-43

(13) General reference

RCHME: Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic Period: Halnaker Hill Survey

(14) Scheduled Monument Notification

11/07/1997

(15) Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex archaeological collections : relating to the history and antiquities of the counties of East and West Sussex

Bedwin, O. Prehistoric Earthworks on Halnaker Hill, West Sussex: Excavations 1981-1983 130, 1992 Page(s)1-12

(16) SU 90 NW 2 (Halnaker Hill) (1971)

(17) Scheduled Monument Notification

Scheduling revision 07-Mar-2002

(18) World Wide Web page

English Heritage 2011, The National Heritage List for England, http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1020514 [Accessed 14-JUL-2011]

(19) Alasdair Whittle, Alex Bayliss and Frances Healy 2011 Gathering Time: Dating the Early Neolithic Enclosures of Southern Britain and Ireland

Chapter 5.8, Halnaker Hill 1 Page(s)249-250

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