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WYCHBURY RING

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DESCRIPTION

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Earthwork remains of an Iron Age multi- vallate hillfort with complex defences enclosing 7.25 acres with an annexe of 5.5 acres on the south. An Iron Age Bronze terret and bronze ring was found. There is no trace of an alleged field system. Roman coins found in adjacent fields suggest the presence of a Roman settlement. The site has been Scheduled. Roman masonary is claimed to have been found in the area around Wychbury Hillfort. Listed by E Scott as a possible Roman villa site.

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(SO 91908180) Wychbury Hill (TI) Camp (NR).

Wychbury Camp is a contour, multi-vallate hill-fort with complex
defences enclosing 7 1/4 acres and an annexe of 5 1/2 acres on
the south.

The entrances on the north-east and south-west sides of the fort
are formed by incurved ramparts, the latter being approached
by a wide track bounded by ditches.

An excavation by E B Marten in 1884 produced two small bronze
rings, since lost, but one of which was identified as an Early
Iron Age terret by the British Museum.

Several Roman coins in adjacent fields may indicate Romano-British
occupation. (Coin hoard also found nearby-see SO 98 SW 5).

The hill-fort has been badly damaged by tracks. Published survey
(1:2500, 1923-4) has been revised.

Iron Age field system, Wychbury Hill.

Wychbury Ring, an Iron Age bivallate hillfort, measures internally
250.0m east-west by 150.0m transversely.

The inner rampart is from 16.0m to 20.0m in width and up to 2.6m in
height internally. It drops 6.0 to 8.0m to the foot of the inner
ditch which is up to 10.0m in width and 1.7m in depth. The outer
rampart is best preserved on the south side where it is 10.0m in
width and rises from 2.0 to 3.0m from the outer ditch. The latter
averages 10.0m in width and is up to 1.2m in depth. On the north
side the inner ditch is silted up and the outer bank reduced
to a lynchet-like slope. There are no traces of the outer ditch
on the north west and north sides. The ramparts are boldly
inturned at the entrances of the east and south west. The track
with ditches leading to the latter entrance, referred to by
Cantrill(2), is modern.

The 'annexe', also referred to by Cantrill, is non-existent. An
old hollow-way, some 2.0m deep, 80.0m south of the hillfort,
has been mistaken for outworks.

A perambulation of the arable slopes below wooded Wychbury Hill
produced no traces of an Iron Age field system. Several fields
on the north east and south east sides contain traces of rig and
furrow and in one field in particular, centred at SO 92158197, it
is better preserved than elsewhere and the baulks, separating
areas of rig running in differing directions, might have been
mistaken for an Iron Age system when viewed from the hill-fort.
(Aston (5))

Published 1:2500 survey 1969 revised.

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1955

( 2) Transactions of the Worcestershire Archaeological Society

6, 1929 Page(s)144-5

( 3) edited by William Page and J W Willis-Bund 1924 The Victoria history of the county of Worcester: volume four

The Victoria history of the counties of England 4, 1924 Page(s)494

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

First Ordnance Survey archaeology field investigator J H White 24.8.62

( 5a) Oral information, correspondence (not archived) or staff comments

( 5) Externally held archive reference

Worcester County Museum Index 1971

( 6) Field Investigators Comments

Second Ordnance Survey field investigator ASP 22-APR-76

( 7) by Eleanor Scott 1993 A gazetteer of Roman villas in Britain

Leicester archaeology monographsNo.1 (1993) - WM 2 no.1 Page(s)181

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