More information : (ST 17620401) Hill Fort (NR). (1)
Dumpton or Great Dumpdon Camp. A kite-shaped fort 800 ft long
and 370 ft at its widest. It is naturally defended by
precipitous slopes on the east and west and surrounded by two
ramparts and a single ditch, except on the north west where
each rampart has its ditch, and where they are separated from
one another by a platform. On the east and west sides the
ramparts are separated by a narrower platform divided into two
terraces; the lower one only has the partial remains of an
outer rampart on the edge of the natural descent, which rises
to 6ft in height at the southern point. The eastern entrance is
inturned, the inner ramparts forming a passage nearly 100 ft long. Beneath the entrance is a crescent-shaped outwork with another below it, before which are the remains of a well defended entrance. A mound at the centre of the fort is said (by Hutchinson) to have been made for an Ordnance Survey instrument station but there are no traces of quarrying around. (2-3)
Dumpdon Great Camp. 2nd to 1st century BC. Three acres. There
are traces of an outermost counterscarp bank, beyond to two
encircling banks. (4)
Dumpdon Hill Fort : Iron Age B. (5)
Dumpdon Hill was Dumpton in 1690 but Ryngburghe in 1344. (6)
Dumpdon fort, at 260m. O.D., encloses 2.7 ha., on the
triangular flat top of a hill which is steep sided except on
the north.
There are two ramparts, strongest on the vulnerable north side
where they are separated by a berm 8.0m wide. Each bank is
about 1.2m high on the inner face and 35.m high on the outer.
In recent years the ditch accompanying the inner rampart has
been almost entirely filled with imported material though the
original course is traceable as a 6.0m wide band of vegetation
is soft ground. The outer ditch is reasonably complete and
0.6m. deep.
The western and eastern sides meet at an acute angle at the
southern end. In both, scarping has increased the slope of the
hillside, with an intermediate berm or terrace. That this is
missing for 30.0m on the south-west may be the result of slip
or that the natural slope was already precipitous. At the
southern point a third supplementary scarp appears for a short
distance where the hill is less steep.
The well preserved inturned entrance at the north-east has no
accompanying side ditches and is approached by a terrace way.
Nothing could be identified of outworks or the "well defended
entrance" recorded by (2) and any approach from that easterly
direction would involve a steep climb.
The fort hs no specific name save usually "Dumpdon", from the
hill on which it stands.
Surveyed at 1:2500 for M.S.D.
(For internal mound (3), see ST 10 SE 22). (7)
A rapid examination of air photography (8a) shows the earthworks of this hillfort. (8) |