More information : [ST 7725 6085] Earthwork [GT]
A roughly quadrilateral shaped enclosure, with rounded corners, at Hayes Wood, Freshford, was excavated by Stone and Wicks in 1934, four cuttings being made. Only the eastern side, consisting of a ditch (cut out of solid rock) and outside bank remains, but most of the rest of the silted-up ditch can be traced. A simple entrance is on the east side.
The enclosure, possibly a cattle kraal, is dated by the pottery to the Early Iron Age, between the 4th and 1st centuries B.C with an apparent Belgic occupation up to 50.70 A.D., the whole occupation possibly continuous. An isolated R.B. cooking pot of 3rd c. A.D. was also found whilst flint imps. and four sherds of pottery pre-dating the enclosure may be Early Bronze Age or earlier and Neolithic 'B' respectively. [See AO/61/234/5]
The east end of this enclosure falls within woodland and survives, but all certain traces of its continuation in the field to
the west have been destroyed by ploughing. Surveyed at 1.2500. (3)
The western portion of the enclosure is visible as cropmarks on aerial photographs taken June 24th 2003. (4) |