| Summary : Well-preserved strip lynchets on the eastern flank of the northern spur of Hambledon Hill, running outside and roughly parall to the hillfort (ST 81 SW 19) ramparts. The earthworks at Hambledon Hill were surveyed by RCHME in 1996. See the archive report for full details. They survive to up to 5 metres high and descend the eastern flank of the hillfort spur obliquely in a sinuous curve which extends for 300 metres. They were initially interpreted as a prehistoric terraced trackway approaching the south-eastern gateway of the hillfort, though this is unlikely given that they are not aligned on the gateway and fade out some distance below it. Roger Mercer has suggested that the lynchets might be part of a possible Bronze Age field system, of which some of the scarps re-used to create the hillfort might be part. There is some evidence that the lynchets re-used pre-existing fields. However, it seems likely that the massive size of the main lynchets is due to their conversion into medieval strip fields. Two slight but broader scarps near the southern end of the lynchets may also be medieval cultivation terraces. |