More information : (SU 01013620) Bilbury Rings (NAT) Camp (NR) (1)
Bilbury Rings or Wylye Camp (2) a complex of earthworks (see plan(3)) consisting of:
1. A multivallate hillfort (2), enclosing 17 1/2 acres, with double ramparts and possibly triple ramparts on the west (3).
2. An irregular shaped enclosure with an internal ditch, within the main defences (3).
3. A ditch running in a straight line from the inner ditch of the hillfort and apparently connecting Bilbury with Church-end Ring (4)(5) (see SU 03 NW 14). (3-6)
Excavations were carried out by the Rev E H Steele (5) from 1959 to 1964. Pottery found led Hawkes (4) to suggest a pre-Claudian date for the original constructions of the inner enclosure, extending until at least the late 4th century. Evidence of at least 2 successive buildings were discovered in the 'salient' area on the south side of the enclosure. Sherds found in the outer ditch of the main work possibly indicates a Roman girdle ditch encircling a pre-existing univallate hillfort, but in view of Colt Hoare's (3) contention that triple ramparts existed on the western side this cannot be confirmed.
Colt Hoare's theory of an entrance on the south side was disproved by the discovery of a 4th century (5) flint trackway, running as a causeway into the hillfort at a point where the ditch is continuous. A section across the linear ditch by John Stratton (4) showed it to be V-shaped, the lower half being flint filled. It appears to underlie the outer rampart and suggests a date between the Iron Age ramparts and the Roman modifications (5).
Finds from the old ground surface between the inner and outer ditches suggest that an Iron Age 'A' settlement may have existed here before the construction of the main work (4).
The main defences and inner enclosure are much levelled by ploughing (6) (see air photographs (7)) and the ditch is now visible only as a cropmark (4).
A number of Roman brooches and other material from the site are in Salisbury Museum (2).
Surveyed by RCHM (4). (7)
SU 010362 A defended settlement of approximately 7 hectares situated on high ground in downland and overlooking a river valley to the north. So much of the earthworks has been destroyed by agricultural activity it is difficult to determine details. Colt Hoare's plan and Crawfords APs show a bivallate enclosure with, in Hoare's plan, a possible addititonal counterscarp bank on the W. The original entrance is an
apparently overlapping one in the N, though Hoare shows 8 breaks including one with a track-way leading to the internal settlement.
Of the main enclosure all that survives on the ground is the ditch of the inner rampart up to 0.7m deep, and the outer bank up to 0.8m high, with the overlapping entrance just traceable.
The internal earthworks, annotated "Romano-British Settlement" on the RCHM plan can be identified only by a few shallow depressions up to 0.3m deep and part of a broad and equally shallow ditch.
Resurveyed at 1:2500 in conjunction with RCHM. 1:1250 ms plan.
The linear ditch which extended southwards from approximately SU
01113609 to the field system and perhaps Church End Ring cannot be
readily identified on the ground but on Crawford's AP 4619 and St
Joseph's APs (7) it appears to cut through the outer rampart, not
to underlie it (cf 5). (8)
SU 010 362. Bilbury Rings. Listed in gazetteer as a multivallate hillfort covering 6.0ha. (9)
Bilbury Rings. Published plan. (10)
Mention of early military equipment and possible Roman occupation. (11)
The finds from Steel's excavation, including pre-Roman and New Forest pottery, and parts of 2 iron bow-fibulae, are in Salisbury Museum. (12) |