Summary : A small multivallate hillfort of Iron Age date prominently situated at the north eastern end of the Stoney Cross ridge. The hillfort defences enclose a roughly square area of 1.5 hectares of relatively level ground. They are most impressive to the south west, where they are constructed across the neck of the ridge. They survive here as two parallel banks, up to 12 metres wide and 2 metres high, separated by a shallow ditch and flanked by a second, outer ditch up to 9 metres wide and 1 metre deep. A possible original entrance on this side has now been widened and damaged by the construction of a modern road into the hillfort. The remaining defences are on a smaller scale. Natural springs rise to the north west and south east where the steeply sloping and boggy sides of the ridge are enclosed by a single bank standing up to 3.5 metres above a shallow outer ditch which has now become almost completely infilled. Part excavation during sewage works in 1972 indicated that the rampart on the north west side had been revetted with timber posts along the front. To the north east and east, the ridge-end defences are augmented by a low, parallel outer bank which has been partly levelled by the construction of a modern road. Scheduled. |
More information : [Centred at SU 2772 1214] Castle [GT] (site of) [TI] (1) A camp called "Malwood Castle" with an area of about four acres which is occupied by the site of a modern house. The camp is squarish in shape with gently rounded corners; the sides are not straight. The entrenchment is single, except across the neck which forms the approach, where the defences are double. (2) A pre-Roman defensive camp. There is no trace of a castle ever having been built here. Malwood Castle being a place name denoting the entrenched camp. (3) Add. ref (4) The name suggests Norman occupation, and the place is marked with a castle characteristic by Saxton (1579) on his map of Hampshire, and by Norden (1595) and Speed (1611). The latter selects Malwood as a typical example of an inland castle, in the company of Winchester and Odiam. There is not one piece of documentary evidence such as Rolls and Exchequer Accounts to uphold what is accepted as a tradition built upon the name Castle denoting a fortification. (5) Marked as a hill-fort on a small-scale map of the New Forest. Not mentioned in text. (6) The main extant feature of this earthwork is a continuous inner rampart bank averaging 0.7m. above the inner ground level and encircling the top of a fairly steep-sided hill, now heavily wooded. This rampart is broken in four places by entrance and paths of which that on the west is most probably original. The rampart is capped by an iron fence and bushes and is well preserved except on the south-east, where the inner face has been covered with earth, probably the spoil from excavating the foundations of the house. The outer defences appear to have varied according to the relative steepness of the slope on either side. To the west a strong ditch and outer rampart still survive, though the bank is now spread. The eastern side would appear to have had similar defences but the outer rampart has been obliterated for the major part by a metalled road. On the north a flat berm with an outer scarping of the slope takes the place of inner ditch and outer bank. The area here has been mutilated by pits probably dug for gravel. The southern inner ditch is still faintly visible but the outer slopes have been much mutilated by paths and drainage, but probably the slope was scarped as on the north. Inside the defences the area has been mutilated by ornamental gardening and the modern house. The earthwork is a typical Iron Age hill-top fort. (7) A 25" Antiquity Model survey of the hillfort has been made. (8) No change; published 1/2500 revised. (9) No change. 1:2500 survey correct. (10)
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