More information : (Centred SU 574937) Dyke Hills [NR] (1)
Dike or Dyke Hills is an Iron-Age bi-vallate linear earthwork with broad intervening ditch forming the northern defences of a 114 acre low-lying area, naturally bounded on the south and west by a loop of the Thames and on the east by the River Thame. The northern defences were slighted and almost levelled during the C19 although the central section of the ramparts still stood over 10ft high in 1972. The gaps in the defences were undoubtedly modern and it was possible that the original Iron-Age entrance was situated at the east end of the site where the earthwork apparently turned south. (2-6)
A cutting made across the outer bank in 1870(a) revealed 'lines of successive deposits' in its construction which may have indicated more than one major building period. In addition, several pieces of 'British' pottery and a fragment of wheel-made pottery of later date were found. Flint flakes and cores were also recovered from the interior of Dyke Hills enclosure where an intensive mass of structural features, including gullies, pits and hut circles were revealed as crop marks on air photography. Plans.(2)(6). Harding stated that the crop marks reinforced the view that the settlement spanned a fairly long period; Belgic occupation being only the last phase of an extended sequence. Sutton, Benson, and Miles, Forde-Johnson and other earlier sources (not quoted) referred to Dyke Hills as a promontory fort, although Harding considered the site as a Belgic defensive settlement and considered it to be an iron Age oppidum, because of its low-lying position and extensive acreage. Rodwell agreed that Dyke Hills was an important Iron Age earthwork although the extensive internal occupation had yet to be excavated. Dorchester appeared to be a significant place in the Belgic Iron Age, attested by a concentration of Gallo-Belgic and British-Belgic coins (see SU 59 SE 13, 14, 18, 19, 23, 33, 45 & SU 59 NE 25), and may have been a centre of the Atrebates, before or concurrent with Silchester. (7-10)
Dyke Hills consists of two much reduced parallel banks and wide intervening ditch linking the Thames and Thame rivers. The earthwork almost certainly held water; the bottom of the ditch being only a few feet above the level of the Thames and its western end. No trace of crop marks seen by Allen (Authy 2) were visible on the ground.
Re-surveyed at 1:2,500. (11)
Five tumuli not shown on OS 1:50000 are visible on the ground between a pill box (at SU 578936) and the east end of Dyke Hills. (See illustration Card for photograph). (These features are shown as iregularities in the bank on a 1968 survey of Dyke Hills by source 11). (12)
SU 573 879. Dyke Hills. Listed in gazetteer as a multivallate hillfort covering c40ha. (13)
The site was mapped from aerial photographs as part of the RCHME Thames Valley NMP at 1:10,000 scale. This survey detected the earthwork remains of the 780m long bank and ditch defenses between SU 5700 9385 and 5974 9355 which cut off an area of over 0.5 square km between the River Thames and Thame. Behind the defenses, to the south, the extensive cropmark remains of 66 hut circles, 19 enclosures and numerous ditches and scatters of pits were visible. There appear to have been a number of phases indicating a long period occupation. Towards its eastern end the earthwork defensive bank curves around to the south enclosing the eastern part of the site. The south-western edge of the occupation is bounded by a fragmented recut ditch (Morph Nos. TG.28.1-95). (14) |