Monument Number 241085 |
| Hob Uid: 241085 | |
Location :
Hampshire
Basingstoke and Deane
Mortimer West End
|
| Grid Ref : SU6196662896 |
| Summary : Possible coppice enclosure of uncertain date located on the road from Silchester Common to Aldermaston at a little less than half a mile just before the road changes its direction and opposite a cottage. In the heath on the right is an earthwork of 2 or 3 acres. Its corner touches the road and the sides are at right-angles but towards the eastern side its form is irregularly polygonal. The enclosure was recorded from lidar imagery during the Silchester Iron Age Environs mapping project. |
More information : On the road from Silchester Common to Aldermaston at a little less than half a mile just before the road changes its direction and opposite a cottage there is in the heath on the right a little earthwork of 2 or 3 acres in extent. Its corner touches the road and the sides here are at right-angles but towards the eastern side its form is irregularly polygonal. The profile is slight; a section taken near the road shows an overall measurement of 30 feet, the top of the bank being 2 1/2 feet above the bottom of the ditch, the ditch outside the bank. (1)
The earthwork is on gravel and is covered with heath and brushwood and no entrance is obvious. SU 6199 6291: Sited. (2)
The earthwork falls on high ground above the 300 feet contour sloping gently to the north and west. The area has been partly replanted with firs and the earthwork is overgrown. It is well-preserved and the average measurements of the single bank and ditch are accurately given by Williams-Freeman. The earthwork has no entrance and this together with its weak profile and irregular plan suggests it to be a coppice enclosure. Several buildings are shown in this area on the OS. 1" of 1817 and it may however be associable with one of these. (3)
As previously described and in good condition. Surveyed at 1/2500. (4)
A sub square enclosure with sides of about 85 metres defined by a regular but unimpressive bank and an outer ditch. The bank is 4.6 metres wide 0.3 metres high on the inner face and 0.6 metres high on the outer face; the ditch is 2.7 metres wide and 0.3 metres deep. There is no clear entrance and gaps along both bank and ditch are modern depredations. The south west corner has been cut and destroyed by the Soke Road. The earthwork lies within a plantation of wide spaced conifers the interior level and with no evidence of any habitation sites. As suggested by authority 3 probably a coppice enclosure of uncertain date. (5)
The possible coppice enclosure described above in (1-7) is visible as an earthwork on lidar imagery. It was mapped during the Silchester Iron Age Environs project. The enclosure is formed of a bank with an external ditch on its northern and western sides. The south western corner is cut by Soke road but the enclosure has internal measurements of approximately 85 m by 77 m. (8) |