Hillbury |
| Hob Uid: 250505 | |
Location :
Surrey
Guildford
Puttenham
|
| Grid Ref : SU9110046850 |
| Summary : A univallate hillfort sitauted on a greensand spur which forms part of the Puttenham Common. The hillfort defences enclose the spur end, forming a north-south aligned, sub-rectangular interior of around 2 hectares. The most impressive defences are to the east, where they were constructed across the level ground which forms the neck of the spur. They survive as a bank up to 12 metres wide and 2 metres high, flanked by an outer ditch up to 8 metres wide and 0.75 metres deep. The northern and southern ramparts were designed to accentuate the naturally sloping spur edges, whilst the steep sided, western edge of the spur made the construction of artificial defences in this area unnecessary. Access to the interior was by way of a simple, causewayed, 13 metre gap through the central part of the ramparts. The defences have been disturbed in places by subsequent construction and use of more recent tracks and paths. The monument shows signs of later modelling and reuse, represented by a 7 metre wide, roughly north-south aligned, curving bank constructed across the western side of the hillfort. This has been dated to the medieval period, when the hillfort may have been in use as a stock enclosure. The western half of the hillfort has been quite heavily disturbed by the construction of a group of slit trenches and pits during World War II, when the spur formed part of an army training area. Scheduled. |
More information : [SU 91104685] Earthwork [GT]. (1)
Hillbury is clearly a promontory camp of Iron Age type comprising
a single bank and ditch on three sides, a steep natural slope
protecting the fourth side. The north and south ramparts follow
the contours and the eastern rampart cuts across the neck of the
plateau, the regular shape of which has dictated the shape of the
camp (3).
Excavation in 1887 by F. James and F. Lasham produced negative
results; a flint scraper, flakes, an animal bone and ashes being
the only finds (2).
Scheduled. (2-4)
Hillbury: a very strong single rampart and ditch sub rectangular
earthwork occupying the western end of a well defined greensand
spur where it terminates with a steep natural slope. The earthworks
are only carried round three sides of a square, none apparently
being considered necessary on the W side against the steep slope
noted. The work has been broken through in a number of places by
tracks and is mutilated in the NE corner by quarrying but a
probable original entrance is recognisable in the S side where
there is the faint trace of a causeway. The work is clearly
defensive.
Resurveyed at 1:2500. (5)
Hillbury lies within a Surrey CC designated open space and though
subject to traffic wear it remains generally as described and
planned in 1966. However a newly recognised addition, comprising a
bank approx 8.0m in width and not exceeding 0.9m in height can be
traced running in an angled course along most of the W side: it is
so mutilated by wartime trenches and pits that it is not possible
to say more than it was probably ditched on the W and possibly
ditched on the E. The bank is clearly later than Hilbury as it
starts on and overlies the rampart top at the N side of Hillbury.
The course S runs roughly parallel with the steep natural slope on
the west from which it lies at a minimum of 20 m, and a maximum
of 50m.
The bank runs S for approx 130m, fading before it reaches to S side
of Hillbury in an area much eroded by foot traffic. Although, as
stated, the bank is demonstrately post-Hillbury it is, nonetheless,
designed to be part of that earthwork. On its own it is meaningless
and it perhaps represents a (?Md) attempt at making Hillbury a
complete enclosure, for stock. A perambulation of the heather and
gorse-covered common in the immediate environs of Hillbury produced
no continuation either of this newly discovered bank or of Hillbury
itself either in the form of outworks or agricultural activity. In
fact any agricultural aspect can be ignored as the common is solid
feruginous sand.
Published 1:2500 revised. (6)
SU 911 468. Hillbury. Listed in gazetteer as a univallate hillfort covering 2.0ha. It is suggested to be a doubtful site on the grounds that it does not appear on the OS Map of Southern Britain in the Iron Age (1962). (7)
Hillbury. Description with plan and profiles of rampart. (8) |