| Summary : An Iron Age hillfort and a possible waterhole are visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs. The site is situated on the east side of Westcote Hill 500 metres south west of the present Idbury Village (an Anglo Saxon place name). The site comprises a univallate hillfort, defined by an earthwork bank and a cropmark ditch, and a possible waterhole defined by a cropmark. The hillfort is sub circular in shape and measures circa 260 metres in diameter, with a single entrance facing WNW. The rampart was revetted with limestone dry walling and originally stood much higher. The possible water hole is defined by a sub circular cropmark which measures 16 metres by 11 metres, and is located 90 metres NNE of the entrance to the hillfort. Finds of Iron Age and Romano British pottery, coins, weapons and bone have been made within and around the monument. Inhumations have also been found in a nearby stone quarry which date to the Romano British or Anglo-Saxon period. |
More information : SP 228 195: Idbury Camp (NR) Roman coins found. (1)
"Mr Pantin, a former rector of Westcote, showed me some coins of Valens and the Constantines which had been found there (Idbury Camp) and he had heard of iron weapons being found there also ... When I first saw it some 35 years back (ie in 1846) the embankments were about 8 feet high. The plough has now reduced their height considerably." (For a possible source for the iron weapons see the nearby Saxon cemetery. SP 21 NW 3). (2)
Visited 16-MAY-1956. The camp is still being ploughed and was under growing crops but there were faint indications of an entrance on the north side. (3)
A roughly circular univallate plateau-fort enclosing about 9 acres. The bank is now slight and best preserved on the sloping ground at the east and the ditch is just traceable around the larger part of the perimeter. At the north there is a possibility of a counterscarp. The entrance was seemingly at the north west. (4)
Some coins of Valens and the Constantines have been found and also some iron weapons. (5)
`Idbury Camp' (name in local use) is as physically described by Sutton (4); it occupies a commanding position at 650 feet (198.0 metres) OD with good all round visibility. The perimeter bank has everywhere been plough-reduced and spread to an outward facing scarp best preserved on the west and east sides where it attains a height of up to 1.7 metres. The inner scarp is nowhere more than 0.2 metres high. A slight ? inturning and then levelling of the scarp at SP 2276 1960 strongly suggests an entrance position. An impression of the plough-spread outer ditch still survives; it is unsurveyable.
Evidence for a counterscarp bank on the northern higher and defensively weaker side is slight, but remains a possibility. It is now best proved by excavation. The interior of this probable Iron Age defensive settlement is slightly domed. No surface finds were made within the area which was under stubble at the time of field inspection. Information regarding the finds of circa 1880 could not be obtained by local enquiry. Perimeter bank defined as strong soil mark on OS AP (b).
1:2500 Survey revised on AM and MSD. (6)
SP 229 196. Idbury Camp, scheduled. (7)
SP 229 195. A small univallate hillfort at Idbury visible on air
photographs (c). (8)
Recent aerial photography (9a) shows the cropmarks of this site. The northwest facing entrance is clearly visible as is the ditch and internal bank although the ditch is not visible on the south east where the road to Idbury appears to run along its course. (9)
SP 2288 1955: Iron Age hillfort situated on the east side of Westcote Hill 500 metres south west of the present Idbury Village. Its roughly oval rampart is aligned north east to south west and now survive as a low earthwork 10 metres wide and 0.4 metres high. It encloses an area of about 3.5 hectares and an entrance is visible on the northern side. The rampart was rivetted with limestone dry walling and originally stood much higher. Beyond the rampart is a deep defensive quarry ditch seen as a darker band of soil 15 metres wide. Finds of Iron Age and Romano British pottery, metalwork and bone have been made within and around the monument. Inhumations have also been found in a nearby stone quarry which date to the Romano British or Anglo-Saxon period.
The name Idbury is of Anglo-Saxon origin and suggests that the hillfort may still have been in use on the pre Norman period. Scheduled.(10)
An Iron Age hillfort and a possible waterhole are visible as earthworks and cropmarks on aerial photographs. The site is centred on SP 2287 1956 and extends over an area which measures 257 metres north-south and 260 metres east-west. The site comprises a univallate hillfort, defined by an earthwork bank and a cropmark ditch, and a possible waterhole defined by a cropmark.
The hillfort is sub circular in shape and measures circa 260 metres in diameter, with a single entrance facing WNW. Both the bank and ditch measure between 5 metres and 7 metres wide. The eastern side of the hillfort appears to have been truncated by a road; the quarry ditch here is discontinuous. The possible waterhole is located at SP 2282 1968, and is defined by a regular sub circular cropmark which measures 16 metres east-west and 11 metres north-south. The possible waterhole is located 90 metres NNE of the hillfort entrance (11-12).
Aerial photographs taken by English Heritage in 2013 show the cropmarks of the hillfort rampart and ditch, but also show a number of circular features within the hillfort which may be the remains of a number of hut circles contemporary with the occuplation of the fort. (13) |