More information : (TM 04517136) Earthwork (NR) (in Cromwell's Plantation). (1)
"A small circular entrenchment, perfect in shape, consisting of a bold rampart and ditch, with the entrance apparently on the NW." (2)
A hillfort, probably Iron Age 'A'; 12th c occupation and pottery near the centre. (3)
In Cromwell's Plantation on level ground is a near-circular earthwork, comprising a regularly-formed rampart and outer ditch. It measures overall c 65.0m E-W by c 57.0m N-S, the rampart varying from 1.1m to 1.7m high above the interior, and the ditch (shown as waterfilled on OS 25") from 0.4m to 1.0m deep. The interior is level with the surrounding ground. There is an entrance causeway and gap in the NW arc. No trace of any structure survives in the interior or on the rampart; the site is overgrown with trees and under a thick layer of humus.
Local tradition asserts that the earthwork was erected by Parliamentary Forces but it has none of the features of a Civil War earthwork. On early OS 1" maps the name Stoland Abbey is applied to the work and/or the plantation. The land in the vicinity probably belonged to an abbey: note Priory Farm (TM036717) and Abbots Hall (TM 051730), but there is no trace or documentary evidence for medieval settlement in the area. Examination of Brown's MS notes (a) revealed that a hearth of stones, burnt red clay and "sandy ware" dated to the 12th century by Ipswich Museum, was found in the centre of the interior, one foot below ground in a trial excavation. He suggests that a 12th century hut stood here, but the limited excavation did not establish this with certainty.
West (b) suggests the work may be Danish and quotes similar features at Burnthall Plantation (TL 912760) and at Creeting, now destroyed, (TM 078566). None of these have yielded finds, but they occur on a possible line of Danish advance from Ipswich to Thetford (Battle fought c 870).
Conflicting evidence does not allow classification of this earthwork. The possibility is however that it is a medieval ringwork. It is not a hillfort.
Resurveyed at 1:2500. (4-6) |