| Summary : Iron Age slight univallate hillfort also known as Oldbury Camp and Castle Paise located 750 metres east of Holwell Lodge and including 2 outworks to north and west of the hillfort. Several other hillforts can be seen from the single rampart which includes a bank, outer ditch and counterscarp. The hillfort has a single rampart 280m long by 220m wide across the visible earthwork, straddling the 80m to 90m contour.The bank survives best on the north side where it rises o.8m from the interior at the west end to 2.3m at the east. On average it is 7m wide, but this increases to 10m to 12m by 2.6m high in the north east corner. The east, west and south ramparts are fossilised in hedge banks but mainly survive as scarps 5m wide. The ditch has been largely filled in and is on average 15m wide and 0.2m deep to the south, east and west side. On the north side a modern track follows the ditch where it is 10m wide and 0.4m deep at the west end and 0.8m deep at the east. A counterscarp bank here is 8m wide by 0.4m high, but has been reduced by ploughing elsewhere. There are 3 original entrances with associated outworks; 2 to the north east and north west. A third lies to the west but is now blocked. A fourth entrance is of modern date and is on the south side. Scheduled. |
More information : Holbury or Oldbury Camp, also known as Castle Paise, is an
entrenchment on a high hill a mile south-east (sic) of Holbeton, commanding extensive views of the country. It is oval shaped, nearly square and formed by a single rampart with a ditch the whole being about 600 feet in diameter. On the eastern side where the defence is strongest the ditch and bank measure 28 feet from top to bottom. (1)
SX 6238 5049: A small hillfort, previously recorded by Davidson in 1861 under the name of Holbury or Oldbury has been located on Castle Park Hill by Commander and Mrs Woolner. The enclosure lies on the crest and south slope of a hill 300 feet high. The ground falls on all sides but on the north, towards Yarninknowle Wood, becomes precipitous. The whole enclosed area is raised above the surrounding fields on the north by a few feet but where the ground falls to the south by 10 feet or more. The original entrance appears to be from the north-east. On either side of this entrance the bank stands 6 feet high above the interior. It is visible though decreasing in height along the northern arc but has largely
been destroyed by ploughing or hidden by modern hedgebanks around the rest of the perimeter. There do not appear to be any structures in the interior but a fall in the ground suggests that the south western lobe may have been divided from the remainder of the fort by a bank, since ploughed down. Traces of the ditch and a counterscarp
bank are visible in Bow's Park, Barn Park and Brimble Fields and are better preserved on either side of the entrance in Tails (see plan). There is a causeway slightly sunk across the ditch to the entrance gap. Fort visible on air photographs (a). (2)
SX 6237 5049: Slight univallate hillfort known as Holbury Camp located 750 metres east of Holwell Lodge and including 2 outworks centred at SX 6209 5053 and SX 6243 5066. Several other hillforts can be seen from the single rampart which includes a bank, outer ditch and counterscarp. There are 3 original entrances 2 to the north east and north west. A third lies to the west but is now blocked. A fourth entrance is of modern date and is on the south side. The 2 outworks lie to north and west of the hillfort. The westerly outwork is visible as a scarped bank 200 metres long and 3 metres wide and falls deeply to an outer ditch. The field boundary follows the course to a second section of outwork. This is 210 metres long and 3 metres wide and also falls into a ditch appearing to form a counterscarp in places. Scheduled. (3) |