More information : ST 4626670. Cleeve Toot Camp. A promontory fort,
enclcosing about 3 acres, situated south of Cleeve Combe and below
Cleeve Toot. (1)
A semi-circular bank, without ditch, against a steep natural scarp
on the northern side form the sole defences. The site is covered
with trees. (2)
ST 46266570. This earthwork, dominated on the south by Cleeve Toot
Hill, is not a promontory fort but possibly a defensive enclosure
using the very steep natural slope of Cleeve Combe on the north.
It is formed by a single tumbled stone rampart with a broad shallow
outer ditch. The bank and ditch have been damaged by afforestation
and it is not clear whether any of the three breaks in the rampart
is an original entrance.
In the central part of the southern half of the enclosure there
are three circular depressions, 0.6m deep, in the limestone. They
could be hut-circles or possibly road-stone diggings.
Divorced survey at 1:2500. (3)
Due to the extremely dense woodland at Cleeve Toot, the enclosure,
centred at ST 46266570, is now inaccessible, apart from the NW
rampart terminal and a 50.0m length of extensively mutilated bank on
the NE side.
According to the local forester (a) the bank and ditch circumscribing
the S side were intact when tree-replanting took place in 1965.
The earthwork would appear to be typical of an Iron Age defended
settlement. It is semi-oval in plan, internally 130.0m E-W by 90.0m
N-S having an enclosing stony bank which averages 0.8m high
internally and 0.4m externally, with an outer silted ditch 0.3m deep.
It bears strong similarities in form and position to the enclosure
(ST 46 NE 3) on Tap's Combe.
Divorced Survey 1:2500 positioned on PFD. (4)
Field system at Cleeve Toot listed. (5)
Additional references - field reports (6-7)
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