| Summary : An Early Neolithic causewayed enclosure on Whitesheet Hill. It lies on the western edge of the Wessex downland overlooking the Vale of Wardour. The Neolithic enclosure has one probable entrance, and consists of a single ovoid circuit enclosing 2.3 hectares. It may form part of a larger complex of Neolithic earthworks, comparable to that on Hambledon Hill, although they may also relate to an Iron Age hillfort 350 metres to the south. These include traces of what may be an earlier ditch circuit beneath the hillfort itself and a univallate ovoid enclosure 300 metres to the north-east. Beyond this is an undated cross-ridge dyke which cuts off another spur. Leslie Grinsell identified the site as a causewayed enclosure and Stuart Piggott later carried out limited excavations in 1951. Earthwork survey further excavation took place in 1989-90. Artefacts included pottery, animal bone, and struck flint. The area was surveyed by RCHME as part of a project focusing on the earthworks of South Wiltshire, and the site itself has been re-examined as part of an RCHME project focusing on Neolithic causewayed enclosures and related sites. Recent research into the dating of causewayed enclosures has indicated that the enclosure was probably built in 3595-3550 cal BC. The circuit seems to have been used for a relatively brief period, probably for up to 55 years. The main phase of activity may have only lasted for a few generations or less. |
More information : (ST 802352) Camp (GT). (1)
Whitesheet Hill: Neolithic causeway camp. Identified by Grinsell in 1950. Trial trenches by Stuart Piggott in 1951 revealed Windmill Hill potsherds and an ox-skull in the ditch silting. A probably EBA barrow (ST 83 NW 49) overlies bank and ditch on the SE. See illustration card. Finds in Devizes Museum, Acc No 10/52/39-54. (2-3)
ST 80173519. A well defined 'egg shaped' causewayed camp measuring approximately 200 x 140 metres. The bank, ditch and causeways are clearly visible. Surveyed at 1:2500. (4)
Surveyed at 1:1250. Original with RCHM Salisbury. Photographic reduction to 1:2500 in AO Archives. (5-6)
Visible on air photographs. (7-8)
ST 80173519. This Neolithic causewayed camp lies on the edge of a plateau on Whitesheet Hill, at 235m above OD above steep chalk scarps to the south and west and approached by level ridges from the north east and south east. The irregularly interrupted ditch measures 5.0m wide, and 0.4m deep, and has causeways approximately 4m wide. The inner bank is 6.0m wide; it stands up to 1.5m above the ditch bottom and is 0.4m above the interior. The level interior measures 185m north east to south west by 140m transversely, enclosing approximately 2.0 ha. A hollow-way, and a modern road have cut through the camp, but it is otherwise in good condition. Partly in care of the National Trust (9). Well defined on OS air photographs (10). Divorced survey at 1:2500 on permatrace. (9-11)
Whitesheet Hill causewayed enclosure has been surveyed by staff of RCHME Salisbury as part of a project focussing on the earthworks of South Wiltshire. The following is abstracted from the archive report:
This oval enclosure is defined by an internal bank and external ditch. Both circuits are interrupted and there are in excess of 23 individual segments of ditch. The enclosure is best defined to the NE of the existing trackway which crosses the site. Here the ditch is identifiable as a series of elongated hollows up to 0.5m in depth, max 0.4m wide and 4-5m long. Within some ditch segments are smaller 'causeways'. The internal bank is correspondingly well-preserved in this area, surviving to a height of c0.7m above the ground surface. It is generally continuous, although there are occasional isolated segments. Although not all discontinuities in the line of the rampart are mirrored in the ditch, these dumps of material relate directly to the excavated ditch sections. Slightly off-set alignments between ditch and rampart causeways are also evident. The enclosure SW of the modern track is less substantial, damage reducing the bank to a series of mound-like dumps. These too tend to occur opposite ditch segments, which in this area are noticeably more irregular and slighter constructions.
Recent quarrying has damaged the NW quadrant of the enclosure. Here, a stone extraction pit c60m in length, 10m wide and 2-4m deep, running parallel to the enclosure has encroached upon c40m of the latter's ditch.
One potential entrance was located 35m to the W of the round barrow (ST 83 NW 49) which impinges upon the enclosure. The approach to the entrance itself is defined by a double lynchet trackway c10m wide, traceable to the SE for c45m. The entrance itself consisted of a simple gap in the defences c10m wide. Two noticeable misalignments occur in the course of the enclosure boundary. The first of these consists of a misclosure 8m in length between two sections of bank and ditch. The second is a staggered gap of 2-5m. This apparent misplacement of c170m of enclosure circuit (one-third of the entire circuit) suggests non-contemporaneity with the remaining two-thirds.
Later trackways aligned approx NW-SE cut the enclosure circumference in 5 places. For further details, see plan at 1:1000 held in archive. (12)
In 1997 and 1998, RCHME carried out a series of Level 1 Field Investigations of the causewayed enclosure (Event Record 1109631) as part of the national project to record Industry and Enclosure in the Neolithic (Parent Event 923509). The record was updated, a new archive report was written, and a number of black and white and colour photographs were taken of the site. (13)
The construction of a water pipeline across part of Wiltshire and Somerset enabled the investigation of a transect through the causewayed enclosure at Whitesheet Hill, sectioning the enclosure ditch and revealing several internal features. Other sites on and around Whitesheet Hill were also investigated including a Beaker period pit, two cross-ridge earthworks and an enclosed settlement of the Middle Iron Age. The earlier Neolithic date of the enclosure ditch was confirmed and a number of internal features were recorded. These included solution and tree hollows but also probable contemporary archaeological features. The ceramic assemblage indicated that the causewayed enclosure at Whitesheet Hill had a greater affinity with areas to the south and west (Hembury) than to the north and east (Windmill Hill) and an important molluscan sequence was recovered from the ditch which provides some comparisons with similar sites on Hambledon Hill and Maiden Castle. Full detailed specialist reports are availabe within this publication. (14)
Whitesheet Hill lies on the western edge of the Wessex downland overlooking the Vale of Wardour. The Neolithic enclosure is close to the spur tip, on to which the one probable entrance opens, and consists of a single ovoid circuit enclosing 2.3 hectares. It may form part of a larger complex of Neolithic earthworks, comparable to that on Hambledon Hill, although they may also relate to an Iron Age hillfort 350 metres to the south. These include traces of what may be an earlier ditch circuit beneath the hillfort itself and a univallate ovoid enclosure 300 metres to the north-east. Beyond this is an undated cross-ridge dyke which cuts off another spur.
Leslie Grinsell identified the site as a causewayed enclosure and Stuart Piggott later carried out limited excavations in 1951. Earthwork survey further excavation took place in 1989-90. Artefacts included pottery, animal bone, and struck flint.
Recent research into the dating of causewayed enclosures has indicated that the enclosure was probably built in 3595-3550 cal BC. The circuit seems to have been used for a relatively brief period, probably for 1-55 years. The main phase of activity may have only lasted for a few generations or less. (15)
Scheduled. The designated record of the causewayed enclosure can be accessed online from the National Heritage List for England. (16-17) |