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BURPHAM CAMP

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An Iron Age promontory fort. The interior was reused for settlement in the Late Saxon period and may be the site for the Burh of Burpham, see also TQ 00 NW 128. The fort is a scheduled monument.

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(Name TQ 03930855) Camp (GT) (1)

Burpham Camp has never been excavated, but Dr Eliot Curwen
considers it of Saxon origin as it is included in the 10th
c Burghal Hidage.(2) (5) I D Margary and A E Wilson think it
more likely to have been a prehistoric promontory fort re-used as
a Burh. Late Saxon or early Md pottery has been found. (3)
(See AO/64/104/7) (2-6)

An IA promontory fort occupying the summit of a long, narrow
elevated tongue of land which extends southwards from the village
of Burpham and overlooks the flood plain of the River Arun to W
and S and the valley of a tributary stream to the E.

The fort is bounded by steep natural chalk cliffs on all but the
N side and measures in area some 700.0 m N-S by 250.0 m E-W at
the N end, reducing to a mere 50.0 m towards the centre, widening
again to some 150.0 m at the S end.

The northern side is enclosed by an earthen rampart up to
7.0 m in height, its ends resting upon the edge of the cliffs.
Midway is an original simple-cut entrance.

The interior falls gently southwards, the cliffs reducing in
height from some 15.0 m to 4.5 m. To compensate for the weakening
natural defences southwards, a bank encircles the southern half
of the promontory at the base of the cliffs and measures up to
8.0 m in width and 1.0 m in height, though it has doubtless been
much reduced by flood waters, and the inner ditch has been
completely silted up.

Nothing of interest was noted within the fort, the land being
under pasture.

Published 1:2500 survey revised. (7)

TQ 039086. Excavtion in 1972 by Miss H Sutermeister for DOE
ahead of building work within Burpham Camp, revealed post-holes
probably representing two rectangular buildings, either end
to end or narrowly separated. Two deep rubbish pits, probably
later than the buildings, yielded late Saxon to early Norman
pottery. (8)

Excavations in 1972 and 1973 at the northern end of the fortification
(approx TQ 03930885) uncovered pits and postholes containing pottery
indicative of late Saxon-early Norman occupation. The post holes were
interpretated as representing 2 buildings although this
interpretation, as the excavator notes, is by no means the only one
possible. The date of the bank and ditch fortification remains
unknown, and the extent and nature of Saxon occupation is unclear due
to the small scale of the excavation. (9)

Additional references - Burpham and the Burghal Hidage.(10)(11)(12)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1914

( 2) Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex archaeological collections : relating to the history and antiquities of the counties of East and West Sussex

63, 1922 Page(s)2-3

( 3) Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex notes and queries

15 NO 3, 1959 Page(s)105

( 4) Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex notes and queries

15, NO4, 1959 Page(s)139

( 5) Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex notes and queries

15, NO5, 1960 Page(s)171

( 6) edited by William Page 1905 The Victoria history of the county of Sussex: volume one

The Victoria history of the counties of England Page(s)468

( 7) Field Investigators Comments

F1 ASP 20-SEP-71

( 8) Medieval archaeology : journal of the Society for Medieval Archaeology

17, 1973 Page(s)150

(9) Sussex Archaeological Society Sussex archaeological collections : relating to the history and antiquities of the counties of East and West Sussex

114, 1976 Page(s)194-206

(10) edited by David M Wilson 1976 The archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England

Page(s)127-412

(11) by Fred Aldsworth and David Freke 1976 Historic towns in Sussex : an archaeological survey

Page(s)11

(12) edited by P L Drewett 1978 Archaeology in Sussex to AD 1500

CBA research reportsVol.1 (1955)- 29 Page(s)66, 87-88

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BURPHAM
BURPHAM

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The Early Medieval Burh of Burpham, probably created by either Alfred or Edward the Elder between 890-919 as an `emergency burh'. A possible location ...

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