 Bank and ditch of the hillfort | |
  Shown within Wiltshire | |
| Location | Near Berwick St John, Wiltshire, England |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 50°59′40″N2°4′10″W / 50.99444°N 2.06944°W |
| OS grid reference | ST 952 217 |
| Type | Hillfort |
| History | |
| Periods | Iron Age Romano-British |
| Designated | 9 August 1923 |
| Reference no. | 1005702 |
Winkelbury Camp is an Iron Age hillfort, a short distance south-east of the village of Berwick St John, in Wiltshire, England. It is a scheduled monument. [1]
The fort is on the northern spur of Winkelbury Hill. A single rampart bank forming a rough oval, 382 by 160 metres (1,253 by 525 ft), encloses an area of about 7.5 hectares (19 acres). The bank is up to 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) high, with an outer ditch up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) deep and 4 metres (13 ft) wide. There are various hollows within the fort, which are interpreted as indications of buildings and pits for storage or refuse. [1]
Augustus Pitt Rivers, inheritor of the Rushmore Estate at Tollard Royal, where he was resident from 1880, investigated many prehistoric monuments on Cranborne Chase. [2] He made a partial excavation of Winkelbury Camp from 1881 to 1882, finding the remains of a timber hut with wattle-and-daub walls; there were flint tools, and pottery from the Romano-British period. It was established that there were at least two occupation periods, probably in the early and late Iron Age. [1] [3]
The banks of the fort and the accompanying ditches appear to have been built as a series of separate lengths. Field work by R Feachem in 1971 led to a supposition that there were three phases of building, all incomplete, the irregular construction perhaps being the result of gang work. The earliest part was two unaligned banks in the south with a central gap; the banks on the west and east were constructed later; and the last phase was the building of a curved bank across the interior to create a small oval area of about 3 hectares (7.4 acres) at the north end. It has been suggested that the purpose of the camp was not just military: it was constructed according to the changing circumstances around the site over time. [1] [3]
Other archaeological sites on Cranborne Chase excavated by Pitt Rivers include the Martin Down Enclosure, Rotherley Down Settlement, South Lodge Camp, Woodcutts Settlement and Wor Barrow.
Danebury is an Iron Age hillfort in Hampshire, England, about 19 kilometres (12 mi) north-west of Winchester. The site, covering 5 hectares, was excavated by Barry Cunliffe in the 1970s. Danebury is considered a type-site for hill forts, and was important in developing the understanding of hillforts, as very few others have been so intensively excavated.
Oldbury Camp is the largest Iron Age hill fort in south-eastern England. It was built in the 1st century BC by Celtic British tribes on a hilltop west of Ightham, Kent, in a strategic location overlooking routes through the Kentish Weald. The fort comprises a bank and ditch enclosing an area of about 50 hectares, with entrances at the north-east and south ends. Wooden gates barred the entrances. Archaeological excavations carried out in the 1930s and 1980s found that the hill fort's interior had probably not been permanently occupied. It had been abandoned around 50 BC and the north-east gate had been burned down, possibly due to a Roman invasion. The wooded southern part of Oldbury Camp is now owned and managed by the National Trust and is open to the public.
Rainsborough Camp is an Iron Age hillfort in West Northamptonshire, England, between the villages of Croughton, Aynho, and Charlton.
Berwick St John is a village and civil parish in southwest Wiltshire, England, about 5 miles (8 km) east of Shaftesbury in Dorset.
Cholesbury Camp is a large and well-preserved Iron Age hill fort on the northern edge of the village of Cholesbury in Buckinghamshire, England. It is roughly oval-shaped and covers an area, including ramparts, of 15 acres (6.1 ha), and measures approximately 310 m (1,020 ft) north-east to south-west by 230 m (750 ft) north-west to south-east. The interior is a fairly level plateau which has been in agricultural use since the medieval period. The hill fort is now a scheduled ancient monument.
The Giant's Castle is a promontory fort of the Iron Age, on St Mary's, Isles of Scilly, England. It is a scheduled monument.
Coxall Knoll is a hill lying on the boundary of Shropshire and Herefordshire, England; it is near Bucknell in Shropshire and Buckton and Coxall in Herefordshire. On the summit is an Iron Age hillfort, a scheduled monument.
Holkham Camp, or Holkham Fort, is an Iron Age fort in Norfolk, England, about 1 mile (1.6 km) north-west of the village of Holkham. It is a scheduled monument.
Chalbury Hillfort is an Iron Age hillfort about 1 mile (1.6 km) south-east of the village of Bincombe, in Dorset, England. It is a scheduled monument.
Cadson Bury is an Iron Age hillfort about 2 miles (3.2 km) south-west of Callington, in Cornwall, England.
Moel Arthur is an Iron Age hillfort in Flintshire, Wales, at the boundary with Denbighshire, about 5 miles (8.0 km) east of Denbigh.
Dungeon Hill is an Iron Age hillfort, about 1+1⁄4 miles north of the village of Buckland Newton in Dorset, England. It is a scheduled monument.
Cefn Carnedd is an Iron Age hillfort, about 1.5 miles (2 km) south-west of Caersws, in Powys, Wales. It is a scheduled monument.
The Martin Down Enclosure is an archaeological site on Martin Down, near the village of Martin, in Hampshire, England. It is near the boundaries with Dorset and Wiltshire.
South Weald Camp was a hillfort based in South Weald, Brentwood, Essex, England. Roughly circular in plan, the fort covered 2.8 hectares, with a suggested construction date in the late Iron Age, from the 1st century BC to the 1st century AD. The location is associated in this period with the Catuvellauni and the Trinovantes.
Wor Barrow is a Neolithic long barrow on Cranborne Chase, about 1 mile (1.6 km) east of Sixpenny Handley in Dorset, England. It is a scheduled monument.
Woodcutts Settlement is an archaeological site of the late Iron Age and Romano-British period on Cranborne Chase, England. It is situated about 1 mile (1.6 km) north of the hamlet of Woodcutts, and about 1.75 miles (2.8 km) north-west of the village of Sixpenny Handley, in Dorset, near the boundary with Wiltshire. It is a scheduled monument.
Rotherley Down Settlement is an archaeological site of the late Iron Age and Romano-British period on Cranborne Chase, England. It is about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of Berwick St John, and 1 mile (1.6 km) north of Tollard Royal, in Wiltshire, near the boundary with Dorset. It is a scheduled monument.
South Lodge Camp is an archaeological site of the Bronze Age, about 0.6 miles (1.0 km) south-east of the village of Tollard Royal, in Wiltshire, England. The site is on Cranborne Chase, near the boundary with Dorset. It is a scheduled monument.
Brandon Camp is an archaeological site, about 1 mile south of Leintwardine, in Herefordshire. England. It is a hillfort of the Iron Age, which later became a Roman fort. The site is a scheduled monument.
