This List entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information.

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Small enclosed settlements dating from the Middle Bronze Age are often associated with earlier field systems and are known on some sites to have replaced earlier unenclosed settlements. Enclosures of both sub-rectangular and curvilinear plan are known; the sites are wholly or partly surrounded by a ditch, bank or palisade, or by a combination or succession of all three. Where excavated, sites have usually been found to contain a small group of domestic buildings sufficient for a single or extended family group, although a few larger enclosures are known. Evidence of a succession of buildings has been found on some sites. The buildings are usually circular in plan but occasional rectangular structures are known. Both types of building would have provided a combination of living accommodation and storage or working areas. Storage pits have been recorded inside buildings on some sites but are generally rarely present. In addition to pottery and worked flint, large quantities of burnt stone and metal working debris have been found in some enclosures. Although the precise figure is not known, many small enclosed settlements are located on the chalk downland of southern England. As a class they are integral to understanding Bronze Age settlement and land use strategies, while their often close proximity to the numerous burial monuments in the area will provide insights into the relationship between secular and ceremonial activity during the Middle Bronze Age. A small number of small enclosed settlements survive on downland as visible earthworks; the majority, however, occur in areas of more intensive cultivation and survive in buried form, visible only from the air as soil marks and crop marks. All examples with visible earthworks, and those in buried form which retain significant surviving remains, are considered to be of national importance.

The enclosure on the summit of Rodmead Hill is a comparatively well preserved example of its class and will contain archaeological deposits providing information about later prehistoric social organisation, economy, trade and environment.

Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.

The monument includes an earthwork enclosure lying on the summit of Rodmead Hill. The enclosure is sub-rectangular in shape, has an entrance on its north eastern side and encloses an area of 0.5ha. The interior is enclosed by an earthwork which includes a bank, an outer ditch and, in places, traces of a counterscarp bank. A short length of internal ditch and bank which runs in from the south western side appears to be of a later date. The enclosure was described by Sir Richard Colt-Hoare in 1807 when digging revealed `a great deal of very black earth, and fragments of rude British pottery'. This suggests that the enclosure may have a settlement function and date to the later prehistoric period (later Bronze Age or Iron Age). A length of curvilinear earthwork, described as an outer work, has previously been recorded running parallel to and at a distance of approximately 20m from the north eastern side of the enclosure. This has been levelled by cultivation and, as its direct association with the enclosure cannot be verified, has not been included within the scheduling. All fence posts are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath these features is included.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.