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Designations

• Scheduled Monument () 1014558: Idbury Camp hillfort

Monument Type(s):

• UNIVALLATE HILLFORT (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)
• WATERHOLE (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC to 409 AD)

Summary

Situated on the east side of Westcote Hill; its ramparts lessened in height by cultivation. Infilled ditch is clearly visible on aerial photos. Encompass oval area of 3.5ha. Revetted drystone walling. At least one entrance, on north side. Iron Age and Romano-British pot, as well as Romano-British or Anglo Saxon cemetery outside hillfort.

Associated Monuments

Associated Finds:

Description

1) The defences include a roughly oval rampart aligned NE-SW which encloses an area of about 3.5 ha. It measures c.10m wide and stands up to 0.4m high. It was revetted with limestone dry walling and originally stood much higher. Beyond the rampart lies a deep defensive quarry ditch from which material was obtained to construct it. This has become infilled with levelled rampart material but is clearly visible as a darker band of soil 15m wide. To the south it can be seen as a hollow feature through which the road to the village runs. At least one entrance is known to have broken the circuit of defences. It lies on the north side. Many finds of Iron Age and Romano-British pottery, metalwork and bone have been made both inside and around the monument, usually after ploughing. Human skeletons dated to either the Romano-British or the early Anglo Saxon period were also found in a disused stone quarry situated just outside the hillfort, immediately south of the later road. The extent of this cemetery is, however, unknown. The hillfort's Anglo Saxon place name suggest that it still stood as an obvious bury or fortified place in the immediate pre-Norman period. Excluded from the scheduling is the boundary fence between the field in which the monument lies and the road; also excluded is the road surface itself, although the land beneath both of these features is included.

PRN 1476
In a letter from John Moore of Bourton-on-the-Water to G B Witts dated August 25th 1881 he says 'Mr Pantin, a former rector of Westcote, showed me some coins of Valens and Constantius which had been found there'
PRN 2777
Roman coin hoard? Plot mentions a 'parcel' of Roman 'money' found 'near the fortifications', meaning the earthworks.

11) A Watching Brief carried out during excavations for a pipe trench through the lane to the south of the hillfort showed that the defences did not extend this far. No sign of the Anglo Saxon cemetery known from quarry south of road.
13) A visit was made in 1980 by J Steane, OCCM to this 'plough-flattened hillfort which vies with Madmarston as being the most totally obliterated Ancient Monument in the county'. The rampart was easily visible as a band of yellow limestone contrasting with the dark chocolate brown soil of the inside of the camp. Very large stones about 0.75m long were seen in the east bank. No finds were made. The name suggests that the site was still an earthwork to be reckoned with in Saxon times. It seems that it has been heavily ploughed since the 1940's.
14) An Iron Age hillfort and a possible waterhole are visible as cropmarks and earthworks. Site is situated on E side of Westcote Hill, some 500m SW of Idbury Village. Site comprises a univallate hillfort, defined by an earthwork bank and a cropmark ditch, and a possible waterhole defined by a cropmark. Hillfort is sub circular in shape and measures a. 260m in diameter, with single entrance facing WNW. Rampart was revetted with limestone dray walling and originally stood much higher. Possible waterhole is defined by a sub circular cropmark, measuring 16m by 11m, and located 90m NNE of entrance.
15) Extensive features are visible on the 2009 aerial photographs held by Oxfordshire County Council. These features are located both within the hillfort and the scheduled monument boundary but are also visible to the north-west where the field is under pasture and are not covered by the scheduling boundary so a SHINE record has been created. No features are visible in the surrounding fields which are all ploughed.

NB: All DRF information has been scanned, checked and discarded by SVL (HERO), 03/12/14; this scanned info will be linked to this record.

<1> English Heritage, Scheduled Ancient Monuments Record, SM 28110 (Scheduling record). SOX283.

<2> Oxford Architectural & Historical Society, Oxoniensia, Vol XXXI, (1966), p.28 (Serial). SOX284.

<3> OS Record Card, SP 21 NW 2 (Index). SOX273.

<4> c.1990, NAR Form filed in DRF for more detail, SP 21 NW 2 (Index). SOX456.

<5> Victoria County History of Oxford, Vol II, p.315; Vol I (1939), p.339 (Serial). SOX252.

<6> Additional Information in Detailed Record File, Site Visits: J Steane and L Armstrong, 1980; J Steane, 1978 with sketch (Index). SOX258.

<7> General reference, Archaeological Handbook of Gloucester (G B Witts) (Bibliographic reference). SOX373.

<8> Victoria County History of Oxford, Vol 1 (1939) p.339 (Serial). SOX252.

<9> General reference, Natural History Oxon (Bibliographic reference). SOX373.

<10> Black and White print photographs, 1 aerial view of site taken by Helicopter Training School, Netheravon in 1972/3 (Photograph). SOX315.

<11> John Moore Heritage Services, 2008, An Archaeological Watching Brief on a Pipeline Adjacent to Idbury Cap Hillfort, Idbury, Oxfordshire (Unpublished document). SOX2036.

<12> CBA South Midlands Group, South Midlands Archaeology, Vol 39 (2009) p.35 (Serial). SOX5.

<13> CBA South Midlands Group, South Midlands Archaeology, CBA9 NL 11 (1981) p.79 (Serial). SOX5.

<14> Gloucestershire County Council, 2009, South Cotswolds National Mapping Programme (Digital archive). SOX2926.

<15> Joanne Robinson, 2014, SHINE Data Update (Verbal communication). SOX5260.

Sources

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