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Summary

Earthwork banks shown encircling the hill top at Speen House on late 19th century maps, and once suggested to be the Roman encampment of Spinae but possibly part of later landscaping

Associated Legal Designations or Protected Status

• Conservation Area: Speen

Other Statuses and Cross-References

• Berkshire SMR No. (pre 2000): 06518.00.000
  

Monument Type(s):

• BANK (EARTHWORK) (Early Iron Age to Roman - 800 BC? to 409 AD?)
• TERRACED LAWN? (Medieval to Late 19th century - 1066 AD? to 1900 AD?)

Full Description

Three stretches of earthwork bank are shown as hachures on the First Edition Ordnance Survey map of 1880 at Speen House <1>. They appear to partially encircle the hilltop overlooking the River Kennet to the south. The two southerly sections in the grounds of Speen House are still shown as hachures on modern OS maps and follow the contours of the slope at c110m in two joined arcs of c450m in total length. The northerly bank was straighter, only c100m long and appeared to be truncated by the A4 Bath Road. It was not mapped on the 7th epoch <2> and the area was subsequently landscaped in connection with the new access roads for the Newbury bypass.

In the 19th century this earthwork was noted as an encampment, and conjectured to be the Roman station of Spinae <3><4><5><6><7><8>, although it was also stated at the time that its irregular outline was more like a 'British' camp. However, the Spinae association had fallen out of favour by the early 20th century <9><10>, perhaps due to the relative paucity of Roman finds reported within the grounds of Speen House. The gardeners had never seen any coins, pottery or artefacts <9>. The Victoria County History <9> considered that there were few signs of defensive earthworks, only scarping of the hill, and that the ditch on the north side of the high road was only a natural slope. Fieldwalking for the Kennet Valley Survey <11> in the fields to the north of the Bath Road did locate an Iron Age and early Roman pottery scatter that could be associated with a settlement, although no further investigation occurred.

Speen House is believed to have been an episcopal residence of the Bishops of Salisbury <7> and it is possible that these banks in the grounds could be medieval or post-medieval garden features, formed during landscaping. It also appears that this hill was a strategic location during the Second Battle of Newbury, although Civil War earthworks are unlikely to have been constructed here in so short a time.

The eastern side was reported to still be an impressive earthwork at the end of the 20th century <12>. No archaeological deposits or finds of interest were observed during the construction of a tennis court within the earthwork bank <13>.

A 1969 aerial photograph <14> does not depict any northerly earthwork by the A4.

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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