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West Berkshire HER

The West Berkshire Historic Environment Record (HER) is the primary index of the physical remains of past human activity in the unitary authority of West Berkshire Council. Limited elements of the West Berkshire HER are available online via the Heritage Gateway, therefore it is not suitable for use in desk-based studies associated with development, planning and land-use changes, and does not meet the requirements of paragraph 194 of the National Planning Policy Framework (2021: 56). Please read the important guidance on the use of the West Berkshire HER data. For these purposes and all other commercial enquiries, please contact the Archaeology team and complete our online HER enquiry form.

HER Number	MWB16065
Record Type	Monument
Name	Snelsmore Common boundary bank

Grid Reference	SU 457 708
Map Sheet	SU47SE
Parish	Shaw-cum-Donnington, West Berkshire
	Chieveley, West Berkshire
	Winterbourne, West Berkshire
Map:	Show location on Streetmap

Summary

Earth bank and ditch surrounding Snelsmore Common, at least 200-300 years old but possibly an older park pale

Monument Type(s):

BOUNDARY BANK (Medieval to Late 19th century - 1066 AD? to 1900 AD?)
DEER PARK? (13th century - 1248 AD? to 1248 AD?)

Full Description

Bank of c1m high marking the edge of the common, apparently running around the entire boundary. Planted with many boundary trees (oak, beech), some of which have been coppiced/ pollarded at least 100-150 years ago. Some trees may be 200-300 years old. Personal observation Keith Tomey and Sarah Orr 18/06/2003 (see Site Visit). The GIS record only shows part of this earthwork that has been seen by Heritage Service staff, and has been drawn using modern (2003) Ordnance Survey raster mapping at 1:10,000 scale <1>.

Greenaway surveyed two representative profiles across the bank within Withy Copse, at c SU 45690 70984 and SU 45804 71052 <2>. It is a large bank with an internal ditch, and is comparable with other other deer park boundaries in the area. The fact that the bank is continuous would also support the theory of a deer park. Other interpretations of earthworks at Snelsmore by Money have been that some are Civil War siege trenches <3>.

Sources and further reading

<01>	Ordnance Survey. c. 2003. Modern Ordnance Survey Mapping 1:10,000. 1:10000. [Map / SWB14667]
<02>	Greenaway, D. 2004. Snelsmore Common Archaeological Features. 2016 WBC Network. [Unpublished document / SWB14207]
<03>	Money, W. 1884. The First and Second Battles of Newbury (2nd ed). pp148, 275 and Plan opposite p212. [Monograph / SWB12745] http://openlibrary.org/books/OL14008014M/The_first_and_second_battles_of_Newbury_and_the_siege_of_Donnington_Castle_during_the_Civil_War_1643 (Accessed 23/09/2013)
<04>	Greenaway, D and Dunlop, L. 2011. Around the Three Valleys. p47-50. [Monograph / SWB148275]

Related Monuments

MWB16191	Donnington Deer Park (Monument)
MWB16184	Shaw Deer Park (Monument)

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

EWB1065	Snelsmore Common Archaeological Features (D Greenaway)
EWB569	WBHS Monitoring 2003-2004

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