More information : [SU 374 963] Cherbury Camp [GT]. (1)
SU 374 963. Cherbury Camp, Charney Bassett, a multivallate Iron Age hillfort consisting of a triple bank and ditch with traces of a slight counterscarp on the north-west.
It was partially excavated by J.S.P. Bradford in 1939 and dated by him to circa AD 1-20.
The only entrance was midway along the eastern side. The excavation revealed a metalled causeway which, after passing through the entrance, became a cobbled street; drystone revetment of the entrance and inner bank; gate post holes; and quantities of Iron Age A.B. and late A.2 pottery. The interior was not excavated. Bradford considers the site analogous with Gadbury Bank, Worcs and Salmondbury, Glos.
Other finds from Cherbury Camp include a polished flint celt (6) two flint arrowheads (4) a gold coin of Cunobelinus (3) and an Anglo-Saxon square-headed brooch (7). (2-7)
Cherbury Camp is unusually situated on a very slight rise surrounded by low lying ground, which must have been very wet before the digging of modern field ditches. The three grass covered ramparts are well preserved, although the outer had been partially destroyed by a modern field track. Limestone blocks are visible in all the ramparts but are much more numerous and conspicuous in the inner, which appears to have been surmounted by a wall. Surveyed at 1:2500.
A broken barbed and tanged arrowhead was found on a wooded foot-bridge, just west of the earthwork at SU 3725 9626, during field investigation by Mr. S.W. Palmer and remains in his possession.
There are 7 I.A. sherds "from Cherbury Camp" in Newbury Museum (no. acc. numbers). The finds from the 1939 excavations are in store at the Ashmolean Museum and unaccessioned. The Saxon square-headed brooch is in the Ashmolean, (Acc. 1931-527). A Reading Museum note states that the gold coin of Cunobelinus was in Abingdon Library Museum. This is now defunct, and the coin has not been seen in Abingdon Museum which supplanted it. (8)
Re-examination of potsherds surviving from Bradford's excavations suggests that they are generally of Middle Iron Age date (9, 10). Fieldwork by Hingley in the early 1980s resulted in the recovery of further sherds of Early as well as Middle Iron Age date from eroding areas on the eastern side of the hillfort. Hingley concludes that while Bradford's excavations suggest that a multivallate hillfort existed during the Middle Iron Age, the nature of the Early Iron Age occupation remains uncertain. Hingley's plot of cropmarks (12) of a possible IA open settlement to the west (SU 39 NE 50) also depicts pits and some circular and sub-circular features within the interior of the hillfort. (10-13)
Discussion of the current state of the hillfort and the arising conservation issues. (14, 15)
Additional discussion of the hillfort and finds from it.(16-20)
SU 37439627. Cherbury is an Iron Age multivallate defended settlement enclosure, or hillfort, c. 4.6ha in area. It is situated partly in pasture and partly in deciduous woodland. A 1:1000 survey of the site was undertaken by the RCHME in 1992-3. Full details are contained in the archive report. (21)
The following features were mapped from good quality air photographs, supported by evidence from the excavation recorded by authority (2):-
Iron Age hillfort, seen as earthworks. Morphological description: a regular, curvilinear enclosure, 380m by 260m, with 1 straight side, defined by 2 ditches and 3 banks. Centred at:-SU 3742 9620 (Morph No. TG.13.1.1).
Possible Iron Age hut circle, inside the hillfort, seen as a cropmark. Morpological description: a circular enclosure, diameter 14m, defined by 1 ditch. Centred at:-SU 3748 9636 (Morph No. TG.13.1.2).
Possible Iron Age pits, seen as cropmarks. Morphological description: sixteen small (1-4m), round features, in a random pattern. Centred at:-SU 3745 9633 (Morph No. TG.13.1.3).
This description has been generated from the RCHME MORPH2 database. As a result of the NMP all features have been more accurately sited, therefore the old NGR's have been deleted. (22)
Customer comment recieved October 2016: I note that this page is recorded as last being updated in 2002. A geophysics survey was conducted in 2007 and you might like to include this.
http://www.bartington.com/Literaturepdf/Case%20Studies/Grad601%20in%20Archaeology%20-%20Cherbury%20Camp%20-%20Charney%20Bassett.pdf (link last accessed 25/10/2016)(23) |