HER 445 DESCRIPTION:- Scheduled Monument Description:- The almost level spur of Drakestone Point is broken by a series of banks, with ditches facing Stinchcombe Hill, extending over a distance of 180ft where the width is only about 30ft. At northeast and 2 banks with their medial ditch, curve back on each side into the hillside; elsewhere the banks & ditches are straighter although bank M-N broadens considerably at its east end. A small mound, possibly a barrow, about 20 foot in diameter 2 foot high with central depression now occupied by seat, stands between P and Q. A small oval depression, 18 inches deep lies near point F on edge of ditch G. Baker believed the earthworks to be a beacon between Iron Age forts of the neighborhood (he names 9). Renn suggests it is the site of the castle built by Roger de Berkeley in 1153 after loss of Berkeley Castle. Alternative site (see HER ) at Dursley.{Source Work 862.} 1880 - The hill was visited by the Cotteswold Naturalists' Field Club on 20 May 1880 when four lines of rampart and ditch, as well as the traces of more than one hut circle, were observed in the area. {Source Work 3038.} The earthworks at Drakestone Point occur on a spur of oolite and comprise about 6 lateral 'trenches'. These bear no resemblance to a hillfort & according to the Geological survey are a series of natural 'gulls' and not a 'camp' as published on OS maps. The situation at the end of the spur affords excellent views over the Severn Vale, while there may have been such a thing as Iron Age beacons something more tangible is required before we can accept one here.{Source Work 862.} Tesserae found at 'Roman Signal station at top of Stinchcombe Hill' {Source Work 1713.} "Traces of more than one hut circle are visible in its neighborhood".{Source Work 902.} Discredited as a prehistoric site by the RCHM and regarded as natural.{Source Work 470.} Differential erosion can leave bands of harder rock standing along contains in 'plausible' hill fort positions. Such bands appear as banks across ridges with corresponding gullies as at (pxxx-xxxi)... Stinchcombe. Drakestone point (ST 7363 9795), variously described as a camp {Source Work 3086.}, a signal station {Source Work 252.} and a motte and bailey {Source Work 2490.} consist of natural ridges and gullies cutting of a very small part of the narrow, tapering tip of the ridge. The 32 'pit-dwellings' described by Witts a little to the North of Drakestone point are also natural. Some of them were planned by Playne. (pxxxiv) On the evidence at present available the so-called hill-fort of Drakestone point cannot be regarded as a historic monument. (plii). {Source Work 403.} 04/07/2001-A site visit was made by N Russell of Gloucestershire County Council Archaeology Service. Site includes military remains in the form of butts and a 'magazine'. The 'magazine' is actually an earth covered, concrete over corrugated iron structure with some brick at the door reveals. The entrance is currently sealed by modern blockwork. This building was probably used as a shelter for the range-man. 2005 - Archaeological geophysical survey has been carried out over an area on Stinchcombe Hill, near the village of Dursley, in Gloucestershire. The aim was to detect subsoil features associated with Iron archaeological activity at Drakestone Point (SMR 445). Subsoil anomalies in magnetic subsceptibility and thermoremanent magnetisation were recorded using a portable fluxgate magnetometer, and readings were logged at 1.0 x 0.5m gridded intervals. Geophysical anomalies were detected consistent with several soil-filled ditches (SMR 32757). They might alternatively represent infilled joints in the limestone bedrock or the lines of former pathways. {Source Work 9368.} 2005 - Gloucester County Council Archaeology Service undertook an archaeological desk based assessment (HER 27586), geophysical survey ( HER 32755) and evaluation at Drakestone Point ( HER 32763), Stinchcombe Hill, in 2005. Two trenches were opened during the evaluation. The southern trench, trench 1, revealed a rock-cut ditch and upcast bank. This suggests a deliberate, planned layout of the topography, supporting the interpretation that the Iron Age features here were a defended promontory. The northern trench, trench 2, contained a vertical rock-cut surface and a pit feature. {Source Work 9369.} 2015 - Severn Vale NMP Project. The aerial survey mapping largely corresponds with the field survey shown in the report (Source Work 9369), particularly the three 'platforms', two cross ridges and a ditch which is orientated northwest-southeast. However a bank or possibly another terrace is visible on the aerial photographs on the north-western slope of the spur and appears to be a bank which follows the contours and then at a right angle crosses the spur, enclosing the three 'platforms'. This is not shown on the survey which may mean the feature wasn’t deemed to be part of the archaeology, part of the survey area, or possibly that vegetation obscured its visibility on the ground during the survey. The earthworks are shown as being overgrown on recent aerial photographs taken in 2005, when the survey was completed. This bank gives more of an appearance of a defensive earthwork and effectively encloses the spur on two sides. The conclusion of the survey and excavations was that the earthwork features were man-made and not natural, and that there was some thought to the layout of features; however a clear date was not given for the features. It is possible their origins may be Iron Age (so therefore a promontory hillfort), but it was not clear whether they were contemporaneous. The site may have been reused at various times in the past, therefore assigning dates is problematic, but it is clear that they are archaeological and likely had a defensive nature, based on the current evidence.{Source Works 4249, 7270, 9369 & 10250} 2019 - This monument was previously recorded within the Historic England National Record of the Historic Environment. Additional information from that record, formerly held within the AMIE database, is quoted below: “The situation at the end of the spur affords excellent views over the Severn Vale, but while there may have been such things as IA Beacons something more tangible is required before we can accept one here. (6)” {Source Work 4249.} |