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Summary

Likely Domesday settlement, name possibly meaning ridge by the river, or yew-covered ridge

Monument Type(s):

• SETTLEMENT (11th century to Early to Mid 20th century - 1086 AD to 1938 AD)

Full Description

Gelling <1> notes that the name Irish Hill was documented as Eridge or Erige in the 16th century, possibly meaning 'ridge by the river' but that it may be the unidentified 'Ebrige' of the Domesday Book <2>. The account of it follows that of Hamstead Marshall, and there is also a reference to a dispute over Ebrige not belonging to the holder's predecessor <3> . Stokes <4> suggests the origin of the name to be Old English for a yew-covered ridge. The hill does afford views both north over the Kennet valley and south to the chalk scarp.

A settlement at Irish Hill may therefore have been in existence from before 1086 until the 20th century <6>; in the 19th and early 20th century gravel quarrying and industrial uses are recorded (see MWB16608).

Sources and further reading

Related Monuments

Associated Excavations and Fieldwork

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