Caesar's Camp, Hampshire
| Caesar's Camp | |
|
Hampshire | |
|---|---|
 The south scarp of Caesar's Camp | |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | SU835499 |
| Location: | 51°14’35"N, 0°48’14"W |
| History | |
| Information | |
Caesar's Camp is an Iron Age hill fort straddling the border of two counties: Surrey and Hampshire. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.[1]
The fort lies approximately two miles north of Farnham (in Surrey), and a similar distance west of Aldershot (in Hampshire). It is entirely within the Bourley and Long Valley Site of Special Scientific Interest.[2]
Caesar's Camp is a multivallate hillfort, a fort with multiple defensive rings, occupying an irregular promontory, with an entrance on the south side.[1] The site has been much disturbed by military activity, especially at the southeast corner.
History
It is possible that Caesar's Camp developed in the Late Bronze Age, as a fort associated with the River Wey.[3] There were three Iron Age phases of the fort. In its earliest form, Caesar's Camp was a univallate fort.[1] In its second phase of development, the defences were multivallate with a timber palisade. Later, a bank was built over the line of the palisade, replacing it. After the third phase, the site was apparently abandoned until the mediæval period, when a park pale was built, making use of the final phase of the Iron Age defences. Caesar's Camp belonged to the Farnham estate of the Bishop of Winchester in the 11th century; by the 13th century it formed part of a park associated with Farnham Castle.[4]
Site description
Caesar's Camp stands 580 feet above sea level, and the Bagshot Beds of sand surface on the northern slopes of the hill. The area around the hillfort features extensive areas of open heathland.[5] The defences on the east side have been damaged by a modern quarry. The interior of the fort is largely undisturbed, and the rarity of large multivallate Iron Age forts has resulted in Caesar's Camp being regarded as of national importance by Historic England.[6]
The fort is large and encloses an area of 26 acres. The earthwork ramparts and ditches largely follow the contours of the hill. The ramparts cut across the neck of the plateau on the south side; on the north and northeast sides there are no earthwork defences since the steep scarps render them unnecessary.[6] On the southwest side, marshland was incorporated into the defences, and gaps in the rampart occur in that area.[1] On the east side the defences consisted of a double rampart. The inner rampart is 30 feet wide and 10 feet high; the ditch between the ramparts is 6 feet deep and 16 feet wide. The outer rampart is 20 feet wide and stands 6 feet high. Outside the second rampart is another ditch, this measuring 3 feet deep. On the south-east side, the defences consisted of a triple rampart and a counter-scarp bank that continued to the south side. The fort's defences were strongest on the south, where they cut across level ground.[6]
The main entrance to the fort is believed to have been halfway along the east side; however, direct evidence is lacking due to the damage caused to the supposed entrance by modern quarrying. A trackway cuts through the strong defences on the south side, but this may be modern.[6]
The mediæval park pale is evident as a bank and accompanying ditch running along the western edge of Caesar's Camp. The bank is 6 feet wide and stands 3 feet high. The ditch runs on the inside of the bank and measures 8 feet wide and is a fot and a half deep.[6] Some 200 feet to 230 feet outside the rampart on the south-west side are the remains of what has been interpreted as a defensive outlier, or an earlier version of the defences, consisting of a low rampart 23 feet wide. However, this feature may instead be the misinterpreted remains of the mediæval park pale, the spoil of which was thrown over the Iron Age defences.[1]
Finds
Miscellaneous finds at Caesar's Camp include a Roman roof tile, which is now held in Camberley Museum,[1] and an early rapier dating to the Middle Bronze Age (c. 1500–1000 BC).[7] The sword has been assigned to the Thetford Class of Trump's Group II,[8] characterised by a trapezoid butt with two noches, and dated to 1200–1000 BC. The weapon is forged from a copper alloy and has a fluted blade with three central ribs. It has a total length of one foot; the blade is 9 inches wide and a quarter of an inch thick. The hilt plate is nearly two inches wide. [9] This sword is now held in the British Museum.[10]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 National Heritage List 1007895: Caesar's Camp (Scheduled ancient monument entry)
- ↑ SSSI listing and designation for Bourley and Long Valley
- ↑ Hansworth 1987, p. 157.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1007895: Caesar's Camp (Historic England)
- ↑ Rushmoor Borough Council 2009, pp. 16, 22.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 Historic England.
- ↑ Needham 1987, p. 115.
- ↑ Phillips 1967, pp. 3–4.
- ↑ Trustees of the British Museum.
- ↑ Phillips 1967, p. 19.
- Burgess, Colin; Gerloff, Sabine (1981). The Dirks and Rapiers of Great Britain and Ireland. Prähistorische Bronzefunde. 7. Munich, Germany: C.H.Beck. ISBN 3-406-07083-3. OCLC 9434889. https://books.google.com/books?id=E46ZMgf41BoC&pg=PA2.
- Hansworth, Roasmond (1987). "The Iron Age in Surrey". The Archaeology of Surrey to 1540. Guildford, Surrey, England: Surrey Archaeological Society. pp. 139–164. ISBN 0-9501345-6-2. OCLC 28150565. https://archive.org/details/archaeologyofsur0000unse/page/139.
- Needham, Stuart (1987). "The Bronze Age". The Archaeology of Surrey to 1540. Guildford, Surrey, England: Surrey Archaeological Society. pp. 97–138. ISBN 0-9501345-6-2. OCLC 28150565. https://archive.org/details/archaeologyofsur0000unse/page/97.
- Phillips, Winifred E. (1967). "Bronze Age metal objects in Surrey". Surrey Archaeological Collections 64: 1–34. OCLC 795985094. http://archaeologydataservice.ac.uk/archiveDS/archiveDownload?t=arch-379-1/dissemination/pdf/vol_64/surreyac064_001-034_phillips.pdf. Retrieved 2014-07-20.
- Rushmoor Borough Council (2009). "Landscape Assessment of Rushmoor: 2009 Update". Farnborough, Hampshire, England: Rushmoor Borough Council. http://www.rushmoor.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=4543&p=0.
- Trustees of the British Museum. "Collection Online: rapier". London, England: Trustees of the British Museum. https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=808987&partId=1&searchText=Caesar%27s+Camp&page=1.
Further reading
- Riall, N. (1983). "Excavations at Caesar's Camp, Aldershot, Hampshire". Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club Archaeological Society (Hampshire, England: Hampshire Field Club & Archaeological Society) 39: 47–55.
