Dungeon Hill, Dorset
| Dungeon Hill | |
|
Dorset | |
|---|---|
| Type: | Hillfort |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | ST690074 |
| Location: | 50°51’55"N, 2°26’31"W |
| History | |
| Built Iron Age | |
| Information | |
Dungeon Hill is an Iron Age hillfort in Dorset, about a mile and a quarter north of the village of Buckland Newton.[1]
It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.[2]
Description
The fort is on a low hill of 600 feet. It has a single bank in a roughly oval shape, enclosing an area of about nine acres. The rampart is 23 feet wide and about 5 feet above the interior. It has an external ditch of width 43 feet and depth 7 feet. The height of the rampart above the base of the ditch is up to 20 feet. There are traces af an outer bank on the east side.[2][3][4]
There is an original causeway entrance of width about tent feet in the south; there are modern entrances in the north on both sides.[2][3][4]
On the east facing slope of the hill there are four lynchets, suggesting cultivation in the Middle Ages.[2][4]
Remains found
In the late 18th century Fitzwalter Foy, resident of nearby Duntish Court,[5] who was the owner of the fort, cleared the site of woodland, and he recovered human bones, sword blades, Roman coins and other finds. In 1881 there was some excavation of the site: Roman pottery, fragments of Roman querns and building stone were found; Roman tiles were found in the interior.[2][4]
References
- ↑ Nikolaus Pevsner: The Buildings of England: Dorset, 1972 Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-300-09598-2page 122
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 National Heritage List 1016895Hillfort and later strip lynchets on Dungeon Hill: and later strip lynchets on Dungeon Hill Dungeon Hill, Dorset
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Minterne Magna: An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 1, pages 167-170
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 National Monuments Record: No. 198773 – Dungeon Camp
- ↑ Buckland Newton: An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Dorset, Volume 3, pages 48-54