Mowsbury Hill
| Mowsbury Hill | |
| Bedfordshire | |
|---|---|
 Mowsbury Hill | |
| Summit: | 203 feet TL06615322 52°10’1"N, 0°26’34"W |
Mowsbury Hill is a low hill in northern Bedfordshire, part of a ridge with adjacent Cleat Hill, on which are found the earthworks of an Iron Age hill fort. The hill is immediately north of the outskirts of Bedford.
The hill is also a local nature reserve, extending over seven acres, and the fort is a scheduled ancient monument. It is owned and managed by Bedford Borough Council with the assistance of the Friends of Putnoe Wood and Mowsbury Hillfort.[1][2]
Archaeological excavation has shown that the site is a univallate hillfort (which is to say with a single rampart). Pottery has been found dating from the early Iron Age, and suggests that it was occupied for a limited period.
In the Middle Ages, the hill it was a moated settlement with two fishponds in the Manor of Morinsbury.[3] The site is also an old orchard with a wildflower meadow, woodland, scrub, a moat and ponds.[1]
There is access from the Mowsbury Golf Course car park on Cleat Hill.
 |
("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Mowsbury Hill) |
References
- ↑ Jump up to: 1.0 1.1 "Mowsbury Hill". Natural England. http://www.lnr.naturalengland.org.uk/Special/lnr/lnr_details.asp?C=2&N=&ID=304.
- ↑ "Home page". Friends of Putnoe Wood and Mowsbury Hillfort. http://www.putnoemowsburyfriends.org.uk/.
- ↑ National Heritage List 1015588: Mowsbury Hill: slight univallate hillfort and mediæval moated site (Scheduled ancient monument entry)