Stagbury Hill
| Stagbury Hill | |
| Wiltshire | |
|---|---|
 Stagbury Hill summit earthworks | |
| Summit: | 200 feet SU286160 50°56’35"N, 1°35’38"W |
Stagbury Hill is a low hill in the south-west corner of Wiltshire, within the edge of the New Forest. It is part of Furzeley Down, a tract of land owned by the National Trust. The hill is a mile south of the village of Canada and a mile and a half north of Cadnam, which sits across the border in Hampshire.
The hill is a flat, rolling heathland whose summit is marked by a trig point, just inside Wiltshire (the eastern flank of the hill falling within Hampshire).
Ancient monuments
The summit of the hill itself is an earthwork, with both Bronze Age work confused by a mediæval rabbit warrant. It is topped by an Ordnance Survey triangulation point.
The hill is the site of a Bronze Age barrow cemetery spread on and around the hill. Seven barrows have been listed, but little remains of them today.
The hill was also used as a rabbit warren and the round barrows at the summit were disturbed by the rabbits' burrowing. The three round barrows just southwest of the sandy knoll are not easy to find beneath gorse and bracken and disturbed by mediæval hollow ways and more recent paths; the bell barrow at grid reference SU285160 is the easiest to find as it has a mound 5 feet high.
Conservation
Work has been done to limit erosion of the sandy soil, including wood-reinforced steps to the summit. The hill commands excellent views of the north-eastern corner of the New Forest, especially over Cadnam Common to the south.
Outside links
- Stagbury Hill – A Short Walk – Strolling Guides
References
- 10651 Megalithic Portal: Stagbury Hill Barrow Cemetery
- National Heritage List 1016490: Rabbit warren and four bowl barrows on Stagbury Hill, Furzley Common
