Monument record MDO4526 - Banbury Hill, Okeford Fitzpaine

A hill fort formed by a single bank and ditch enclosing the top of a low, flat-topped hill. The earthworks have been reduced by later cultivation, and aerial photographs show them crossed by medieval ridge and furrow. In 1970 the best preserved parts of the earthworks were described as consisting of a shallow bank around 50 feet across and 2 feet high, and ditch around 25 feet wide and one foot deep. There is an entrance on the western side of the enclosure, protected by an earthwork bank creating a narrow access way.

(ST 78981194) Camp (NR) (1) BANBURY (790120), an Iron Age univallage hillfort of 3 acres on the summit of a low, flat-topped hill (Plate 182), rises to 361 ft. above O.D.; it lies on an isolated patch of Plateau Gravel, within a broad belt of Kimmeridge Clay. Though never very massive, its defences have been reduced in the past by cultivation. Where best preserved they consist of a bank 50 ft. across rising 2 ft. above the interior and 6 ft. above the ditch bottom, the ditch, being 25 ft. across and 1 ft. deep. In places, particularly along the S. side, the bank is no more than a scarp, 3 ft. high, and for much of the circumference the external ditch is no longer visible. The entrance gap, on the W. side, is protected by a flanking arm linked to the main rampart and consisting of a scarp up to 5 ft. high, with traces of an external ditch; the arm curves oddly, in an opposite arc to that of the main rampart, so that the access-way from the S. is at one point only 7 ft. wide. There has been slight quarrying into the outwork. No traces of internal remains exist. <2-3> The Iron Age univallate hillfort on Banbury Hill is generally as described by R.C.H.M. <2>, although the ramparts have since been reduced by ploughing to an average height of 2.0m. Nonetheless overall the site is well preserved and is now under permanent pasture. Poorly defined on OS air photographs <3>. Resurveyed at 1:2500 on MSDs ST 7811/12, 7911/12, in conjunction with RCHM plan. <4>

Record last edited

Feb 18 2022 3:13PM