Monument record MDO22073 - Shipton Hill, Shipton Gorge

Fragments of linear bank are visible on aerial photographs to the north and south of Shipton Hill. These appear to be the earthwork remains of an unfinished Iron Age hillfort however these features are probable the result of prehistoric landslips. {2-3}

<1> Royal Commission on Historical Monuments England, 1952, An Inventory of Historical Monuments in the County of Dorset, Volume I (West), 223 (Monograph). SDO97.

‘(11) EARTHWORK on Shipton Hill (565 ft. above O.D.), ¾ m. N.E. of the church, forms an enclosure of about ¾ acre. The hill-top has been artificially steepened on the N. and S. sides and the two ends form natural ramped causeways leading up to the summit. At the base of the hill on both the N. and S. sides is a ditch with outer rampart of no great strength, and at the present time, for part of their length, both have almost disappeared. Both the ditch and rampart stop short of the E. and W. ends of the hill.

Between the base of the mound and the outer ditch at the astern half of the S. side is a berm, but it seems probable that it is merely a natural outcrop of rock. The two pathways leading up the slope on the N. and S. are probably modern. On the top of the enclosure near the middle is a cross hedge-bank which appears to have been formed along the eastern scarp of a ditch immediately E. of the existing hedge-bank. Near the middle of the enclosure is a circular mound, of about 28 ft. diameter and 14 in. high.

Beyond the rampart on the N. side, and to a much lesser degree on the S. also, are a series of rough terraces. They would seem to be a natural formation though their surfaces in one or two places show signs of disturbance. Warne mentions the disturbed nature of the N.E. part of the field immediately to the N.E. of this camp and suggests the possibility of its being a Celtic village. This disturbance is still visible but is quite indeterminate.’

<2> Royal Air Force, 22-JAN-1948, RAF/CPE/UK/2431 3158-9 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11382.

<3> 14-APR-1984, NMR OS/84029 224-5 (Aerial Photograph). SDO11500.

<4> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1956, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1955, 135 (Serial). SDO55.

<5> Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, 1982, Proceedings of the Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society for 1980, 106 (Serial). SDO80.

’14. SHIPTON HILL. SY 508922. Hog-backed greensand knoll with flat top 170 m above OD. Ditch and outer bank at base of long sides only. No fortification of summit. Trial excavation (1954, W. A. Butcher) with surface finds suggest occupation throughout Iron Age and into RB (Proceedings 77, 1955, 135).’

Record last edited

Nov 13 2012 5:59PM