Monument record 0093100000 - RAGPIT HILL

Dimensions - Length 0060 m Width 0010
Plan Form - LINEAR
1 OF 2 PROBABLE LBA CROSS-RIDGE DYKES (SEE ALSO CASS 00932). CUT SHORT AT SW END BY CHALK QUARRYING. GAP APPEARS TO BE MODERN. BANK 6M WIDE, 1.3M HIGH ON DOWNHILL SIDE. DITCH ON UPHILL SIDE OF BANK 4M WIDE & UP TO 1M DEEP. CROSSED BY MED OR LATER BANK (B6).
SCHEDULED (B8).
Site visit and condition survey by MPP fieldworker (B9).
Suggestion of cross ridge dyke to be trackway. High potential for barrows (B10).




A Hill Camp at the W end of a spur about 200 yds NE of Great Kimble Church. There is a single rampart and ditch, bisected by a small break. 300 yds along the ridge to the E is a second ramport and ditch with a slight counterscarp bank. The two entrenchments appear to be joined on the N by a low bank, but this is possibly an old wood boundary. A series of paths and chalk pits on the hillside make the original outline difficult to identify. The W entrenchment, being on the natural slope of the hill is stronger than the E, which is on level ground. Nowhere is the ditch more than 2'6" deep and 31 ft wide. The earthworks which are much altered and worn are not shown on OS maps. (Nothing traceable on available RAF (A/Ps) (B1).
Visited on 19 5 56. Banks and ditches approximately where marked in red (SP 82730600 and 82910594). The tracks up the hill take the form of hollow ways, and the cut through the W defences does not seem to be original, nor was any entrance found on the E side. Both on the W and on the NE sides the area of the enclosure has been reduced by chalk pits, and there are now no banks here. (Shown on OS Iron Age Map 1962) (B11).
Visited in 1963. If it is a fort, even allowing for the chalk-pit working, it is most certainly not a complete one. Revisited recently with Prof Frere, who thought it was not in fact a fort at all. On both visits a few IA sherds were picked up and are now in the County Museum, Aylesbury (B12).
Iron Age A sherds were found near the bank of the hill fort at Ragpit, Great Kimble SP 828059, in 1963 and in 1964 at 827060. Presented to Bucks County Museum. (ACC No's 19.63 and 123.64) (B13).
Possibly attributable to the Civil War period (B3).
Two probable LBA cross-ridge dykes. 'A', centred at SP 82750600, is 60.0m in length, but has been cut short at the SW end by chalk quarrying. The bank is 6.0m wide, 1.3m high on the downhill side; the ditch on the uphill side of the bank, is 4.0m wide and up to 1.0m deep. A gap through the work appears to be modern. The NE end terminates upon steep slopes. The work is crossed by a Md or later bank. 'B' centred at SP 83030595 is 140.0m is length. The ends terminate in typical fashion above very steep slopes. The bank is 7.0m wide, 0.5m high; the ditch, 5.0m wide, up to 1.2m deep. The work is cut by a Md or later hollow way and by a modern road. To the S of the road, the bank is surmounted for a short distance by a Md or later woodland boundary bank. Divorced surveys at 1:2500 (B14).

This record includes National Record of the Historic Environment Information provided by Historic England on 4 June 2025 licensed under the Open Government Licence.