Monument record 0124500000 - IVINGHOE BEACON HILLFORT

Plan Form - subtriangular
Scheduled ancient monument. Contour fort, close to Icknield Way (B11).
For most part is univallate, single entrance at the eastern end. Created early in the 6th century BC by pastoralists still using Bronze Age implements, but otherwise with an Iron Age culture. The settlement was soon abandoned. The rampart rapidly weathered and the ditch became nearly obliterated. The hill-fort on Ivinghoe Beacon Hill was excavated from 1963-5, when it was found that from the form of the rampart and ditch, as well as from the finds of pottery and bronze that it is an early example of a hillfort, in fact one of the earliest in Britain. The pottery found appears to belong to an early phase of the Iron Age Southern First A. The metal objects, however, all of bronze, propose an even earlier date, for without exception they can all be attributed to the preceding Late Bronze Age 2, from 750 BC. These conclusions are reinforced by a bronze winged axe in Cheltenham Museum found on the Beacon c 1929 and which belongs to exactly the same period as the other bronzes. The conclusion arrived at is that the hill-fort was created early in the 6th c BC by a mainly pastoral people still using bronze implements. but with an otherwise Iron Age material culture; and that after little more than a generation the settlement was abandoned, no doubt in favour of a less exposed locality. Thereafter the rampart was rapidly weathered away and the ditch in time almost obliterated. [See plan]. Finds in Aylesbury Museum. Full excavation report, catalogue of finds etc (B6).
A geophysical survey carried out as a student project in 2000 suggests that the site has multi-phase use ranging from Neolithic to possibly Iron Age rather than the 'one generation' occupation suggested by Cotton and Frere. The survey is believed to show evidence of a pallisade rebuilt over time, a D-shaped enclosure close to the trig point and the neolithic cursus or moturaty enclosure running NE/SW across the site. Occupational activity appears to be confined to the interior of the fort in the west and northwest. (B16).
English Heritage's Earthwork Survey Report of November 2000, suggests that the Bronze Age/Iron Age society of the Chilterns eventually formed into a single kingdom farming the slopes of the hills and avoiding the heavily forested valley bottoms. During the later Bronze Age, the focus of settlement began to move down into the valleys and this is when the hillfort is likely to have been abandoned. The instigation of the box rampart is indicative of the site developing to form of a chain of hill forts in the late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age with Ravensburgh Castle, Maiden Bower and Wilbury Hill. The ramparts are still 2m high in places and excavation suggests that the main ditch was once 3.1m wide by 2.2m deep on the north side, with a second outer ditch present to the south. Survey evidence suggests a further two barrows inside the fort to the east of the barrow already noted. Four post structures might be interpreted as an excarnation platform showing the continuing funerary importance. The evidence for settlement inside the fort is strong with finds of late Bronze Age fine and coarseware, loom weights, quern fragments, plus cattle, sheep and pig bones. The fort probably became common ground after abandonment. The earthworks are not shown on estate or tithe maps. Nor are they shown on the first OS map of 1884, although the barrow is noted. The fort was first mapped in 1925. According to the Buckinghamshire Victorian County History of 1905 (page 379) a fire beacon once stood within the fort, with the kettle and other implements kept in the church. A Bren gun is also believed to have been sited on the beacon during World War II (B17).




(SP 960168) Camp (NR) (B21).
An Iron Age 'A' hillfort occupying the summit of Beacon Hill as described and planned by Cotton and Frere. The site is under pasture and the rampart and ditch are reduced to a scarp 2.0m - 3.0m high, and a terrace below 2.0m - 5.0m wide. Only in the SW can the counterscarp of the ditch be seen and here at a relatively easy approach the defences are doubled, the ditch from the W having been carried around the outside of the ditch from the E for a distance of c 50.0m. No internal features are recognisable. Re-surveyed at 1:2500 (B22).
SP 960 169. Ivinghoe Beacon. Listed in gazetteer as a univallate hillfort covering 2.2ha (B23).
SP 960 168 Ivinghoe Beacon hillfort, situated at one of the highest points of the Chiltern escarpment, overlooking the line of the Icknield Way. The earthworks of a univallate hillfort, comprising a 2m high rampart defining a roughly triangular area and enclosing the entirety of the hilltop. The north flank has traces of a ditch and counterscarp bank, while the south flank is defined by a series of terraces. The only known entrance is to the east, where the ridge from Gallows Hill ascends less steeply than elsewhere. Few traces of internal details, probably as a result of post-medieval ploughing; traces survive of the 1960s excavation trenches. On the north flank immediately outside the ramparts, slight traces of settlement comprising a street with house platfoms along either side; at the east end of the settlement and close to the hillfort entrance, a large mound may be a midden. The remains of three barrows (two inside the hillfort, a third immediately outside the entrance) survive. Ivinghoe Beacon hillfort was surveyed in 2000 by English Heritage as part of a wider programme of survey of Ridgeway hillforts. For full details of the survey and a copy of the plan, see the archive report (B24).

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