Monument record 0124501000 - Ivinghoe Beacon Ramparts

Summary

Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age earthworks forming the defensive enclosure of the hillfort recorded in field survey

Protected Status/Designation

  • Ancient Monument 1009544: A SLIGHT UNIVALLATE HILLFORT AND BOWL BARROW ON IVINGHOE BEACON HILL

Map

Type and Period (1)

  • RAMPART (Late Bronze Age to Early Iron Age - 1000 BC to 401 BC)

Description

Plan Form - triangular
Scheduled Ancient Monument 9067. The Ivinghoe Beacon style of timber strengthening is a rough grid with cross bracing (9). Discussion continues on whether timber defences really did exist at the site (B13). The ramparts weathered rapidly after building (B6). A geophysical survey carried out as part of a student project is believed to show evidence of a palisade rebuilt over time (B16). English Heritage's Earthwork Survey Report of November 2000, suggests that 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. 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 (B17).

Sources (5)

  • <6>SBC3219 Article in serial: M A Cotton & S S Frere. 1968. 'IVINGHOE BEACON EXCAVATIONS 1963-1965', IN RECS OF BUCKS 18 PP187-260. Vol 18, part 3.
  • <9>SBC3304 Bibliographic reference: CUNLIFFE B 1974 IRON AGE COMMUNITIES IN BRITAIN PP35,229.
  • <13>SBC5832 Article in serial: 1981. GREEN H S 1981 DATING IVINGHOE BEACON, IN RECS OF BUCKS 23 PP1-3. Vol 23.
  • <16>SBC19148 Unpublished document: John Gover. 2000. A Geophysical Investigation of Ivinghoe Beacon.
  • <17>SBC19493 Unpublished document: English Heritage. 2001. Ivinghoe Beacon, Ivinghoe: Survey Report.

Location

Grid reference SP 96040 16850 (point)
Civil Parish IVINGHOE, Aylesbury Vale, Buckinghamshire

Finds (0)

Related Monuments/Buildings (1)

Related Events/Activities (3)

  • Event - Intervention: (EBC1126)
  • Event - Intervention: (EBC14436)
  • Event - Survey: Site visit (EBC1383)

Record last edited

Aug 10 2020 8:04PM

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