Monument record 0152500000 - BULSTRODE CAMP

Dimensions - Width 340m, Length 470m.
Plan Form - Ovoid.
Large plateau camp. Inner, outer rampart, ditch, except on W & NW where no outer ditch left. Flint wall footings on inner NW rampart. Gaps on E, S, NE but unclear if original (B1-11).
Excavated by C Fox & L Clarke but only hearth & 3 Iron Age sherds found (B7-9).
Watching briefs found little (B12-13).
OS 1:1250 hachuring inaccurate (B14).
The defences consist of an inner and outer rampart and ditch except on the W and NW sides where the outer ditch is obliterated. Low rectilienar earthwork scarps in the NW corner of the fort suggests the location of two buildings. The 1688 estate map shows a tree-lined avenue extending across the interior to gap in the eastern side (corrresponding with a 25m gap in the ramparts). However, it is also suggested that this break represents the most likely location for the original entrance (B15).
Geophysical survey carried out by John Gover of Reading University in summer 2002 identified the following: the north-south Medieval ridge and furrow system shows very clearly especially on the eastern half of the interior. There are faint indications of another NWN trending system in the SW quadrant. This ridge and furrow anomaly system is so dominant on the resistivity readings that it tends to mask other more subtle features. Despite the ridge and furrow there are indications of a number of possible prehistoric anomalies within the interior. These are mostly towards the margins and most common in the northern half of the site. The majority are circular - possible round houses - ranging in diameter from 9 - 16 metres. The most obvious are clustered in the NE quadrant. A few additional circular anomalies suggest themselves in other areas, but data confidence in these is low. There is one D enclosure some 20 by 30 metres in the NW quadrant with a possible assoicated hut circle in its interior. This could be a farm enclosure dating from the early to mid Iron Age. There are no indications from the survey of an entrance(s). Finally there is an indistinct structure aligned ENE some 60 by 15 metres in the SW quadrant. In style this could be the outline of a long barrow and would indicate Neolithic or Bronze Age activity on the site. This counld extend activity back some 1500 years or more. See report for detail (B18).
Salvage recording carried out by TVAS in August 2005 following damage to the ramparts identified 3 distinct layers within the hillfort bank, all of sandy gravels. It was not possible to establish the full extant of the bank to the west. Topographic survey differed significantly from that published by the OS (B19).
Negative fieldwork reports (B20-B22).