Monument record 0152500000 - BULSTRODE CAMP/ Bulstrode Park 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).


[SU 995 880] Camp [G.T.] (B23).

Bulstrode Camp, the largest in the county, is situated on a plateau about 275 ft. above O.D., between the Misbourne and the Alderbourne valleys. It is over 21 acres in area; [see plan: A.O.:61:44:4] the western side follows the steep escarpment formed by two lateral valleys, mainly dry, which meeting at an acute angle, open out into the main valley, which trends in a south-westerly direction.

As the plan shows, the defences consist of a double rampart for the greater part of the circumference: the outer bank and ditch fades away on the western side where the escarpment is steepest [see A.O. 61:44:2& 3]
The inner bank where it is best preserved (on the Eastern side), reaches a height of 6- 7 ft above the interior surface, and is over 12 ft. above the bottom of the inner ditch; the outer bank is 6-7 ft above the bottom of the outer ditch. The overall breadth of the work is about 30 yards. It bears a close resemblance in form, position and general character to Wallbury Camp, Essex. [TL 41 NE 14]
There are five openings (see plan), none of which is obviously original: none shows overlapping ramparts, flanking defences or advance posts.
Excavations were carried out in 1924 [see plan, and section: A.O. 61. 44.5]
The only definite evidence of human occupation found, was three small fragments of soft paste pottery, almost certainly pre-Roman, and of the Early Iron Age; and one rude hearth of pebbles (B7).

Bulstrode: I.A. 'A' and 'C' hill-fort. (Classification not based on excavation) (B24)

On 22nd January 1951, Gerrard's Cross Parish Council were authorized to proceed with the purhase of the remaining area of the Iron Age Camp in Bulstrode Park, as a public open space. The sale to private owners of parts of the earthwork had resulted in damage to it (B25).

A 25" survey has been made (B26).

Gerrards Cross, Bulstrode Park Camp scheduled as an Ancient Monument (B11).

No change (B27).

SU 994 880. Bulstrode Park. Listed in gazetteer as a multivallate hillfort covering 8.4ha. (B28)

Bulstrode Park. Description with plan (B5).

Plateau camp in Bulstrode Park. The work is roughly oval in shape and encloses approximately 22 acres. The defences consist of an inner and outer rampart and ditch except on the W and NW sides where the outer ditch is obliterated. Condition- Fairly good: Oak trees planted on the ramparts (B6).

The Iron Age hillfort of Bullstrode is much as depicted by the Ordnance Survey on 1:1250 mapping.

The interior, a public access area currently under grass, is covered in later ridge and furrow of a fairly uniform width of 6m. Ridge and furrow on the east side of the interior is aligned N-S, while that on the west is aligned NW-SE.

The rampart comprises a ditch with inner and outer banks and is covered, for the most part, in scrub and mature trees. The inner bank survives to a maximum height of 1.5m above the interior and to c.3m above the height of the ditch bottom. The outer bank still stands to a maximum height of 1.5m above the bottom of the ditch.
Since the purchase of the site by the local Parish Council some sections of the rampart have been enclosed within private gardens and this has resulted in subsequent damage to the earthworks from landscaping.

Several breaks in the rampart were noted during the current survey, not one of which represents an obvious original entrance. During their investigations in 1924 Fox and Clarke (2) recorded seven gaps in the hillfort defences. One of these, a narrow breach of the earthworks at the southern end, certainly appears to be modern. There area two further gaps to the south-west and north-east respectively where the outer bank is still in evidence. Although unlikely as orignal entrances they are both apparently adjacent to ancient springs and may have formerly provided access to a water supply (2). Low rectilinear earthwork scarps in the north-west corner of the fort were recorded during this survey and probably represent the location of at least two former buildings. Two narrow gaps in the defences noted here by Fox and Clarke are no longer visible, and it seems likely that the buildings and gaps, shown on an estate map of 1686 (2), are post-medieval and associated. Fox and Clarke also identified a broad gap in the defences over 50m wide at the point now occupied by the grounds of the private residence 'Camp Keep'. Although the ramparts here have been considerably smoothed and degraded there is no evidence of a complete or original breach. The estate map of 1686 shows a tree-lined avenue extending across the fort interior from this point toward a gap on the east side (2). If this is indeed the case then the creation of such a feature may well account for the lack of height of the ramparts both here and at the corresponding end of the avenue on the east side of the fort where the ditch and banks, now enclosed within the private grounds of 'The Trees', are discontinuous for a distance of around 25m. However, it may also be suggested that this breach in the eastern defences represents the most convincing location for an original entrance to the fort (B29).

NRHE Insert 1999. Update 2000, 2011 (B30).