Monument record 0221500000 - LECKHAMSTEAD CHURCH (183M S)

Dimensions - Length 60m, Width 45m.
Plan Form - Linear.
Battery, on hilltop. Single ditch & rampart, faces W; slight return at each end (B1).
Strongest part of bank c2.5m above ditch. No trace of a structure in angle. Work complete, but for levelling, N bank visible on APs? Looks identical to battery at Cornbury, Oxon. NGR to site; 1:2500 survey filed (B3).

A C shaped bank and ditch of 17th century date are visible on historic aerial photographs and remote sensing data as extant earthworks and were mapped as part of the North Buckinghamshire Aerial Investigation and Mapping project (EBC18304). Located south of the church at South End, Leckhampstead, and centred at SP 72544 37790. The longest side is on the west and runs approximately north to south and measures 42m in length, the north side 36min length and runs towards the east and the southern side 16m; the ditch runs around the outside of the earthworks. It is approximately 60m north of a lower, longer bank and ditch around the whole area of raised ground (see MBC7635). (9-13)




An earth work about 200 yds south of the church occupies a commanding position on the top of a hill about 300 ft above OD, and consists of a single rampart and ditch facing west with a slight return at each end. It was probably thrown up during the Civil War. SP 7253 3778 Visible on air photographs, from which it appears to be identical in shape and size with the Civil War Battery at Cornbury, Oxon, described by O'Neil (Oxon 10 1945 73-78) Situated on a prominent spur overlooking Leckhampstead village to the N this earthwork is as described by Auth 1. Where strongest, the bank is c 2.5m above the ditch. No trace of a structure within the 'angle' of the work, which apart from some levelling of the N bank appears complete. There are no embrasures in the bank, but its low flat profile and overall shape and position are indicative of a Civil War battery, although no documentary evidence was found to support this. Surveyed at 1:2500 (B2, B14, B15.
Terraced ground feature (SP 73 NW 31) at SP 72763785 may be another contemporary battery (B16 and B17)
A rapid examination of air photography (6a) shows the battery as earthworks in 1986 (B18 and 19).
NRHE update 2004 (B20).

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