Monument record 0291800000 - THE PREBENDAL, AYLESBURY

DISCOVERY OF A SUBSTANTIAL DEFENSIVE DITCH DURING DEVELOPMENTS LED TO A 14 WEEK EXCAVATION. DURING THIS WORK, EVIDENCE FOR AN IRON AGE HILLFORT, SAXON DITCH, MEDIEVAL PITS & WELLS, A CIVIL WAR DITCH, & C18 FEATURES DISCOVERED. SEE ALSO CASS 00352, 01932, 04091. (B3-4,B6,B8-9).


SP 81651395. A ditch of a previously unknown hillfort was exposed in a contractor's survey hole on a site adjacent to St Mary's Church on the topmost point of the ridge on which Aylesbury is situated, in the area of The Prebendal. The ditch was over 3.0m deep and was traced for over 20m along the slope. If it followed this contour around the summit, it would have encompassed an area of about 10 ha. A decapitated human skull was found in the primary ditch silt. Within the line of the ditch, a ritual burial was discovered in a shallow grave of a spreadeagled youth buried with the articulated remains of a goat and second , as yet unidentified, animal. Around the edge of the pit, the remains of at least three other humans were arranged, with a large number of articulated animal remains. The pottery associated with the deposit has provisionally been dated to the C7th-C5th BC. The deposit, as a whole, appears to be unique in the British Iron Age (B11 & B4).


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