ASHLEYS COPSE

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DESCRIPTION

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Earthwork remains of an Iron Age hillfort.

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[Centred at SU 26083483] EARTHWORKS [OE]. (1)

Some "mutilated and fragmentary earthworks of indeterminate date
situated in Ashley's Copse". (2)

An entrenchment at Ashley Wood occupying the "S.E. half of the
end of a spur which juts out to the north-west [sic] from the
steep range of hills 2 miles south of the Wallop stream....

The shape of the entrenchment is that of two loops jutting out
one beyond the other on the spur. The base or chord cutting off
the inner loop is wanting, unless a faint scarp represents it....

The ramparts consist of a broad low bank rising from 1 to 2
feet above the area, and surmounting a ditch of 5 to 8 feet
below its crest, with a low bank on the counter-scarp about 2
or 3 feet above the outside slope". Along the edge of a gully,
on the south-east side of the entrenchment, there is a low bank
which turns out at right angles across the spur and loses
itself in Popplewhite Copse, and the same may be said of the
outermost bank of the outer loop where it crosses the spur.
There are no traces of foundations or flints, the banks being
very soft and covered with deep herbage....

There is a gap about the centre of both loops. The entrenchment
must have been continued in Ashley's Copse.

"In its present condition it is to me incomprehensible, though
the northern projection looping out from the inner one of
course suggests a Norman construction", possibly the remains of
a bailey whose citadel has been obliterated by the planting of
the wood. (3)

A hillfort formed by a single bank and ditch with an area of
c.6 acres, and occupying the tip of a gravel-capped eastern
spur, the ground falling away precipitously to the south and
fairly steeply to the north and east.

It is evident from the description in 3 that J.P. Williams-
Freeman was only aware of the eastern portion of the earthworks
and had not traced their full extent.

The bank and ditch are best preserved on the west : a
counterscarp bank is present round the eastern end (see section
A-B).

The fort is mutilated near its eastern end by the remains of an
earthwork (ditch with outer bank) of parallelogram form which
is superimposed across the rampart and in one place apparently
cuts through a midden, 'C', where some animal bones and a rim
sherd (? IA'A') were found.

Within the fort are some pits, presemably gravel workings and
perhaps connected with the hollow way leading to the main road. (4)

Recent ploughing has severely reduced the eastern end of this
earthwork.

Re-surveyed at 1:2500. (5)

No change. (6)

SU 261349. Iron Age hillfort, Ashley Copse - scheduled. (7)

SU 260 348. Ashley's Copse. Listed in gazetteer as a univallate hillfort covering 2.4ha. (8)

Ashley's Copse was surveyed by staff from the RCHME Salisbury office as part of a project focussing on the earthworks of South Wiltshire. The following is abstracted from the archive report:

This extensive and complex group of earthworks is situated above a N facing scarp slope of the Upper Chalk at c152m OD. Local deposits of Tertiary gravels cover the chalk over the NW part of the site, and their subsequent quarrying has caused extensive damage to part of the complex. Immediately to the SE of the hillfort, a steep-sided, dry coombe cuts into the scarp slope, giving extensive views over the central Hampshire chalklands and affording clear views of Quarley Hill and Danebury.

The univallate hillfort is oval in shape and encloses c2.6ha. A low counterscarp bank is visible around the circuit, with the exception of the SE quadrant, where an overlying enclosure has obscured detail. The defences are best preserved in the SW quadrant, where the overall width exceeds 18m. Here, the rampart stands c1.75m high and the ditch is up to 2m deep. Nearly 50% of the interior has been disturbed by later gravel extraction. These pits are confined to the W and S areas of the hillfort, while ploughing has affected the NE quadrant. As a result, no internal detail is visible on the ground.

Two original entrances were noted, one on the NE marked by inturning of the rampart; the second being S-facing, with an outwork on its W flank.

During the course of the survey, large quantities of pottery and a small amount of struck flint was recovered from the hillfort interior. The earliest diagnostic sherds are of haematite coated 'scratched cordoned bowls' of the later 6th and 5th Centuries BC. Other diagnostic sherds indicate activity during the 1st century BC through to the later Roman period. The flintwork concentrated in the area to the S of the NE entrance suggests activity during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. Full details of the surveyed earthworks can be found in the archive report. (9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) General reference

O.S. 6" 1927

( 2) General reference

P. & Proc. Hants. F.C.& A.S. 12, 1931, 120, (Williams- Freeman)

( 3) General reference

"Field Arch. as Illus. by Hants.", 1915, 136-7, 348, plan, (Williams-Freeman)

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

F1 VJB 10-FEB-56

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F2 ASP 14-APR-65

( 6) Field Investigators Comments

F3 FGA 10-MAR-69

( 7) General reference

Arch in Hants Ann Rep 1979 5

( 8) General reference

BAR 62 British Hill-Forts: An Index 1979 209 (AHA Hogg)

( 9) General reference

RCHME Field Investigation 12-FEB-1992 (MC Corney)

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