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MONUMENT NO. 228927

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A probable late Bronze Age ditched bounadry extends north south for 1680m on East Garston Down. A rectangular enclosure,attached to the southern end of the boundary, appears to be of later date and is possibly a Post Medieval sheep enclosure. Within this enclosure are a number of enclosures which are possibly the remains of sheep pens and sheep houses. The dating of the ditch to the Bronze Age is based on excavation and finds evidence. The ditch and the enclosure are visible as earthworks and, after being ploughed level, as cropmarks on aerial photographs.

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[SU 36267808] - [SU 36647965] [Ditch G.T.]
[SU 36077705 - SU 36117718] [Ditch G.T.] (1)

Probable late Bronze Age ranch boundary ditch running from
Warren Down [SU 3584 - Childrey parish] southwards towards East
Garston. (2)

SU 363780 "A rectangular enclosure of fair size, situated at
the southern end of a long stretch of linear earthwork," on
Winterdown Bottom, East Garston. (2-4)

The linear earthwork extends from SU 36257804 to SU 36647965.
It consists of a ditch with a slight bank on its western tip
and looks like a boundary work. (See map diagram), but it is
not associated with any field system.

The northern end now terminates at a farm track, but this does
not necessarily indicate a recent origin as the field to the
north has been ploughed for many years and a continuation could
have been obliterated.
The enclosure at SU 36317802, cannot be earlier than the ditch
and may be much later. It is situated on a southern slope and
is bounded by a slight, but well defined, bank and outer ditch
on the uphill sides and by a scarp elsewhere. Its construction
and well-proportioned rectangular plan do not look prehistoric
and it may be associated with c.17th cent. sheep farming. The
internal features (consisting of possible tracks, a building
platform, rectangular depression and terraces) and its
location, in a sheltered position near the site of an old
barn, would be consistent with this; but there is no local
knowledge of its use nor does it appear on 19th cent. maps.

1:2500 survey revised. (5)

East Garston Down Ditch. A single trench was located adjacent to a small scatter of Deverel-Rimbury pottery (possibly from a single vessel) and other LBA/EIA pottery. An EIA scatter is located some 240 m uphill from the site. A quantity of struck flint was recovered from the ditch but only 2 sherds, both Roman from above the secondary silts. This only indicates a pre Roman date for the ditch. [Full archaeological description] (6)

The possible Bronze Age ditch and Post Medieval sheep enclosure,
described by the previous authorities, are visible as earthworks, and
after being ploughed, as cropmarks, and have been mapped from aerial
photographs. The ditch extends north south for 1680m between
SU 3625 7804 and SU 3664 7972. The possible sheep enclosure is
situated at the southern end. A ditch subdivides the enclosure and
sits between the remains of two possible buildings which may have
been sheep houses. It is unclear how the ditch and the enclosure
relate to one another. The date of the enclosure is based on its
similarity to other Post Medieval sheep enclosures found on the chalk
Downs of southern England. The excavations and finds evidence for
the ditched bounadry suggested a broad Late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age
date. (7-9)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

O.S. 6" 1960

( 2) General reference

Arch. in the Field, 1953,113 (O.G.S. Crawford)

( 3a) General reference

Inf.J.Wymer.Reading Mus

( 3) General reference

Berks. A.J., 59,1961,35. (Mrs. M.A. Cotton)

( 4) Vertical aerial photograph reference number

106G/UK/1408/3460-2, 4385 11-APR-1946

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F1 GHP 28-FEB-64

(6) General reference

Interim Statement (unpublished) 1983 (S Ford)

(7) Vertical aerial photograph reference number

RAF 106G/UK/1406 4089-90 12-APR-1946

(8) Vertical aerial photograph reference number

NMR OS/72044 182-4, 206-7 24-MAR-1972

(9) General reference

Steve Ford, "Linear Earthworks on the Berkshire Downs" Berkshire Archaeological Journal 71, 1981-2 pp1-20

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