Segsbury Camp
Encyclopedia
Segsbury Camp or Segsbury Castle is an Iron Age
hill fort
on the crest of the Berkshire Downs
, near the Ridgeway above Wantage
, in the Vale of White Horse
district of Oxfordshire
, England
. It is in Letcombe Regis
civil parish and is also called Letcombe Castle.
The fort has extensive ditch and ramparts and four gateways. Excavation at the site by Dr Phené in 1871 discovered a cist grave on the south side of the hill fort rampart. The grave was floored with stone slabs and the sides were walled with flint. Finds included a shield boss and fragments of an urn or drinking cup. Among other finds were human bones and flint scrapers. It has been suggested that this was a secondary Anglo-Saxon
burial, placed at the camp.
Further excavation was carried out in 1996 and 1997. The report on this work describes the periodic occupation of the hill fort between the 6th and 2nd centuries BC and suggests that it was a communal centre for various activities, including sheep management and exchange.
six-figure grid reference
SU385845.
British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...
hill fort
Hillforts in Britain
Hillforts in Britain refers to the various hillforts within the island of Great Britain. Although the earliest such constructs fitting this description come from the Neolithic period, with a few also dating to the later Bronze Age, British hill forts were primarily constructed during the Iron Age...
on the crest of the Berkshire Downs
Berkshire Downs
The Berkshire Downs are a range of chalk downland hills in southern England, part of the North Wessex Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty...
, near the Ridgeway above Wantage
Wantage
Wantage is a market town and civil parish in the Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, England. The town is on Letcombe Brook, about south-west of Abingdon and a similar distance west of Didcot....
, in the Vale of White Horse
Vale of White Horse
The Vale of White Horse is a local government district of Oxfordshire in England. The main town is Abingdon, other places include Faringdon and Wantage. There are 68 parishes within the district...
district of Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is in Letcombe Regis
Letcombe Regis
Letcombe Regis is a village and civil parish in the Vale of White Horse. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred the Vale of White Horse to Oxfordshire...
civil parish and is also called Letcombe Castle.
The fort has extensive ditch and ramparts and four gateways. Excavation at the site by Dr Phené in 1871 discovered a cist grave on the south side of the hill fort rampart. The grave was floored with stone slabs and the sides were walled with flint. Finds included a shield boss and fragments of an urn or drinking cup. Among other finds were human bones and flint scrapers. It has been suggested that this was a secondary Anglo-Saxon
Anglo-Saxons
Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...
burial, placed at the camp.
Further excavation was carried out in 1996 and 1997. The report on this work describes the periodic occupation of the hill fort between the 6th and 2nd centuries BC and suggests that it was a communal centre for various activities, including sheep management and exchange.
Location
The site is at Ordnance SurveyOrdnance Survey
Ordnance Survey , an executive agency and non-ministerial government department of the Government of the United Kingdom, is the national mapping agency for Great Britain, producing maps of Great Britain , and one of the world's largest producers of maps.The name reflects its creation together with...
six-figure grid reference
Grid reference
Grid references define locations on maps using Cartesian coordinates. Grid lines on maps define the coordinate system, and are numbered to provide a unique reference to features....
SU385845.