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The Archaeology of Castle Hill
  
Trench 1
Trench 2
 
Trench 3
 
Trench 5

Week 5

Trench 6
Trench 6
The top of the clumps was ploughed for agriculture throughout the Medieval period and the antiquarian Leland, visiting in c. 1550 remarked on the rich arable crops grown within the hillfort. The clumps of trees were planted in the mid 18th century. A couple of the beech trees in the centre of the clump were cored and dated to c. 1750. The ridges running from north to south across the clumps were most likely created to provide deeper topsoil for planting the trees and there is reference to this technique for planting in a 18th century text.


Excavating and measuring Trench 6. The undulations of the planting ridges are clearly visible in the sides of the trench and the ditch and archaeological features have been found below these.

Index

Week 2 update

Week 3 update

Week 4 update

Week 6 update

Interim Summary Reports

Photographs of people at work

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The Clumps are a prominant landscape feature today, however they only appeared in this form in the 18th century. In the medieval period the hilltops were used for agricultural purposes.
   
We are also excavating a large ditch that appeared as a possible feature in the English Heritage geophysical survey, and which we believe is the continuation of the ditch encircling the hilltop that we excavated in Trenches 3 and 4. As in Trench 3, the top fill of the ditch is dark and contains large amounts of early Iron Age pottery and animal bone. We interpret this as rubbish thrown into the largely silted up ditch after it had gone out of use. This means that the ditch must have been dug considerably earlier.

Other potential archaeological features in this trench are possible pits at the east and west ends.
 
           
               
  One of the aims of Trench 6 is to look at the ridges from the planting of these clumps, ridges that are very prominent in this area of this trench. In section we can see the ridges sealing a layer of soil and pebbles, probably the medieval ploughsoil. This rests upon the orange sand and gravel geology capping the hilltop, indicating that prehistoric soils are unlikely to have survived intact within the clump.    
               
Link to the Northmoor Trust website

If you would like to help on the dig please speak to one of the team, or contact Denise Price, at Oxford Archaeology on 01865 263800. Application forms may also be obtained by e-mail from denise.price@oxfordarch.co.uk.