Likely Iron Age double-ditched enclosure, The Warren (EHER 5720)

A circular double-ditched enclosure, complete except for a small section on the south where it was too overgrown to explore (in 1923). Exploratory excavation in the mound was inconclusive. Pre-Roman pottery, suggested to be around 400 BC was found in the inner ditch of the enclosure. The topographical position of the work suggests an Iron Age classification which is confirmed by the finds.

Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import. Circular earthwork, double banked, said to be a barrow (?). Large. Some pre Roman pottery <1> <2> <3> Exploratory excavation in the mound was inconclusive. Pre-Roman pottery, suggested to be around 400 BC was found in the inner ditch of the enclosure <2> Field survey, 1976 According to OS 1976 the earthwork is on a promontory with commanding views to the north west, protected on the west by a valley. The earthwork consists of a semi-cirular bank with a maximum outer scarp of 1.8m, and an outer terrace and secondary defence on the west. The original entrance could not be identified, the break on the north side seeming to be later. A sunken path and boundary bank had apparently been interpreted as a continuation of the work by Berridge (author of <2>), though it seems to be undefended to the south. Pre-Roman pottery was found in excavations by Berridge, suggested to date to around 400 BC. Pottery was found in the inner ditch of the enclosure. A pillow mound lies within the enclosure, at TL 78300749, is orientated north east-south west and measures 22m x 12m. The name, 'Warren' dates back to the 18th century. At TL 78270749 is a building platform on top of the main scarp, probably modern in date. A pillow mound is set within the work on level ground at TL 78300749; oriented northeast/southwest it measures 22.0m long by 12.0m wide. The name 'Warren' dates back to the C18th (a). A building platform centred TL 78270749 on top of the main scarp is probably modern. Surveyed at 1:2500. <4> <5> Earthwork and other features plotted on map in SMR, presumably derived from OS <6> Field survey, 1987 Centred TL 78300747. A small sub-rectangular enclosure, in part bivallate, is situated on the E side and near the head of a small valley draining N from the Danbury Ridge into the River Chelmer below. The double defences on the W and N sides of the enclosure are seemingly the result of terracing along the crest of the valley with the resultant spoil being thrown both upwards and outwards to create an inner rampart and outer steepening of the natural slope. This outer defence is the less well formed of the two, only present where there is fall of the land away W and N, and being masked by a modern woodland bank just where the valley side is steepest on the W. The inner rampart preserves height above the interior only along the NW arc. The E end of the northern arc is interrupted by later quarrying, and of the southern arc by a modern path. There is no sign of the rampart re-emerging eastwards beyond either of these points. Although this area is much criss-crossed and disturbed by hollow ways, the possibility that the enclosure was thus never completed must be considered. However it seems strange if the most naturally defensiblesides of the enclosure were fortified before the vulnerable eastern and southern sectors, unless the purpose was purely for the enclosure to be visible from, and to impress people moving along, the Chelmer valley. Within the enclosure and at TL 78300749 is the pillow mound described by <5>. The central mound is 23m long by 6m wide. The flanking ditches bend round the mound but do not quite meet at the NE end, but run straight out from it for some 5m to the SW. Resurveyed at 1:2500, transferred to MSD (see illustration card). <7> Additional reference <8>