Fortification Wood (EHER 524)

An enclosure on high ground, dropping sharply from south to north; these may represent a manorial enclosure.

Enclosure on high ground, dropping sharply from south to north. A rectangular site, c. 350 x 240ft, enclosed by a shallow ditch c. 30ft wide at the strongest point. There are traces of an inner rampart but much has gone. The ditch is also partly destroyed and was not made to hold water. A deep cutting across the south end is probably later than the enclosure. The work appears to be defensive. <1> OS 1969 considered it to be in the category of "manorial enclosures". The main enclosure was probably part of a larger complex suggested by other banks and ditches leading away to the north west and south east. All traces elsewhere of these features have been destroyed. The enclosure is a low bank and shallow moat, measuring 350 ft. by 240 ft. and surrounding about 4 acres. Within these confines, at the southern end, is a later excavation which is now a pond. The earthwork existed in 1222, and may have been for military use or merely to protect growing timber. <5> <9> The main enclosure is not homogeneous and the depth of the ditch varies from 2.0m. to 0.5m., with seemingly original causeways separating different stretches at different levels <5> <9> "The site however is almost certainly an occupation site as there can be little doubt the partly filled depression in the south west corner is a fishpond". There was no change by the 1975 survey <10>.<3> in <2> Appears defensive rather than domestic, therefore cannot be classed as certainly medieval. Plan and profile do suggest a medieval date, however. The site is thickly overgrown so the dimensions given by the RCHM could not be checked. The ditch is interrupted by causeways, a large pond is in the centre and a considerable bank and ditch along the south east side, also a 20m extension to the ditch on the south east side. <4> <10> Other refs: <5> <6> <8> Tracing from OS 25" is in SMR. <7> No change in 1975 Original HER entry merged with NRHE data import.