LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Oxfordshire 5608 (MOX3512)
NMR: SP 42 SE 17 (336910)
SM: None
NGR: SP 4936 2437
X: 449365 Y: 224375 (OSGB36)
On the S outskirts of Lower Heyford on a slope overlooking the River Cherwell. Completely ploughed flat and discovered from an aerial photograph in 1930, thought then to be 'Herborowe Bank' as shown on a map of 1606. Shows three circuits of roughly circular ditches irregularly spaced with the outer two circuits closer together, an entrance through all three to the W with an attached hornwork on the outer ditch. More recent aerial photographs have suggested banks on the inside of the ditches and field walking has shown stone possibly from the ramparts. They also show the innermost enclosure to be packed with features probably pits and roundhouses. No interventions, a single sherd of Iron Age pottery from the surface and Anglo-Saxon burials from the same filed.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Unconfirmed
X: -142900 Y: 6784894 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -1.283694934118697 Latitude: 51.915680727008514 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England
Current County or Unitary Authority: Oxfordshire
Historic County: Oxfordshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Lower Heyford
Completely ploughed away, visible on aerial photographs.
| Extant | ✗ |
| Cropmark | ✓ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Discovered as a cropmark in 1930, now still arable
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✗ |
| Arable | ✓ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
On hillslope overlooking the River Cherwell
| Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Partial Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort | ✗ |
| Hillslope Fort | ✓ |
| Level Terrain Fort | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort | ✗ |
| Hilltop | ✗ |
| Coastal Promontory | ✗ |
| Inland Promontory | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop | ✗ |
| Ridge | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp | ✗ |
| Hillslope | ✓ |
| Lowland | ✗ |
| Spur | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: Overlooks the River Cherwell.
| North | ✓ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: 119.0m
N/A
No evidence other than a single sherd of possibly Iron Age pottery from field walking and evidence for roundhouses from aerial photographs
Reliability: C - Low
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✓ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✓ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
| Artefactual: | None |
| Other: | None |
On map of 1606 published in Bloomfield (1892). No other investigations.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1606): | None |
Aerial photographs show the inner enclosure to be packed with features, pits and possible roundhouses.
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Features | ✓ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| No Known Excavation | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Geophysics | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
One sherd of possibly Iron Age pottery from field walking
| No Known Finds | ✗ |
| Pottery | ✓ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
The inner enclosure is packed with features, pits and possible roundhouses.
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✓ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✓ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Entrance at the W, simple through inner and middle enclosures, elongated hornwork outside outer ditch/bank
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Hornwork (West): | None |
| 1. Simple Gap (West): | None |
Three circuits of ditches show on aerial photographs, no evidence of banks but shown on map of 1606 and stone in the filed may be associated with them.
| Area 1: | 4.5ha. |
| Total: | 4.5ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | Banks do not survive but ditches show a complete circuit |
| NE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SE Quadrant: | 3 |
| SW Quadrant: | 3 |
| NW Quadrant: | 3 |
| Total: | 3 |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✓ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Stone in the field identified during field walking possibly associated with the ramparts.
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Rubble | ✓ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| None | ✓ |
| Earthen Bank | ✗ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Murus Duplex | ✗ |
| Timber-framed | ✗ |
| Timber-laced | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | Three concentric ditches shown on aerial photographs, irregularly spaced with outer two closer together |
Number of Ditches: 3
| ✗ | None |
Bloomfield, J.C. 1892. History of lower and upper Heyford.
Ray, K. 1991. Cherwell District: Lower Heyford. S Midlands Archaeol, 21, 79-80.
Atlas of Hillforts:
Wikidata:
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
Document Version 1.1