LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Oxfordshire 6768 (None)
NMR: None (None)
SM: None
NGR: SP 486080
X: 448620 Y: 208000 (OSGB36)
Located near, and enclosing, St Margaret's Chapel, Binsey, low lying but on a raised gravel terrace on the River Thames floodplain overlooking the river, arable in the interior, some bushes and trees around the bank-line . A sub-oval enclosure of 3.2ha, single bank and ditch, some surviving but lowered by ploughing, other areas defined by drainage ditches, no evidence for an entrance. This is probably Thornbiri ('thorny fortress'), named in the 12th century Life of St Frideswide as one of her places of refuge. Small scale excavation in 1987/8, and subsequent geophysics, (Blair 2014) revealed a series of at least three re-cut ditches with contained material radiocarbon dated to the early Anglo-Saxon period with Anglo-Saxon pottery. The stone footings of what appears to be a box rampart, with associated burnt material, were uncovered but their relationship with the ditches (and dates) was not established and could be earlier. This is an enclosure used during the Anglo-Saxon period but may have originated as an Iron Age 'valley fort'. Nearby cropmarks show Bronze and Iron Age enclosures, fieldwalking nearby has produced Iron Age sherds.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Unconfirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Unconfirmed
X: -144362 Y: 6758380 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -1.2968231670057546 Latitude: 51.76852764215133 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England
Current County or Unitary Authority: Oxfordshire
Historic County: Berkshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Oxford
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
None
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✗ |
| Arable | ✓ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✓ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
A uni-vallate enclosure, low lying but on a raised gravel terrace on the River Thames floodplain overlooking the river.
| 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: Overlooking the River Thames
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 190.0m
N/A
No dating for Iron Age. Early Anglo Saxon c14 dates and pottery.
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
Mentioned in the 12th century Life of St Frideswide as one of her places of refuge. On Christ Church estate map of 1792. Excavations in 1987-8, geophysics in 2008 (Blair 2014).
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1792): | None |
| Geophysical Survey (2008): | None |
| 1st Identified Written Reference (None): | None |
| Excavation (None): | None |
No evidence for interior activity
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 | ✓ |
nothing shown
| No Known Geophysics | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Finds | ✓ |
| Pottery | ✗ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
No evidence for entrances
| None: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Single bank and ditch. Small scale excavation shows stone footings of a possible box rampart associated with burnt material.
| Area 1: | 3.2ha. |
| Total: | 3.2ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✓ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
None
| 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 |
| ✓ | None |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Blair, J. 2014. Part Two - Thornbury, Binsey: a probable defensive enclosure associated with Saint Frideswide. In Carr, L., Dewhurst, R. and Henig, M. (eds) Binsey: Oxford's Holy Place. It's saint, village and people. Oxford: Archaeopress, 56-74. (Originally published in Oxoniensia 53 (1988), 3-20 but with an addendum)
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