LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Central Bedfordshire and Luton 528 (None)
NMR: SP 92 SW 1 (346591)
SM: None
NGR: SP 9440 2270
X: 494400 Y: 222700 (OSGB36)
A possible former univallate hillfort lying to the NE of Billington Manor on the crest of Billington Hlll. It occupies level ground at 131m OD at the NE end of a short ridge. The single rampart earthwork was reported in 1959 (Matthews 1959) with a bank 4m high and 15m wide in the S and E. A small excavation by the Manshead Society uncovered Iron Age pottery, possibly early to late, as well as Roman material. The earthworks were bulldozed flat in 1959. Further excavations in 1997-1999, (Hudspith 2004), revealed a large Iron Age ditch which contained pottery and burnt material. Segregated destruction deposits in the ditch suggested deliberate destruction to the excavators, which they described as a 'catastrophic event'. Large sandstone boulders may have been from the rampart. Pottery suggests the site could have had its inception in the early Iron Age. In addition large amounts of Roman material including two inhumations and medieval and post-medieval deposits and building platforms were unearthed. The only indication of the site today is an uneven ground surface. It is not recorded on OS mapping.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -70080 Y: 6781130 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -0.6295349790104874 Latitude: 51.89482049608013 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England
Current County or Unitary Authority: Central Bedfordshire
Historic County: Bedfordshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Great Billington
The banks of the earthwork were bulldozed in 1959
| 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 former possible contour fort lying at 131m OD on level ground at the NE end of a short ridge on Billington Hill
| 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: NE end of a short ridge
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✓ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: 131.0m
N/A
A flint hammer and large amounts of dateable pottery was recovered during excavations which suggests the site began early in the Iron Age and probably continued into the Roman period. Evidence for Roman, medieval and post medieval activity
Reliability: B - Medium
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✓ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✓ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✓ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
| Artefactual: | Pottery |
Recorded in F. G. Gurney Collection Notebook 1915, held in Buckinghamshire County Museum, Aylesbury. Excavations in 1959 and between 1997 and 1999. Field investigation in 1971
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1915): | None |
| Excavation (1959): | None |
| Other (1971): | Field investigation |
| Excavation (None): | None |
No internal features are recorded. Pottery, human and animal bones and lithics from excavation.
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 | ✗ |
Ramparts only investigated
| 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 | ✗ |
None
| No Known Finds | ✗ |
| Pottery | ✓ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✓ |
| Animal Bones | ✓ |
| Lithics | ✓ |
| Environmental | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| APs Not Checked | ✗ |
| None | ✓ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
The location of entrances is not recorded
| None: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Single bank 4m high and 15m wide and large ditch, now destroyed. Area not established.
| Area 1: | Noneha. |
| Total: | Noneha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | Bank in the S and E |
| NE Quadrant: | None |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | None |
| NW Quadrant: | None |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Now bulldozed
| 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 |
Hudspith, R. 2004. Excavations at New House Farm, Billington, 1997-1999. Befordshire Archaeol, 25, 136-140.
Mathews, C.L. 1959. Billington. Manshead Mag, 2, 9-10.
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