LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Hampshire 19968 (None)
NMR: SU 6 6 SW 34 (241175)
SM: 1011957
NGR: SU 6385 6230
X: 463952 Y: 162421 (OSGB36)
Beneath the Romano-British town of Calleva Atrebatum, evidence for a late Iron Age enclosed oppida, referred to as the inner earthwork. It probably dates to the mid first century AD and encloses an area of 32 hectares., situated within the circuit of the later town and partly underlying it. Boon (1974) argues construction took place in the later 40s AD, but it is also feasible to have been pre-Conquest. Excavations have found that the Roman Road to Winchester partly overlies the ditch and that the main infilling of the ditch had taken place by 60 AD and was completed by the mid-late second century AD. It has been also argued by Boon that the earthwork was constructed by Cogidubnus after the establishment of a client state shortly after 43 AD. However, evidence from recent excavations has not clarified to which side of AD43 the earthwork was constructed. It is possible it was constructed pre-conquest in a response to either the threat of a Roman invasion or to the turmoil following the death of Cunobelin circa 40 AD. Excavations have also shown the Inner Earthwork marked the extent of the oppidum of Calleva prior to the Roman invasion. Sections of the Inner Earthwork of Calleva were recorded during the Silchester Iron Age Environs Project from aerial photographs. A broad bank with an external ditch were visible as cropmarks within the town walls extending from Insula 27 to Insula 24. Another section was identifed on the western side of the town outside the walls, also as a bank with an external ditch. It was previously recorded as part of the Aggregate Landscape of Hampshire NMP project. On 1st ed OS map (1885-1990). Not a hillfort, but included here as an oppidum.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Unconfirmed
X: -120553 Y: 6684726 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -1.082941706263026 Latitude: 51.35721578704581 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England
Current County or Unitary Authority: Hampshire
Historic County: Hampshire and Isle of Wight
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Silchester
N/A as not a hillfort
| 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 | ✗ |
N/A as not a hillfort
| 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: None
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: Nonem
N/A
N/A as not a hillfort
Reliability: None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
N/A as not a hillfort
N/A as not a hillfort
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 | ✗ |
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 | ✗ |
N/A as not a hillfort
| 0: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
N/A as not a hillfort
| Area 1: | Noneha. |
| Total: | Noneha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | None |
| SE Quadrant: | None |
| SW Quadrant: | None |
| NW Quadrant: | None |
| Total: | None |
| 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: None
| ✗ | None |
Boon, G.C. 1974. Silchester: the Roman town of Calleva. Newton Abbott: David and Charles, 44-46
Fulford, M. with Corney, M. 1984. Silchester: excavations on the defences 1974-80, with a field survey of the extra-mural territory. Britannia monograph series 1, no.5.
Fulford, M. and Clarke, A. 2014. Silchester town life. Saving the best till last. Brit Archaeol, July/August 2014, 36-43.
Silchester Iron Age Environs Project: see https://www.reading.ac.uk/silchester/Excavations/Sil-Environs-Iron-Age.aspx (accessed January 2016)
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