Monument record 1677/1/10 - Iron Age Ramparts Around Timber Box Structure

Excavations in 1988 found evidence of Iron Age Ramparts within the Hunsbury Hillfort. Dating for the defences were revised in 2021 and new radiocarbon dating was provided.

{1} A new section was cut across the internal bank in 1988, the trench was sited on the NW side of the defences at a point where the bank is seriously eroding into an interior lowered by 19th century quarrying. At this point the rampart survives to a height of 1.75m and there was evidence of an earlier rampart as a timber laced box structure, there was further evidence that this had been subjected to intense fire.
Calibrated radio-carbon dates from burnt wood and charcoal provide a date for the box strucure of between 770-395BC.

{2} The rampart was initially of a box-type with its individual compartments filled with rubble upcast from the digging out of the adjacent ditch. Some of the timberwork was later burnt, perhaps causing part of the back of the rampart to collapse, and the earthwork could have eventually been renewed as a glacis slope.
The rear revetment: the inner face of the rampart was supported by a stockade of closely-set posts which may have been reinforced or faced with stonework. The posts were set in a continuous trench. The rampart was orignially at least 1.7m high. Pieces of charred work from oak posts were found in situ and there is little doubt that part of the structure was eventually destroyed by fire. Charred wood from a post in the rear revetment was radiocarbon dated to 405-270BC.
The front revetment: the original width of the rampart remains uncertain. Large blocks of sandstone spanned to possible alignment of post holes and at the west end of the trench extended transversely across the rampart. It Is conceivable that the posts at the front were set in a stone revetment but there is little evidence of this. If the post holes represent the line of the front revetment the box rampart would have been around 2.5m wide at this point.
Discussion of post hole and timber alignments. Charred wood in the core of the revetment was radiocarbon dated to 755-395BC.
Later developments: the upper filling of the box rampart was quite different to the layers below and probably represents a separate phase of construction. The filling filled the slots were the lateral timbers had been burnt, rotted or removed. Burnt blocks of limestone, not burnt in situ, were present, suggesting that they repreesnted debris associated with the burning of the box rampart. The layers above the layer of burnt limeston probably represent several phases of collapse and reconstruction.

{5} The results of the excavations of the Iron Age hillfort rampart at Hunsbury Hill in 1988 are reviewed, with the original plan and sections. Three radiocarbon dates from the defences have been recalibrated to enable a restatement of the date of construction of the original box rampart as c. 550-400 cal BC. A radiocarbon date from the continuous inner palisade slot is C.320 - 350 cal BC. This provides no support for the suggestion that it was an initial standalone construction, pre-dating the box rampart. In fact, it may indicate that this revetment was an integral part of the box rampart construction that was subject to later refurbishment.

<1> Musgrave E.C.; Tingle M. (editors), 1991, Archaeology in Northamptonshire 1990, 23/108 (checked) (Article). SNN100325.

<2> JACKSON D., 1994, Excavations of the hillfort defences at Hunsbury, Northampton, in 1952 and 1988, 25-10-16 (checked) (Article). SNN76105.

<3> Dix B., 1992, Recent Work in Northamptonshire Archaeology, 24/121 (checked) (Article). SNN104441.

<4> Pike, A (ed), 1989, South Midlands Archaeology: CBA Group 9 Newsletter (19), 19/27 (checked) (Journal). SNN100659.

<5> Andy Chapman & Dennis Jackson, 2023, A review of the structure and date of the iron age hillfort rampart on Hunsbury Hill, Northampton (Article). SNN116513.

Record last edited

Oct 22 2024 10:18AM