archaeology hillfort, Westshire, Iron Age Henry Welburton HER Officer

Westshire Environment County Hall Westbury Westshire WS15 Q13

01987 557654 01987 557823 henry.welburton@westshire.gov.uk Westshire County Council 2005 Copyright is asserted by the creator test Made available for use by Western Archaeology Unit in the EH Earthwork Assessment project 2005. Data may be held in machine processable form. See project license for details Data may not be passed on to third parties without permission. Westshire County Council Environment Dept Waived Derived from Westshire HER Monument records database. 01-AUG-2005 select from monuments where monument_type = "HILLFORT" ENGLAND WESTSHIRE MIDDLE IRON AGE EARLY MEDIEVAL 01-SEP-2000 WSJ 14-MAY-2002 HW WESTBOROUGH HILLFORT WEASBURGH WE76598 67854 The hillfort at Westbury, overlooking the Easder valley is one of the best preserved in Westshire. Excavation of the North rampart in 1965 suggested a construction date for the outer defences in the late 2nd century BC, though there is evidence for Bronze Age occupation near the summit of the hill. [1-2] Known as Weasburgh in the Anglo Saxon Chronicle, though no traces of Saxon occupation have been found. [3]

Iron Age hillfort with traces of earlier occupation

OWNER The National Trust scheduled monument 16-JUL-1978 site of special scientific interest Devon South Hams Chivelstone Easder Valley ST6797 England 267250 297250 POINT(267250 297250) Map reference ST 69 NE Shack Bronze Age BRONZE AGE BRONZE AGE FINDS UNIVALLATE HILLFORT Late Iron Age LATE IRON AGE LATE IRON AGE EARTHWORK SUB SURFACE DEPOSITK EARTH FORT Anglo-Saxon EARLY MEDIEVAL EARLY MEDIEVAL DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE WE2657 678568 WE5487 WE897 01-SEP-2004 James Munroe 01-SEP-2004 H J Simpson Banwell - Winthill ST 35 NE 12 The remains of a Roman villa and post-Roman cemetery at 'Winthill', on a spur on the S side of Banwell Hill, S of Banwell itself (where the church contains a piece of Anglo-Saxon sculpture), were excavated intermittently over a period of 15 years between c.1954 and c.1970. The OS 1:2500 shows rectilinear earthworks which are presumably the remains of the villa complex, into which were cut a number of W/E aligned graves of men, women, and children. The exact number of burials here is unknown but clearly many more exist: the site is traditionally associated with a battle between the Saxons and the Danes, which suggests that other skeletons have probably been found earlier. A monastery at Banwell is mentioned in Asser's Life of King Alfred, c.880: while tradition places the monastery at Winthill, the church of St Andrew at ST 39955917 in Banwell itself (about 700m to the N) is also a candidate. The villa lies within three fields: 'Chapel Leaze', 'Chapel Field', and 'Chapel Yard'. Although there are a number of publications on Winthill, the excavations have not been written up in their entirety, and no composite plan of the villa or the position of the graves has been published. The archaeology here is clearly reminiscent of the sites at Llantwit Major and Llandough.

Roman villa and post-Roman cemetery

Banwell NORTH SOMERSET Avon Somerset Chapel Leaze Chapel Field Chapel Yard ST 39745846 England 123456 654321 POINT(123456 654321) Map reference ST 35 NE ST 3958 VILLA Roman and Post Roman Roman earthwork CHURCH EARLY MEDIEVAL Post Roman EARTHWORK SUB SURFACE DEPOSIT