MSO8517 - Staddon Hill Camp, Winsford (Monument)

(SS 88183768) Camp (NR). [1] Staddon Hill Camp on the lower slope of the north side of Staddon Hill, an enclosure with outer ditch and entrance to the west. About 25 yards to the south of the enclosure is a bank and ditch running east to west for 90 yards. [2] Staddon Hill Camp - univallate hillfort of under 3 acres. [3] Scheduled. [4] Hillslope fort consisting of three enclosures, the outer two of crossbank type. Described as a cross bank enclosure. [5] This is an Iron Age hillslope enclosure with two widely spaced outer ramparts on the uphill side. Except for the western and the southern rampart, which ends near the head of a small combe, the outer ramparts terminate on open ground and not against any natural obstacle. The small bank that Bothamley shows linking the main enclosure with the inner of the southern ramparts is part of a post medieval enclosure bank. (This shows clearly on aerial photographs [7]). Re-surveyed at 1:2500. [6] A small Iron Age hillslope fort on a promontory with associated cross dykes previously unrecorded (Evidently the two outer banks - See [5]; but these are recorded byThe Victoria County History). 'Threatened' (by unspecified danger). [8] Staddon Hill Camp visited by Burrow 30 March 1973. The main enclosure and first bank are under bracken, but the surrounding area is under commercial forestry and the outer bank could not be located. (Burrow misinterprets the Ordnance Survey card, to which he refers, and confuses the description by [6] of the bank running southwest to northeast linking the main enclosure and inner cross bank (shown on Victoria County History plan), with the outer cross bank. In fact he states that the bank running southwest to northeast between the main enclosure and the inner cross bank seems to predate the latter as it continues southwest beyond the cross bank for about 30 metres). The main enclosure has an entrance on the southwest with a slight inturn on the northwest side and a low bank connecting the angle of the inturn with the rear of the inner bank. [9] Whybrow [10] mentions a 'simple cousewayed entrance' apparently original, towards the eastern end of each cross bank, that in the outer crossbank being more doubtful. He also notes that in 1965 the area around the outer crossbank had been afforested, some of the trees actually on the bank itself. [11] (SS 8818 3768) Settlement (NR) [12] Additional Bibliography. [13-16] The earthworks on Staddon Hill were surveyed at 1:1000 scale by RCHME in February 1997. A full report [17] has been archived. [18-20] Staddon Hill Camp is a ditch and bank defined hillslope enclosure of probable later prehistoric date centred on circa SS 8819 3770. The enclosure bank is up to 6 metres wide, defining an enclosure up to 50 metres in diameter. The encircling ditch appears to be up to 7 metres wide. The enclosure and two associated outworks are visible on aerial photographs as earthworks. The crossbanks are located approximately 27 and 140 metres to the southwest of the enclosure. A post-medieval field boundary bank, part of an extensive field system visible to the northwest and southeast, runs through the centre of the enclosure and across the inner cross bank. The outer cross bank is incorporated into this later field system. [7,21-23] A subcircular enclosure formed by a bank with an outer ditch, with a possible entrance on the western side. Noted on the Ordnance Survey map as "Camp". To the south are two short lengths of bank and ditch which appear to be possible out works. [24-26] Scheduling revised with new national number (was Somerset 164) on 31 July 2004. [28] The Scheduled Monument Condition Assessment of 2009 gave the main part of the site a survival score of 10 and the outer rampart a score of 4. [31] The camp has been included in the Exmoor National Park Monument Management Scheme for 2011-12. The site was covered in bracken which was cut in November 2011 with a second cut in July 2012. The site was visited in March 2012 and there was clear evidence of increased grazing. [32] The site was surveyed in June 2015 as part of the 2015 Exmoor Scheduled Monument Condition Assessment. The enclosure was given a survival score of 10 and the outerwork a score of 4. [33] This record was enhanced as part of the National Record of the Historic Environment to Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record data transfer project. [34] The earthworks for the hillfort and rampart are depicted on the 2021 MasterMap data and labelled "Settlement". [35]