Wiltshire and Swindon Sites and Monument Record Information

SMR Number

SU27NW209

Site Name

Liddington Castle

Grid Ref

SU209797

Parish

Liddington

Photographs

Images for Liddington (if available)

District

Swindon BC

Site Type

Hillfort

Period

Iron Age

Scheduled Monument

SM28964

Finds

Ceramics; Worked stone; Worked bronze; Worked iron

X Y Grid Ref

420900, 179700

Altitude

274.32 metres

Geology

Middle Chalk; Upper Chalk

Description

An Iron Age hillfort excavated in 1976.

Details

A)Univallate hillfort, roughly oval with a causewayed entrance on the eastern side. Iron Age finds. B)It was partly excavated by Hirst & Rahtz in 1976. The rampart was of three phases - the latest phase yielded RB pottery (SU27NW331) & 5-6th century pottery (SU27NW401). C)English Heritage carried out a geophysical survey which showed circular large round-house etc. D)Recent excavations by Reading University have shown that the ramparts appear to have been constructed in the late Bronze Age/Early Iron Age, making it one of the earliest hillforts in Wiltshire. A second phase of the ramparts dated to the 5th century BC, provides evidence for a long phase of occupation. E)English Heritage carried out an earthwork survey in 2000. The hillfort has a simple causewayed entrance on the east side approximately 3m wide, where there are several sarsen stones visible at the base of the rampart terminals which may have been used to face the entrance. A blocked western entrance is visible as a wide-topped section of the rampart between two enlarged terminals. Several sarsen stones are visible at this point. The rampart consists of a bank, ditch and counterscarp. There are four large circular depressions in the interior. Additional circular features have been interpreted as wells shafts or deep pits but this explanation is unsatisfactory as they are crisp, sharp earthworks that show little signs of erosion. It is thought that they are linked to modern military maneuvers or to 18th and 19th century flint quarrying. F)Two sherds of pottery, likely to be of early or middle Iron Age date, were found during restoration work on the ramparts of the hillfort in 2000. One of the sherds has a burnished external surface. A number of small features were noted cutting into the top of the exposed Phase 2b rampart, which may be additional evidence for the timber palisade along the top of this rampart phase, Additional features in the form of lateral voids recorded in scars 17 & 56 could be imterpreted as evidence for timber revetment of the Phase 2b rampart. In scare 47 a distinct line of large chalk blocks may represent the previously recorded stone-built revetment of Phase 2b. Scar 41 contained large blocks of chalk which may have been part of the blocking of the south-western entrance to the hillfort,

Sources

A) Victoria County History 1 1 82&267 1957 Grinsell, L.V.

B) Medieval Archaeology Vol 21, p214 1976 Ratz, Phillip; Hirst, S

Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine Vol 38, p576-84

Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine Vol 43, p343

Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine Vol 68, p130

Wiltshire Archaeological Magazine Vol 70-1, p134

Devizes Museum 1975.104-5 1975 Devizes Museum

Devizes Museum 1984.100.96 1984 Devizes Museum; Meyrick, Owen

Devizes Museum 1995.64 1995 Devizes Museum

Swindon Archaeological Society Swindon Archaeological Society

C) English Heritage Archaeology Review 1996-7, p80 English Heritage

D/SU2079/1 English Heritage

D/SU2079/2/87&94 English Heritage

D/SU2079/3/95-6 English Heritage

D/SU2079/4/97-9 English Heritage

D/SU2079/7/12 English Heritage

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