Summary

Enclosure 435m north-east of Newton Barrow.

Source: Historic England

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 22 July 2015. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records. As such they do not yet have the full descriptions of their modernised counterparts available. Please contact us if you would like further information.

This monument includes an enclosure situated on the north facing slopes of Smithen Down overlooking a dry valley and with distant views to the Avon Valley. The enclosure survives as a roughly rectangular earthwork with an interior of approximately 53m long by 36m wide defined by a bank with outer ditch which are differentially preserved throughout the circuit. To the south the bank is up to 6m wide and 0.8m high although elsewhere both ditch and bank are up to 4m wide and the bank is 0.4m high, whilst the ditch varies between 0.6m and 0.9m deep. The entrance is on the eastern side. The bank and ditch are partially incorporated into existing field boundary on the southern side and the whole enclosure apparently overlies an earlier field system. The date and function of the enclosure is not known with certainty although it may have prehistoric, possibly Iron Age origins.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Despite some reduction in the height of the earthworks through past cultivation the enclosure 435m north-east of Newton Barrow survives comparatively well and will retain archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, function, date, longevity, agricultural practices, relationship and relative chronology regarding the surrounding field system and its overall landscape context.

Source: Historic England

Sources

Other
PastScape 218251
Wiltshire HER SU13NW693

Source: Historic England