Ivinghoe Beacon hill fort, Ashridge Estate

Summary

A univallate hillfort on Ivinghoe Beacon hill. The enclosed hilltop area is roughly triangular in shape and 2.2 hectares in area. The perimeter defences approximately follow the 200m contour and include a scarp averaging 2m high and a ditch or berm averaging 6m wide.The scarp becomes double for about 60m around the southern part of the enclosure. The entrance to the fort interior is at the E end of the enclosure, thus suggesting an approach along the ridge from the Gallows Hill area to the E.

Identification Images (4)

Monument Types

Description

The Scheduling document from English Heritage lists both the summit barrow (151504) and that outside the east entrance (151503) together. Separate records have been created for them within the SMR.

The Beacon is a hilltop settlement area overlooking the Aylesbury Vale. It has a series of slight earthworks enclosing it, and a barrow within this enclosure at its highest point (151504).The occupation of the site is thought to date from the Late Bronze Age but the earthwork ramparts are felt to be Iron Age. At the time when it was excavated (1963-65) it was thought to be the earliest identified hillfort. It is associated with a constellation of further pre-historic features. The hillfort/settlement occupies a commanding position above the Gade valley gap and (to a lesser extent) the Tring gap.

The enclosed hilltop area is roughly triangular in shape and 2.2 hectares in area. The perimeter defences approximately follow the 200m contour and include a scarp averaging 2m high and a ditch or berm averaging 6m wide.The scarp becomes double for about 60m around the southern part of the enclosure. There is also a slight secondary scarp along part of the N side and traces of terracing which have been identified either as house platforms or outer defences (152771). The English Heritage survey of 2000 (3) does indicate a few other small breaks of slope, however there is nothing to suggest that the hillfort/settlement might be multivallate. This report also identifies possible hut platforms on the northern slopes (152771). The slight single ditch defences have been interpreted as being the remains of a collapsed or deliberately destroyed timber revetted rampart and pallisade (4). Later analysis of these interpretations (7) has cast some doubt on the pallisade evidence. A resistivity and magnetometry survey in 2000 by John Gover, felt that possible pallisade evidence had been recorded in the survey (1).

The entrance to the fort interior is at the E end of the enclosure, thus suggesting an approach along the ridge from the Gallows Hill area to the E. There is a lowering of the scarp and slight inturning of the earthworks at this point. Approximately 20m outside this entrance is a bowl barrow (NTSMR 151503 ) which does not seem to exhibit any signs of having suffered from erosion. This could be due to the fact that it was avoided by persons using this entrance, or it may have been restored at some point that we are unaware of. Wainwright (5)suggests that a track ascending the N slope from the W (152795) may follow an original route, this would still use the same entrance but would perhaps avoid the barrow. The present prominent tracks up the S slope are of a relatively recent date.

The Buckinghamshire County SMR refers to an account of Ivinghoe parish, c.1712-20, that records the presence of a beacon at Beacon Hill. There is also a reference to the actual iron beacon frame being kept at Ivinghoe church.

Dating evidence for Ivinghoe Beacon
The Cotton and Frere excavations of 1963-65 placed the hillfort date in the Iron Age. This date has since been revised to one in the Bronze Age based upon pottery and Bronze artefact analysis (finds from the 1963-65 excavations are held at the Bucks County Museum as loan no. 302). However the bank and ditches are still thought to be Iron Age in date. An interesting addition to the dating debate has been added by J.Gover in the suggestion that there is geophysical evidence for a Neolithic cursus monument running N-S across the middle of the hillfort. He cites the case of Maiden Castle and its enclosed earthwork Bank Barrow. There appears to be no other supporting evidence for this interpretation. However the geophysical survey does appear to reveal some distinct boundaries that would normally indicate occupation debris and/or below ground features. The cursus evidence put forward by Gover could also be possibly interpreted as the remains of the land division of the earlier Bronze Age settlement.

The old record card from the Bucks County SMR notes that fragments of early Iron Age pottery were found when digging the foundation for the direction dial on the top of the hill in 1932. Early Iron Age fragments were also found in c.1960, suggesting that the site was an early contour fort. Flint flakes, animal bones and scraps of Bronze Age pottery were recovered when two small holes were excavated in the Beacon in 1920. In 2002 a remarkably intact Wilburton-type sword (late Bronze Age) was recovered from the north side of the fort after illicit metal-detecting. All these finds are on loan or have been deposited with Bucks County Museum

Slight univallate hillforts
These are defined as enclosures of various shapes, situated on or close to hilltops. They are defined by a single line of earthworks, the scale of which is relatively small. ( Although there are a few areas at Ivinghoe Beacon that appear to be double, they are not continuous enough to suggest multivallate construction). Slight univallate hillforts have been interpreted as stock enclosures, redistribution centres, places of refuge and permanent settlements. The earthworks generally include a rampart, narrow level berm, external ditch and counterscarp bank. Access to the interior is usually provided by two entrances comprising either simple gaps in the earthwork or an inturned rampart.Occasionally excavation reveals postholes which are related to rampart construction.

Slight univallate hillforts are rare nationally with around 150 examples. They are felt to provide important information on the transition between Bronze Age and Iron Age communities. Ivinghoe Beacon appears to be well preserved with excellent conditions for the survival of archaeological material.

Landcscape features associated with Ivinghoe Beacon:-

A Bronze Age Barrow cemetery- (NTSMR, 151501, 151503, 151504, 151505,151507, 151508 are all scheduled, 151502,151506 151509 are unscheduled).This cemetery occupies high ground from Gallows Hill, through the Beacon area and onto the Ivinghoe Hills.

There are also three further barrows to the S in the Moneybury Hill area (152802, 152803, 152780). Athough not as closely related to Ivinghoe Beacon as the prevoius barrow group, these barrows constitute a further grouping in themselves and also could be considered with the Ivinghoe Beacon group as an overall landscape development.

The Icknield Way (151549) is assumed to be a pre-historic routeway between East Anglia and Wessex that passes directly beneath the eastern side of the Beacon. The Beacon Hill settlement may have been built in relation to this feature.

Grim's Ditch (151511, 151512) is a series of linear earthworks, which run across Buckinghamshire and part of Hertfordshire.There is also known to be a section in Oxfordshire. For the most part the earthworks consist of a single bank and ditch, although in the Ivinghoe area there are two parallel sets of bank and ditch. There have been considerable debates as to both the age and purpose of this monument. At present the current balance of opinion is that it is Iron Age. It would seem to be a boundary feature in nature, but exactly what it divides is still undecided. Possibilities are; tribal boundary; defence feature; agricultural division or routeway.

Two Roman roads are supposed to pass through the area (Viatores, 1964). Wainwright notes that there is no evidence for either road being Roman in origin. The first route runs on the line of the present Ringhall to Ivinghoe Beacon road (NTSMR151154). Wainwright suggests that this is made up of earthwork remains of the pre 1820's road.The straight parts of the road he notes were laid out sometime after 1820. The second route is the 'Romanised Icknield Way' (NTSMR 151153)that follows the footpath around Incombe Hole, and crosses Steps Hill to descend into the Coombe by the track from the Ringshall road. This he suggests dates from the mid 19thC. He notes that neither route appears on earlier maps.

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