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<< Our Photo Pages >> Desborough Castle - Hillfort in England in Buckinghamshire

Submitted by The Captain on Thursday, 03 June 2004  Page Views: 18928

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Desborough Castle
Country: England County: Buckinghamshire Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: High Wycombe  Nearest Village: Sands
Map Ref: SU847933  Landranger Map Number: 175
Latitude: 51.632145N  Longitude: 0.777632W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
2 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
5 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

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Desborough Castle
Desborough Castle submitted by theCaptain : Desborough Castle, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. View of the main central section in the wooded area, seen here from the west. Remnants of the really old settlement earthworks can be made out in the grassy foreground. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Desborough Castle Iron Age Hill Fort lies on the southern side of the valley which runs through the Chiltern Hills from the river Thames to the Vale of Aylesbury and the Ridgeway. This valley has always been an important communication route, and has had a known trackway running through since the bronze age.

The fort lies within what is these days a landscaped grass area, and has fantastic views commanding over the valley east towards High Wycombe, and westwards towards West Wycombe, with its iron age camp on the hilltop.

The castle consists of an approximately square enclosure, surrounded by a large ditch and rampart, and has within it remains of a bronze age barrow. The entrance is through the eastern side. The entire enclosure is now covered by beech woodland.

Feint remains of what was probably an outer ditch and rampart can be made out within the grassed area.
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Desborough Castle
Desborough Castle submitted by TheCaptain : Desborough Castle, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, SU846934 The fort commands a fantastic position above the valley, with views to High Wycombe in the east, and West Wycombe and its fortified hill along the valley to the west. This is the view along the valley to the west showing the fine sight of West Wycombe Hill and its encampment. Although it is thought that the major remains of Desbo... (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Desborough Castle
Desborough Castle submitted by theCaptain : Desborough Castle, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Viewed from the northwest, with remnants of the really old settlement earthworks seen in the grassy foreground. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Desborough Castle
Desborough Castle submitted by TheCaptain : Desborough Castle, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, SU846934. View of the main ramparts, thought to have been much modified, or constructed during medieval times. (1 comment - Vote or comment on this photo)

Desborough Castle
Desborough Castle submitted by theCaptain : Desborough Castle, seen here from the church field in Downley, the opposite side of the Wycombe valley. The remnants of the really old settlement earthworks can be seen in the surrounding grassy area, the low sun giving shadow to the faint remains. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Desborough Castle
Desborough Castle submitted by theCaptain : Desborough Castle, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. Another view of the main ramparts, thought to have been much modified, or constructed during medieval times.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 2.4km NW 309° Church Hill Celtic Fields Misc. Earthwork (SU82809480)
 2.6km NW 312° West Wycombe Camp* Hillfort (SU82769499)
 2.9km NW 314° Celtic field system on Church Hill Misc. Earthwork (SU82559530)
 2.9km ESE 116° Keep Hill Hillfort (SU87379205)
 3.0km NW 313° Church Hill Trackway Ancient Trackway (SU82469533)
 4.2km NNW 334° Bradenham Puddingstone* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SU828971)
 5.1km NNW 345° Chilterns Grims Ditch* Misc. Earthwork (SU833982)
 5.8km NNW 329° Smalldean Round Barrow(s) (SU816982)
 6.6km N 10° Denner Hill Puddingstone Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SU857998)
 7.4km NNE 16° Stonygreen Puddingstone Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SP866005)
 8.4km NW 323° Lodge Hill Settlement Ancient Village or Settlement (SU79479990)
 8.5km S 190° Low Grounds Farm Barrow Cemetery (SU834849)
 8.6km NW 323° Lodge Hill Round Barrow(s) (SP79400004)
 8.8km N 7° Grim's Ditch Barrows Round Barrow(s) (SP857020)
 8.9km S 180° Princess Elizabeth's Well* Holy Well or Sacred Spring (SU848844)
 9.2km NW 322° Lodge Hill Barrows Round Barrow(s) (SP78840041)
 9.4km SSW 199° Danesfield Camp* Hillfort (SU81768440)
 9.4km SSE 148° Tarry Stone* Marker Stone (SU8974585392)
 9.5km SSW 206° Medmenham Camp* Hillfort (SU80698467)
 10.0km NE 43° Great Missenden Puddingstone* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SP9142700686)
 10.7km NW 318° The Cop (Chinnor) Round Barrow(s) (SP773011)
 10.7km NNW 341° Princes Risborough Puddingstone* Natural Stone / Erratic / Other Natural Feature (SP80970338)
 10.8km NW 314° Chinnor Hill Barrows* Round Barrow(s) (SP76760063)
 10.8km SE 135° Root Mound Round Barrow(s) (SU92438574)
 11.0km NNW 348° Whiteleaf Barrows* Long Barrow (SP82220398)
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"Desborough Castle" | Login/Create an Account | 7 News and Comments
  
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Desborough – the Castle on the Hill by Andy B on Thursday, 01 November 2012
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Gerry Palmer writes: Desborough Castle is a little-visited scheduled ancient monument on the edge of a housing estate on the south side of the Wye Valley, between West Wycombe and High Wycombe. From the castle there is a steep drop into the valley below, and so it has clear views in both directions along the valley. The Golden Ball, with its associated Iron Age camp, can clearly be seen, as can the town of High Wycombe. The site has been used for thousands of years and the valley has been an important routeway through the Chilterns from at least the Bronze Age.

Today, the main part of the monument is not, as widely believed, the remnants of a hillfort, but is a medieval ringwork castle with an east-facing entrance. A large 12 feet deep ditch and a 16 foot high bank run right around the area, which is now covered in trees. A lynchet in the open area around it runs roughly parallel to the ringwork defences and follows the contours of the hill. Part of the castle was excavated in 1968 by C. Saunders, who found the ploughed-out remains of large rampart and ditch fortifications. However, although the excavation was unable to date the lynchet, it is probably Late Bronze or Early Iron Age due to its construction and size, and so these are probably the remains of a Bronze or Iron Age hillfort.

Read more at
http://www.archaeologyinmarlow.org.uk/2012/03/desborough-the-castle-on-the-hill/
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Re: Desborough Castle by TheCaptain on Wednesday, 09 November 2011
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From English Heritage, http://magic.defra.gov.uk/rsm/19055.pdf

The monument, which is divided into two areas of protection, includes Desborough Castle, a medieval ringwork popularly known as The Roundabout, an outer enclosure of earlier date and the probable remains of a round barrow.

Desborough Castle ringwork, believed to be the site of the castle at West Wycombe first mentioned in 1210-11, is situated at the north eastern end of a prominent spur overlooking the valley of the River Wye. The earthwork remains comprise a sub-rectangular enclosure, approximately 0.5ha in area, terraced into the hillslope to create a level flat interior. The defences include an outer ditch 2.6m deep around the upslope south west side, becoming shallower around the downslope north east side where it is reduced to an average depth of 1.6m. The inner rampart is similarly more massive around the south west, reaching a height from the ditch bottom of 3.6m, again becoming slighter around the north at only 2.9m. The interior slope of this rampart reaches 2.7m around the south and only 0.3m around the north..... The earthwork thus created is a large platform protected on its upper side by a strong rampart and open on its downhill side where it overlooks and dominates the Wye Valley.

Around the north and west sides of the castle site are the remains of a second earthwork comprising a spread rampart some 10m wide surviving mainly as a substantial outer scarp up to 1.5m high, the inner slope reduced to a slight ground rise 0.3m high. Around the north west corner for some 40m there are traces of a vestigial ditch 5m wide and 0.2m deep. The earthwork runs on a series of short straight sections, in an arc around the north of the main enclosure and at a distance of between 30m and 70m; the southern continuation is now lost in a housing estate.

Its form suggests that it is of an earlier date than the main ringwork enclosure and that it probably represents the remains of a slight univallate hillfort of a style belonging to the Late Bronze Age or Early Iron Age.

In addition to the two enclosures there is a third feature situated on the west side of the ringwork. The remains comprise a segment of a probably once circular mound which has been cut through by the construction of the ringwork ditch. Some 24m across and 0.7m high, it is believed to represent the surviving portion of a bowl barrow.
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Street View by coldrum on Thursday, 18 March 2010
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Re: Desborough Castle by Anonymous on Wednesday, 25 February 2009
I remember Castlefield Roundabout Wood as we knew it before The American's introduced Spam to us in it's first form. Back in the early thirties before we 'Sands' boys relised the wood on the hill was an old fortress, we had many a runnung battle with the boy from the newly built Castlefield Estate. I lived just below Castlefield Wood, another wood a short distance from the fortress, and that was in the village of Sands, which had to be defended from the likes of these invaders of High Wycombe. Little did we relise we were keeping up the tradition of no doubt our ancesters. Soon we would realise from the buses traveling to a destination called Desborough Castle, that we were on hallowed ground, or just grew up, and stopped fighting.
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Re: Desborough Castle by Anonymous on Wednesday, 10 December 2008
amazing! here I am working in Wycombe and I had no idea this existed!
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Re: Desborough Castle by Anonymous on Thursday, 03 February 2005
HELLO JUST COULD NOT LEAVE WITH OUT LEAVING A FEW WORDS I GREW UP NEAR THE WOODS I WAS BORN NOT 50 METERS AWAY I WATCHED THE SEASONS COME AND GO I RAN DOWN INTO THE DITCHES TO SEE HOW FAR I COULD RUN UP THE STEEP SIDES I WOULD HAVE LOVED TO HAVE SEEN A PHOTO OF THE DRAWBRIDGE BUT THANK YOU FOR THIS SITE I FOUND IT VERY INTERSETING.
IT'S MADE ME FEEL QUITE HOMESICK I AM NOW LIVING IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA THANK YOU ..MACCA
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Desborough Castle by Anonymous on Monday, 02 November 2009
    Hello Macca. Homesick you may feel, but don't. I also grew up just around the corner & I now live in London. I took a drive around the old manor & was shocked & dissmayed at the state of Castlefield. It is now mostly populated by Muslims & Pykies who are at constant war with themselves & each other. The Castlefield estate is filthy with abandoned cars & back garden car repair sheds. Illegal drugs are rife & it's dangerous to be on foot at night. In my opinion you are well out of the place...Martin
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