<< Our Photo Pages >> Arbury Camp - Hillfort in England in Northamptonshire
Submitted by Andy B on Sunday, 10 April 2022 Page Views: 10699
Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Arbury Camp Alternative Name: Arbury BanksCountry: England
NOTE: This site is 2.418 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Northamptonshire Type: Hillfort
Nearest Village: Chipping Warden
Map Ref: SP494486 Landranger Map Number: 151
Latitude: 52.133502N Longitude: 1.279697W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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The Arbury Banks site at Chipping Warden is quite distinct among Northamptonshire hillforts.
Arbury Banks stands on the flat summit of a low rounded hill. The river Cherwell flows around the south
and east of the hill on which the so-called hillfort stands, but is a mere country stream at this point and
offers no serious defensive protection. The relatively low-lying site, added to the lack of riverine or other
natural defences, combine to suggest that Arbury Banks probably did not serve a primarily
defensive/protective function. The site can now be seen from the A361 road.
The site has a very limited viewshed for an Iron Age defended “hilltop” enclosure – it could not have been adequately defended without the support of a nearby lookout point - and for this reason the adjacent Warden Hill and Jobs Hill were also considered as part of this analysis; the views from Warden Hill and Jobs Hill provide comprehensive visibility for up to 20km or more in virtually all directions. However, there is more compelling evidence to support the interpretation of this site as a trading site.
No fewer than 13 Bronze Age palstaves were found grouped together about 1km north of the hillfort site (image available from the reference) and the unfinished nature of the castings show that this was the stock-in-trade of a resident smith. A further (finished) palstave was found at an adjacent site in Aston-le-Walls. The route of the Welsh Road runs close to the north of the hillfort site, which also helps to explain the probable existence of a Bronze Age smithy at this location (i.e., well located in order to draw upon the possibilities of trading copper from the prehistoric malachite mines in north Wales, Cheshire and Shropshire) – it seems reasonable to suppose that the route of the Welsh Road in this area may date back far into pre-history. To complete the picture of long-term peaceable occupation, there is a probable Neolithic oval enclosure on the south slope of Jobs Hill, and a Roman villa with bathhouse is located close nearby at Blackgrounds.
This area may also be influenced by other early trade routes. Routes in the neighbourhood include a salt route leading from BA salt pans in the Droitwich area (pers comm Beatrice Hopkinson, UCLA, Los Angeles, who carried out the Droitwich excavations), and probably running via the Saxon so-called "Great Way" towards Northampton. It is also relevant to note that the nearby IA hilltop fort at Thenford is located at the junction of Banbury Lane and Welsh Lane.
All in all, the overall impression of Arbury Banks is that of a site within an area that saw use as a trading point over an extended period of at least 1000-1500 years. In this context, it is also highly significant that the Dobunni/Catuvellauni territorial border in Oxfordshire was established during the Late Iron Age along the course of the Cherwell south of Chipping Warden (see 2.1 and 2.3 above). This throws further light upon the Chipping Warden site, and underlines its interpretation as a peaceful “trading site” rather than a “hillfort”. Finally, it seems no coincidence that the modern name Chipping Warden would appear to derive from a medieval or earlier reference to "the marketplace by the lookout hill".
Source: Iron Age Hillforts Survey (Northamptonshire): Second Stage Investigations: Iss. 2, Mar-2016
Page originally by Vicky
Note: Arbury Camp (or Banks) in Northamptonshire explored, with lots of photos, video and panoramas - linked from the bottom of the page - try them
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