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Dyke Hills

Oxfordshire, England · Atlas EN0172

Dyke Hills is a promontory fort in Dorchester, Oxfordshire, England.

Other names on the record: Dike Hills.

It is recorded as extant, with a partial bivallate rampart form, surface evidence of earthen bank, and an enclosed area of 46 hectares.

Banks or ramparts are the remains most likely to be visible.

The topographic record places it on a valley bottom and at 47 m.

The aspect is recorded as level.

Recorded land use includes pasture and arable.

Dating evidence is recorded for 800–400 BC and 400 BC–AD 50 (Artefactual and Morphology/Earthwork/Typology). Reliability is recorded as C - Low.

A scheduled monument number is recorded (1006364).

Location

Atlas number
EN0172 (172)
Country
England
Current county or unitary authority
Oxfordshire
Historic county
Berkshire
Parish, community, or townland
Dorchester
National Grid reference
SU 5738 9358
Latitude
51.63869
Longitude
-1.17268
Altitude
47 m

Form and condition

Type
promontory fort
Condition
Extant
Morphology
partial bivallate
Complete rampart circuit
No
Number of ramparts
2
Ramparts by quadrant
NE 2, SE 0, SW 0, NW 2
Number of ditches
2
Possible original entrances
1
Breaks through the ramparts
5
Enclosed area
46 ha
Enclosing works, as visible
earthen bank
Enclosing works, excavated
earthen bank
Also recorded
ditches
Entrance forms
In-turned (East)

Landscape

Topographic position
valley bottom
Aspect
level
Land use
pasture and arable

Dating

Dating
800–400 BC and 400 BC–AD 50
Dating evidence
Artefactual and Morphology/Earthwork/Typology
Dating reliability
C - Low

Interior and investigation

Finds
pottery
Investigations
Excavation (1870); Geophysical Survey (2016); 1st Identified Written Reference (1665-1693); 1st Identified Map Depiction (1885-1900)

Identifiers

Scheduled monument number
1006364
HER
Oxfordshire 3150 (second identifier MOX14)
National record
record SU 59 SE 3; monument 238029
Wikidata
Q31116685

Sources

References

  1. Page, W. (ed) 1907. The Victoria History of the County of Oxford, Vol II, London, 308.
  2. Sutton, J.E.G. 1966. Iron-Age hill-forts and some other earthworks in Oxfordshire, Oxoniensia, 31, 28-42.
  3. Cunliffe, B. 1976. The origins of urbanisation in Britain, in Cunliffe, B. and Rowley, T. (eds), Oppida in Barbarian Europe, BAR Int Ser 11, 135-161.
  4. Lambrick, G. 2009. Thames Through Time. The archaeology of the gravel terraces of the upper and middle Thames. Late prehistory 1500 BC - AD 50. Oxford: Oxford Archaeology, Thames Valley Landscapes Monograph No. 29, 361-4.
  5. Welch, C. 2014. The destruction of the Dyke Hills, Dorchester-on-Thames. Oxoniensia, 79, 77-95.