Roddenbury Hillfort, Longleat Wood, Selwood, Somerset

Roddenbury Hillfort occupies a prominent position on a hilltop. Appears on APs to have been of triangular plan but only on the E side is the rampart and ditch well preserved. There is a short section of denuded rampart on the W, elsewhere the fort has been destroyed by earth digging. Uncertain as to whether the gap for a bridle way in the W side is an original feature although no approach from the W is relatively easy.

W side defences almost obliterated. On the E and N the defences are in good condition, the bank rising c5m from the bottom of the ditch on the E.

A large univallate hillfort on the triangular tip of a hill. Curvilinear, forming a round-cornered triangle with one side facing the hilltop to the east and the other sides running around the natural contour behind, enclosing 0.84ha. The defences across the ridge are most massive, with a bank up to 1.6m high and a ditch up to 1.8m deep below. Elsewhere the bank is up to 0.4m high though absent in places, with a drop of up to 1.8m to a broad terrace.

On the NE there is a gap between the end of the ditch and the end of the terrace. On the SW the site has been disturbed by sand quarrying, probably C19. The entrance to the fort is on the east on top of the ridge, with a broad causeway over the ditch and a gap in the rampart, slightly inturned on the S. The interior of the fort, like the rest of the hill, is covered with shallow sand-digging hollows. On the SW side, the ramparts survive more completely than previously mapped, below the level of the quarrying.

Scheduling revised with new national number 16.08.1994 (was Somerset 434).

Within beech woodland and fairly stable. A single badger sett is present in the rampart at the NE corner. Mountain bikes tracks are visible but do not appear to be causing erosion yet. On the SE side, however, there appears to be a backfilled excavation trench.

Location

OS map reference: SS 8628 3757 . Nearest town/village: Frome.

Data kindly supplied by the Somerset Historic Environment Record.

Record created in October 1985

© Copyright Somerset County Council 2007

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