Bathampton Down

Location map|Somerset
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Bathampton Down, is an early Medieval earthwork, just east of Bath in Somerset, England. The site is a flat plateau in a bend of the River Avon. The hill rises to a height of to convert|204|m|ft|0.Fact|date=March 2008

The enclosure is roughly rectangular in shape, approximately convert|650|m|ft|0 (east-west) by convert|500|m|ft|0 (north-south). The eastern side needs no protection, because the ground falls away steeply to the River Avon, convert|170|m|ft|0 below. There is a single rampart and flat-bottomed ditch on the other three sides ("univallate"). The north and west ramparts were thought to have been borrowed from the older Wansdyke, but it now is thought improbable that Wansdyke crossed Bathampton Down. [cite web |url=http://www.wansdyke21.org.uk/wansdyke/wanwesteast/wanwest4dir.htm |title=Directions to West Wansdyke, Section 4 |accessdate=2008-03-15 |format= |work=Wansdyke ] The date of the earlier earthworks is unknown, as is the date of the later enclosure.

Bathampton Down is one of the sites which are considered as possible locations for the Battle of Mons Badonicus. [cite book |title=The hidden places of Somerset |last=Scott |first=Shane |authorlink= |coauthors= |year=1995 |publisher=Travel Publishing Ltd |location=Aldermaston |isbn=1902007018 |pages=16 ]

Only the southern rampart was constructed to complete the enclosure. The total area is about 32 ha (80 acres), but there is no evidence of settlement within the site. The large perimeter and gentle slopes to the south mean it would be difficult to defend, so it is a generally thought to be an enclosure for animals, not a defended hill fort.

Several Bronze Age round barrows ("tumuli") reported in or around the the site, have been destroyed, with little trace remaining above ground.

The area is now part of a golf course behind the University of Bath.

References

* "The Victoria History of Somerset", Vol II: Ancient Earthworks (1911)
* "Iron Age Communities in Britain", Barry Cunliffe (1974) ISBN 0-7100-8725-X