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Ambresbury Banks

Iron Age hillfort in England

Ambresbury Banks
Summary

Iron Age hillfort in England

3D view of the digital terrain model
Ambresbury Banks in [[Epping Forest]] in January, 2006
Ambresbury Banks in [[Epping Forest]] in August, 2013

Ambresbury Banks is the name given to the remains of an Iron Age hill fort in Epping Forest, Essex, England. It lies in 'Long Running & Ambresbury Banks', south of Bell Common and north of Loughton and its neighbouring hillfort Loughton Camp. It is a Scheduled Monument. Its surrounding forest is a Special Area of Conservation and Site of Special Scientific Interest.

Investigation

The first dig at Ambresbury Banks was initiated by the Essex Field Club in 1881, under general Augustus Pitt Rivers. Another dig under Hazzeldine Warren in 1933 found sherds of pottery. In 1971 & 2 Iron Age gold coins were found near the Banks using a metal detector. Flints and an arrowhead have also been found at the site Materials including a clay smoking pipe and a horseshoe have been recovered at the site.

Description

The univallate fort encloses an area of roughly 5 hectares. In the Middle Ages it was "used for quarrying".

Legend

According to legend, it is the site of the last stand by Boudica against the Romans in the year 61. There is no evidence to support this. Another legend contends that the construction and name derive from the fifth-century hero Ambrosius Aurelianus, so contradicting the supposed connection to the first-century battle; other theories for the location of the battlefield include Mancetter in Warwickshire and Kings Cross in London. Nevertheless, Ambresbury Banks forms, along with Loughton Camp, Wallbury Camp, Little Hadham, Barkway and Littlebury, a line of hill-forts that arguably delineate the disputed territories of the warring Trinovantes and Catuvellauni.

Access to the site

In June 2006 Loughton Camp, Loughton Brook, and Ambresbury Banks were "designated as out of bounds to cyclists" due to damage to the sites.

References

References

  1. "Appendix".
  2. {{NHLE
  3. "Epping Forest - Special Areas of Conservation".
  4. "Citation of Epping Forest SSSI".
  5. ALEXANDER, J. A.. (1978). "Ambresbury Banks, an Iron Age Camp in Epping Forest, Essex: a report on excavations of 1933, 1956, 1958 and 1968". [[Essex Society for Archaeology and History]].
  6. "Ambresbury Banks".
  7. "Monument Number 369904".
  8. "Signpost - Ambresbury, Essex".
  9. "Ambresbury Banks".
  10. "Ambresbury Banks".
  11. (1876). "Ancient Earthworks in Epping Forest". [[The Archaeological Journal]].
  12. (1978). "Boudica : the British revolt against Rome AD 60". Routledge.
  13. [[Peter Berresford Ellis. Ellis, Peter Berresford]] ''A Guide to Early Celtic Remains in Britain''. London: Constable. 1991
  14. (2006-06-18). "City of London acts to protect ancient trees".
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

hill-forts-in-essex history-of-essex epping-forest-district
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