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Somerset Historic Environment Record
| Site Name: | Wadbury Hillfort, Wadbury | ||
| SCHEDULED MONUMENT: | Wadbury camp [No:368] | ||
| Civil Parish: | Mells | ||
| Comprises: |
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| Grid Ref: | ST 735 489 (ST 74 NW) | ||
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The public accessibility of this site is unknown or has not been checked. Please ask locally and do not visit without permission. [Information last updated on 21 May 2003]
Wadbury is a promontory fort situated on the N side of the Mells stream, the steep banks of which form the defences on one side. Elsewhere they consist of a 16ft high bank with ditch, below the counterscarp of which is a revetment of stones. The N-S middle bank, and a low bank to the NW of Wadbury House are modern. {1}
Very damaged site, the defences of which have been terraced and altered for gardens on the E side, although a single bank still stands c3m high on this side except on the NE where a modern house has destroyed it. The N and NW sides have a bank, ditch and counterscarp bank, the inner bank rising only about 30cm from the interior which is fairly level and under pasture. At the W apex the artificial defences stop c20m E of the natural cliff falling into the stream. The area has been disturbed by surface quarrying but there was probably an entrance there. {3}
N part occupied by mixed wood. The rest is pasture, open grassland and paddocks. {4}
The fort is still under permanent pasture, except for an area to the W which is becoming covered in scrub, and is in generally good condition. {8}
A watching brief (PRN 25756) on an extension to Wadbury Fort Cottage revealed no features or finds. {9}
| 1 | Mention - Victoria County History of Somerset 1908 vol 2, 469 and 477 |
| 2 | Sketch plan - Victoria County History of Somerset 1908 vol 2 |
| 3 | Description - Burrow, I. Hillfort and Hilltop Settlement in the First to Eighth Centuries AD British Archaeological Reports 91 (1981) |
| 4 | Detailed records - Entry found in HER database with no supporting documentation - entry just said 'in SMR file' where nothing was found. This is believed to have been a note that was typed up and then discarded. Location: Unknown or non-existant. |
| 5 | Mention - Burrow, E.J 1924 "Earthworks and Camps of Somerset ...." 58-9 |
| 6 | Mention - Allcroft, A.H 1908 "Earthworks of England", 61 |
| 7 | Detailed records - Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division 1964 ST74NW2 (SCC Planning Department) |
| 8 | Detailed records - Graham, A [Alan]. English Heritage Field Monument Warden. (21/7/1998) Report location: HER files |
| 9 | Detailed records - Heaton, M 'Wadbury Fort Cottage' unpublished report (1998) in HER files (PRN 25756) |
| 10 | Detailed records - McGarvie, M. The Antiquities of Mells, Elm and Buckland in 1730. Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society, Volume 27, (1983) pp83-5 |
Record created in August 1985
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