Amsbury Wood Enclosure, Coxheath (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Hunton

In the civil parish of Coxheath.
In the historic county of Kent.
Modern Authority of Kent.
1974 county of Kent.
Medieval County of Kent.

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ73435100
Latitude 51.23122° Longitude 0.48253°

Amsbury Wood Enclosure, Coxheath has been described as a Timber Castle but is rejected as such.

There are cropmark/slight earthwork remains.

Description

Two contiguous rectangular enclosures occupying circa 2 hectares on a ridge top. It has been suggested that they are military earthworks of the C18-19th, but a mound overlying the corner of one of them is reminiscent of a post-mill mound. (Kent HER)

An unclassified earthwork consisting of a series of banks and ditches with a small mount in one corner. The entrenchments are 21ft at the widest and now poorly defined; the mount has an irregular excavation on the summit (VCH). The earthworks are two contiguous near-rectangular enclosures with feeble banks and ditches. They are clearly minor and comparatively recent, and may be connected with the military encampments on Cox Heath mentioned by Igglesden. The mound, at TQ 73435100, is large, flat-topped and circular, about 28.0m in diameter and 1.8m in height, with a large depression in the top. It is surrounded by a ditch with causeways on the east and west sides. The mound overlies and clearly post-dates the enclosure banks and is probably a mill-mound; it looks like one and the general area goes under the name of 'Windmill Bank'. (F1 AC 07.11.61). Centred TQ 7328508. These two, linked, bank and ditch earthworks each enclose c. 2 hectares of undulating ridge-top, now coppiced. They are in a fair condition with the banks up to 0.7m high externally and the ditches about 0.4m deep. The eastern enclosure is a later addition as evidenced by the join across the ditch to its neighbour, and in its turn it has been overlaid at the NE angle by a probable windmill mound. However, the time-span of the sequence is not possible to determine from observation alone, neither is the origin and purpose. If as seems likely the mound is the site of a post-mill then a late military origin for the enclosures can be ruled out (F2 MJF 19.03.86). (PastScape)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 415745.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) TQ 75 SW 3.

Books
- King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 238 (reject)
  Jessop, R.F., 1930, Archaeology of Kent p. 160
  Igglesden, C., 1913, Saunter through Kent with Pen and Pencil Vol. 9 p. 55-6
  Gould, I. Chalkley, 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Kent Vol. 1 p. 437, 438-9 (plan) online copy

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The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

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