Cissbury Ring Burh (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
Cissbury Knot

In the civil parish of Worthing.
In the historic county of Sussex.
Modern Authority of West Sussex.
1974 county of West Sussex.
Medieval County of Sussex (Rape of Bramber).

OS Map Grid Reference: TQ13950805
Latitude 50.86074° Longitude -0.38228°

Cissbury Ring Burh has been described as a Urban Defence although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Hillfort of probable Iron Age date enclosing an area of circa 60 acres. The ramparts partially enclose Neolithic flint mines. (PastScape)

Bond list this as a C11 Anglo-Saxon Burh.

It has been suggested that Cissbury was once the site of a Saxon mint. Coins bearing the mint signatures Sithe, Sithsteb and Sithmes have been found on coins of Ethelred II and Cnut (1009-1023) and by their distribution it is thought that they were minted in an area between Lewes and Chichester. The use of old forts for mints is not unknown, when nearby mints are moved there during dangerous times, though there has been no archaeological confirmation of the mint at Cissbury. (Sussex Archaeology and Folklore online)

Comments

A mint of itself was not a large operation and the extensive excavations of Cissbury could have missed it but mints are usually found in association with high status residences or, as it seems Bond is assuming, an urban site and it seems unlikely that evidence of substantive Saxon occupation would have been missed. However it appears to be argued the mint was an emergency and temporary construction. It seems likely that Cissbury lacked a sufficiently good water supply to be a residential base, particularly during the relatively warm period of the C11-C13. Wherever the location of the Sithe mint it seems unlikely Cissbury was a Saxon urban centre.

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1015817, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 27069
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 395595.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) MWS3177 (mint); MWS6361 (Hillfort).

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Sussex Archaeology and Folklore
  Cissbury Ring
  Wikipedia entry
Books
- Bond, C.J., 1987, 'Anglo-Saxon and Medieval Defences' in Schofield, J. and Leech, R. (eds) Urban Archaeology in Britain (CBA Research Report 61) p. 92-116 online copy
  Wilson, David M., 1976, The Archaeology of Anglo-Saxon England p. 140
Periodical Articles
- Curwen, E. Cecil, 'A Saxon Mint at Cissbury?' Sussex notes and queries Vol. 15 p. 134-5
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)

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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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