Easthampstead Wooden Hill (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;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

In the civil parish of Bracknell.
In the historic county of Berkshire.
Modern Authority of Bracknell Forest.
1974 county of Berkshire.
Medieval County of Berkshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SU85496655
Latitude 51.39165° Longitude -0.77268°

Easthampstead Wooden Hill has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are no visible remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

The monument consists of a large ditched bowl barrow situated at the top of a gentle north facing slope. The mound has an overall diameter of 26.6m and stands to a maximum height of 2m. The perimeter of the mound has been reduced by cultivation around its northern quarter so that today the barrow is ovoid in shape, with the longer axis orientated east to west. Surrounding the mound is a ditch 5m wide, from which material was quarried during the construction of the mound. This has become partly infilled over the years but survives as a low earthwork 0.7m deep around the north-east and south-east sectors of the barrow and as a buried feature elsewhere. (Scheduling Report).

A ditched mound (shown but not described, from 1868-1961 on the OS 6") at SU 8549 6656 is a large bowl barrow, The northern part of the barrow falls within a field, and has been entirely dug away. The remainder, in a forestry plantation, is in good condition. (PastScape ref. Field Investigators Comments F1 NVQ 12-MAR-63)

In 1969, a brief assessment of the mound, suggested that it might be a motte or a mound associated with hunting or game-watching (Saunders, 1969). (Berkshire Archaeology HER)

David Nash Ford writes of Wooden Hill " the site of what was always termed a "tumulus" until research revealed it to be the remains of the motte of a Norman castle."

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1007929, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 19016
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 247766.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 00381.00.000.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Britannia.com entry
Periodical Articles
- Copsey, H.W., 1963-4, 'A list of Barrows around the Berkshire-Surrey-Hampshire Boundary' Berkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 61 p. 22-3 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Saunders, A.D., 1969, Ditched mound west of Woodenhill Plantation (Unpublished document / SRM12846)

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The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

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.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

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