Earth circles on St Martha's Hill
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1002976
- Date first listed:
- 30-Nov-1925
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Scheduled Monument
- List Entry Number:
- 1002976
- Date first listed:
- 30-Nov-1925
Location
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Surrey
- District:
- Guildford (District Authority)
- Parish:
- St. Martha
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 02688 48241, TQ 02726 48286, TQ 03105 48259
Summary
Ring banks on St Martha’s Hill, 655m ENE of Great Halfpenny Farm
Reasons for Designation
The Ring banks on St Martha’s Hill, 655m ENE of Great Halfpenny Farm form significant features in the landscape and will contain archaeological information relating to their construction and function. They are likely to form remains, in the form of plantation rings, of a designed landscape view from Chilworth Manor.
History
See Details
Details
This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 17/10/14. This record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.
DESCRIPTION
The monument includes ring banks surviving as earthworks 22m to 32m in diameter enclosed by a single bank/mound and external ditch. The ring banks are situated on the south side of the hill on gradually sloping terrain before the elevation sharply drops further down the slope. Two ring banks are located in close proximity to each other, about 60m and 100m south-west of St Martha’s Church near the brow of the hill. The other ring bank is situated further down the slope 270m ESE of St Martha’s Church. The ring banks are likely to be plantation rings, associated with tree planting for Chilworth Manor to the south. The soft, easily eroding, sandy upland soil and dense bracken in this area limit the visibility of the features, which appear as slight earthworks.
Further archaeological remains survive within the vicinity. Some such as the bowl barrow north-west of St Martha’s Hill are scheduled but others are not because they have not been formally assessed. There are a number of findspots of Mesolithic, Neolithic and Bronze Age implements in the area.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- SU 43
- Legacy System:
- RSM - OCN
Sources
Other
Surrey HER 300, 2042. NMR TQ04NW26. PastScape 393826.
Legal
This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 30-Jun-2026 at 12:59:09.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.