Park Wood: a ringwork 75m north-east of Holy Trinity Church

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1010229
Date first listed:: 18-Sep-1992

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1010229
Date first listed:: 18-Sep-1992
Date of most recent amendment:: 05-Jan-1993

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

County:: Essex
District:: Uttlesford (District Authority)
Parish:: Chrishall
National Grid Reference:: TL 45218 38750

Reasons for Designation

Ringworks are medieval fortifications built and occupied from the late Anglo-Saxon period to the later 12th century. They comprised a small defended area containing buildings which was surrounded or partly surrounded by a substantial ditch and a bank surmounted by a timber palisade or, rarely, a stone wall. Occasionally a more lightly defended embanked enclosure, the bailey, adjoined the ringwork. Ringworks acted as strongholds for military operations and in some cases as defended aristocratic or manorial settlements. They are rare nationally with only 200 recorded examples and less than 60 with baileys. As such, and as one of a limited number and very restricted range of Anglo-Saxon and Norman fortifications, ringworks are of particular significance to our understanding of the period.

The ringwork at Park Wood is essentially undisturbed and will retain archaeological information pertaining to the occupation of the site and environmental evidence relating to the economy of its inhabitants and the landscape in which they lived.

Details

The monument comprises a ringwork in Park Wood, situated on a west-facing slope 75m north-east of Holy Trinity Church. The monument includes a raised area of ground which measures 53m east-west by 60m north-south and is c.1.5m high. Surrounding the raised area is a ditch with a maximum width of 20m and which measures c.3m in depth. The ditch is mainly dry except on the western side where it is seasonally waterfilled. The interior of the monument is mainly level except for an amorphous raised area in the south-east corner. On the northern side of the ditch is a prominent mound of spoil 65m in length, 5m in width and c.1m in height which is not considered to be part of the monument. Access to the interior is across a modern causeway, 3m wide, on the south side of the ditch. The causeway is included in the scheduling.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract. It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features, considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: 20666
Legacy System:: RSM

Sources

Other
SMR No: 3910, Information from SMR (No 3910),

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.