Reasons for Designation
Bodmin Moor, the largest of the Cornish granite uplands, has long been
recognised to have exceptional preservation of archaeological remains. The
Moor has been the subject of detailed archaeological survey and is one of the
best recorded upland landscapes in England. The extensive relict landscapes of
prehistoric, medieval and post-medieval date provide direct evidence for human
exploitation of the Moor from the earliest prehistoric period onwards. The
well-preserved and often visible relationship between settlement sites, field
systems, ceremonial and funerary monuments as well as later industrial remains
provides significant insights into successive changes in the pattern of land
use through time.
Slight univallate hillforts are defended enclosures situated towards or on the
top of a hill and defined by a single line of earthworks, usually enclosing an
area under 10 hectares. They form one of a range of known types of fortified
enclosure dating to the later Bronze Age and Iron Age (c.1000 BC - 50 AD).
They present a considerable variety of enclosure shapes and entrance forms and
have been viewed in various roles including permanent settlements, centres for
trade and exchange, refuges in times of crisis and stock enclosures. Where
excavated, structures found within the enclosures have included round, square
or rectangular houses, usually post-built but sometimes of stone, storage
pits, hearths, and scatters of post and stake holes and gullies. The material
recovered from excavations has included human burials, domestic debris and
evidence for small-scale industrial activities such as bronze and iron
working. Ramparts may be formed simply from dumped earth and rubble, or a
dry-stone wall, or they may have a more complex structure with timber or stone
retaining walls or various types of internal reinforcements. Most excavated
examples have also revealed post-holes for gate structures in the rampart
entrances. About 150 slight univallate hillforts are recorded nationally,
commonest in central southern England, the Chilterns, south-west England, the
Cotswolds and the Welsh Marches, with lesser numbers in central and northern
England. They are nationally rare monuments which contribute significantly
to our knowledge of settlement types and economic and social developments in
the Late Bronze and Iron Ages. Consequently all such monuments which show good
evidence typical of the known types and their regional variations will
normally be considered of national importance,
Allabury Camp survives well; it has not been excavated, and displays an
almost complete circuit of well-preserved defences, and evidence for intact
sub-surface features. Its relatively small size and location on a spur
overlooking a steep river valley is typical of the south-western hillforts.
Details
The monument includes a small, later Prehistoric hillfort, defended by a
single bank and outer ditch and incorporating two original entrances. The
hillfort is situated on a slight terrace on a spur projecting north from the
NE end of the Hawkstor Downs on the eastern edge of Bodmin Moor, overlooking
the steep narrow valley of the Withey Brook near its confluence with the River
Lynher. The hillfort is defined by a single earth and rubble rampart,
surviving up to 2.5m high and 10m wide, on whose outer side is a ditch, up to
1.5m deep and 8m wide, forming a well-defined feature around the hillfort's
south, east and north sides, and visible as a shallow, silted, slope-break
along its western side. These earthwork defences enclose a D-shaped internal
area encompassing 0.95 hectares and measuring 120m north-south by 90m east-
west. The defences are interrupted by two original entrances. The entrance in
the SE sector is 5m wide and flanked by the parallel, in-turned ends of the
rampart which extend for 10m into the hill fort interior. The other original
entrance, in the NW sector, is visible as a simple break in the rampart, 5m
wide, with a slight thickening of the rampart to each side. This entrance is
now closed by a modern field wall on a slight hedge-bank crossing the inner
side of the gap. Two other breaks in the rampart, at the SW and NE corners of
the hillfort, are recent, corresponding to gated access points to
neighbouring fields. The NE break has produced an eroded section through the
rampart showing clearly its heaped rubble core. The hillfort interior presents
a featureless surface with occasional uncleared boulders, sloping gently to
the north and conforming with the natural hillslope however the presence of
intact buried features has been evidenced by vegetation marks under dry
conditions and several flint artefacts have been recovered from animal burrows
at the hillfort.
All modern drystone walls, gates and post-and-wire fencing, the surface of the
modern drainage ditch along the hillfort's western edge and the modern field
barn beyond the hillfort's SE entrance are excluded from the scheduling but
the land beneath them, including earthen hedge-banks, is included.
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.
