Five Napoleonic practice redoubts in both Crowthorne Woods and Bramshill Forest
List Entry Summary
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.
Name: Five Napoleonic practice redoubts in both Crowthorne Woods and Bramshill Forest
List entry Number: 1016331
Location
The monument may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
County:
District: Bracknell Forest
District Type: Unitary Authority
Parish: Crowthorne
National Park: Not applicable to this List entry.
Grade: Not applicable to this List entry.
Date first scheduled: 18-Jan-1977
Date of most recent amendment: 24-Oct-1997
Legacy System Information
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System: RSM
UID: 28178
Asset Groupings
This list entry does not comprise part of an Asset Grouping. Asset Groupings are not part of the official record but are added later for information.
List entry Description
Summary of Monument
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
Reasons for Designation
Easthamstead Plain, the heathland plateau between Bracknell and Crowthorne, in
1792 was the scene of large scale military manoeuvres which have left an
unusual combination of physical traces, and which appear to be unique in
England. The exercises were designed to allow the Army to test its new
Handbook of Military Manoeuvres, whilst sending signals of strength to
continental Europe in the aftermath of the French Revolution. They boosted
morale in an Army still shocked by its defeat at the hands of revolutionaries
in the American War of Independence, and demonstrated the Crown's ability to
maintain order in the event of any Republican unrest in Britain.
The manoeuvres lasted from 23 July to 8 August 1792. They adopted the strategy
of building infantry or artillery redoubts as part of defensive lines behind
which infantry squares and cavalry could be deployed. In essence, this was the
strategy later used successfully by Wellington, notably at Waterloo. At
Easthamstead Plain, the Army practised attacking a defensive line including
eight specially constructed earthwork redoubts. The surviving redoubts are the
only documented examples in England of a full battlefield defensive system of
the Napoleonic period, equivalent in significance to the slightly later Royal
Military Canal in Kent which was built to oppose the anticipated French
invasion. They are therefore all considered to be of national importance and
worthy of protection.
The five redoubts included in this monument all survive well and are extremely
good examples of their class. In addition, they are an important element of
the modern landscape and provide reference points and educational amenities
for visitors within the extensive open woodland of Crowthorne Woods and
Bramshill Forest.
History
Legacy Record - This information may be included in the List Entry Details.
Details
The monument includes five of a series of practice redoubts constructed in
1792 in a 2km long line running north west-east along the edge of a plateau
formerly known as Easthamstead Plain.
The redoubts include earthen banks and ditches which individually measure
between 45m and 53m across and are all roughly square. The redoubts are
enclosed by open ditches measuring up to 3m wide and are all roughly 1m deep,
although many are now partly infilled with leaf litter. Immediately inside the
ditches stand low earthen banks 1m high externally and between 0.5m and 1m
high internally. Where entrances exist, they are formed by causeways situated
in the north east corners of the ditches and the rampart is normally slightly
lower at this point. These gaps and the tops of the ramparts would have been
further protected by earth-filled powder barrels and stockades where
necessary.
Easthamstead Plain, which lies north of Sandhurst Military College, contains
many other examples of military training dating from the past 200 years, some
of which are the subject of separate schedulings.
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.
Selected Sources
National Grid Reference: SU 85983 64883, SU 86096 64682, SU 86468 64429, SU 87157 64396, SU 87453 64448
Map
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This copy shows the entry on 27-Apr-2018 at 02:04:34.
End of official listing