Lidbury Camp, associated trackways and bowl barrow, on Littlecott Down

Reasons for Designation

The most complete and extensive survival of chalk downland archaeological remains in central southern England occurs on Salisbury Plain, particularly in those areas lying within the Salisbury Plain Training Area. These remains represent one of the few extant archaeological "landscapes" in Britain and are considered to be of special significance because they differ in character from those in other areas with comparable levels of preservation. Individual sites on Salisbury Plain are seen as being additionally important because the evidence of their direct association with each other survives so well.

The Lidbury Camp enclosure and its associated trackway provide important evidence of land use and agricultural practices in the prehistoric, Romano-British and medieval periods. The enclosures in the Salisbury Plain Training Area belong to one of the most important and best preserved fossil landscapes in southern Britain. The presence of these remains and their relationship with extensive field systems arid settlement complexes, are of critical importance to understanding the character and development of Downland agriculture. The importance of the monument is considerably enhanced by the inclusion of a prehistoric funerary monument considered to be nationally important in its own right.

Details

The monument comprises a possible barrow together with Iron Age and Romano- British occupation associated with Lidbury Camp and its related trackways. 1 - A trackway with the bank c.1.5m high. It is south-east of Lidbury Camp and is joined to a similar feature that is connected to Lidbury Camp. 2 - A length of trackway associated with Lidbury Camp. For much of its course it is ploughed out but in the penned area it can be seen as a bank from 0.2m up to 1m high. 3 - A trackway c.8m wide and up to 0.5m high. It is associated with Lidbury Camp and is thought to originally have joined a trackway associated with Chisenbury Warren settlement. 4 - A bowl barrow c.20m diameter. It appears to be joined by a spur to the outer bank of Lidbury Camp and does not immediately look like a barrow. 5 - A sub-square enclosure up to 90m across. The earthworks are fairly slight with ditches extending east and south-west. Excavation in 1914 of an entrance identified two phases of occupation and produced Iron Age and Romano-British material.

MAP EXTRACT The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

10043

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Other
Trust for Wessex Archaeology, (1987)
Wiltshire Library & Museum Service, (1987)

End of official list entry

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