Ringwork in Broomhall Copse

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.

Despite some subsequent disturbance, the ringwork in Broomhall Copse survives comparatively well, and part excavation has shown that the monument retains archaeological and environmental evidence relating to its construction, original use and abandonment.

Details

The monument includes a medieval ringwork constructed on a sandstone and clay ridge which forms part of the Surrey Weald. The ringwork, which is situated just to the north of the Surrey/West Sussex county boundary, survives as a low, circular, flat-topped mound measuring 32m in diameter, surrounded by a defensive dry ditch up to 5.5m wide and 0.5m deep. Access to the interior was by way of a simple, 4m wide causewayed entrance through the south eastern defences. Fragments of glazed Norman pottery and red floor tiles were discovered during part excavation of the mound in 1928. The investigation also revealed large quantities of charcoal beneath a layer of disturbed ground, indicating that the mound was the site of contemporary wooden structures which were destroyed by burning, and the earthwork defences slighted, at the time of the abandonment of the ringwork.

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:

31387

Legacy System:

RSM

Sources

Books and journals
Winbolt, S E, Surrey Archaeological Collections in Early Norman Castle Mound Near Rudgwick, Vol. 38, (1930), 96-97

End of official list entry

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