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.
Details
The monument includes a ringwork and bailey of probable 11th or 12th century
date, situated on a slight, south west facing spur within Place Wood, near
Southwick. The ringwork includes a roughly circular earthwork platform, 22m in
diameter and approximately 0.8m high, fully enclosed by a defensive bank and
outer ditch, each 6m to 8m wide. The larger bailey abuts it to the east and is
also enclosed by a bank and outer ditch which project from the ringwork
defences. Originally stirrup shaped, the bailey has been cut by a modern ha ha
and park boundary ditch, and now survives as a straight sided pentagonal
platform, approximately 55m by 65m in diameter and raised a similar height to
the ringwork. The defences are relatively uniform around the perimeter of both
enclosures, although the bank stands slightly higher around the ringwork, up
to 1.5m above the interior and 3m above the base of the ditch.
There is no apparent trace of any original internal features within either
part of the monument, or of an entrance or gateway, although a later trackway
enters the ringwork from the east and crosses onto the bailey over a low
causeway where an original bridge would normally be expected. This trackway
may be associated with a modern park keeper's lodge which is now demolished
but formerly stood at the western end of the monument, partly overlying the
bailey defences and resulting in their partial destruction. The octagonal
brick foundations of the lodge survive along with a number of associated
structural and garden features, including a brick well.
The area of bailey defences beyond the ha ha and boundary ditch to the south
has been destroyed by the modern construction of a military rifle range and is
not included in the scheduling. This area is also the location of an earlier
Roman mansio, the north eastern bank of which formerly intersected with the
bailey but is now also destroyed.
The construction of the monument has not been accurately dated, but its form
is typical of post-Conquest ringworks and motte and bailey castles of the 11th
and 12th centuries, and closely resembles the nearby ringwork and bailey at
Motley's Copse, which is thought to relate to Henry I's attempt to expel the
Earl of Arundel in 1101. At that time, Place Wood may have fallen within the
boundaries of the manor of Belney in Portsdown Hundred which was held by the
Mauduits, who also controlled Portchester Castle and the southern fringes of
the royal forest of Bere until the mid-12th century.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
32552
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals
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.
End of official list entry
