Bigbury Camp

Bigbury Camp (formerly Bigberry Camp) is a univallate hill fort in the parish of Harbledown and Rough Common in Kent in England.^[1] The fort is a Scheduled Ancient Monument, with a list entry identification number of 1005169.^[2] Bigbury Camp is the only confirmed Iron Age hill fort in east Kent.^[3] It is managed by Kent Wildlife Trust.^[4]

Bigbury Camp was occupied from about 350 BC and may have been stormed by Roman soldiers of the Legio VII Claudia under the command of Julius Caesar.

Location[]

Bigbury Camp is located on a hill 3.2 kilometres (2.0 mi) west of Canterbury and is situated on a minor road between the A2 and A28 roads, southwest of Harbledown. The site is crossed east-west by the North Downs Way long distance footpath and by the Pilgrims' Way, which follow the same course at this point.^[5]

Physical characteristics[]

The fort covers an area of 10.7 hectares (26 acres),^[1] including a northern annex covering 3.2 hectares (7.9 acres) that may have been a cattle enclosure. The fort has a single 4.8-metre (16 ft) wide defensive ditch with a raised bank on the inner side and a lower counterscarp bank. The ramparts form an irregular shape following the countour of the hill at an altitude of 60 metres (200 ft) above mean sea level.^[5] Excavations in the early 1960s revealed the presence of large post-holes in the bottom of the defensive ditch, which have been interpreted as evidence of a strong pallisade running along the ditch bottom.^[1]

The fort had two entrances, one on the east side and one on the west. The east entrance is now passed by a modern road; it was defended with a staggered fortification consisting of two ditches and a bank.^[5]

Finds[]

Bigbury Camp has been the focus of a significant amount of archaeological study.^[3] Digging at Bigbury has unearthed a number of iron artefacts including agricultural tools and kitchen untensils.^[5] In 1861, gravel diggers unearthed a quantity of corroded ironwork consisting of the remains of rods, rings and hooks together with triangular bricks arranged in a circle that displayed evidence of burning.

At the time this was interpreted as a Roman-style hearth that had consisted of three iron legs supporting hooks and rings from which would have been suspended a cauldron. The total height of the apparatus would have been approximately 1.5 metres (5 ft). A flint arrowhead was found nearby. The gravel diggers also found a large iron knife measuring 27 centimetres (10.5 in), including the tang. Parts of a horse's bridle were also recovered, including a snaffle bit with 8.3-centimetre (3.25 in) wide bridle rings.^[6]

A notable find at Bigbury was a slave chain with its lock, associated with the pre-Roman slave trade between Britain and Gaul. Parts of an iron wheel rim were found, together with early Iron Age pottery. Taken together, the finds indicate the presence of a prosperous agricultural community at Bigbury during the Iron Age. Late Iron Age finds include good quality wheel-turned Aylesford-Swarling pottery.^[5] In spite of extensive investigation, no Iron Age coins have been recovered from Bigbury Camp; this has led investigator W. Rodwell to conclude that it was not significant as a permanent settlement.^[3] Artefacts recovered from Bigbury Camp are on display at museums in Canterbury and Maidstone.^[5]

History[]

The site had experienced a long period of occupation during the Iron Age before the arrival of the Romans.^[5] The hill fort appears to have been first occupied around 350 BC, although the ditch-and-rampart defences were not built until the 2nd century BC.^[3] It is likely that Bigbury Camp was the British fortress that was attacked by the Roman Seventh Legion in 54 BC.^[5]

Julius Caesar described how the entrances to the fort were barricaded with felled trees.^[7] The site was abandoned around this time, perhaps as a result of Caesar's attack,^[3] and the focus of settlement was transferred eastwards to Canterbury, which appears to have been deliberately founded to replace it.^[8]

Modern history[]

Preliminary archaeological excavations took place in 1933, during which two large trenches were cut across the north side of the main rampart.^[9]

Notes[]

↑ ^1.0 ^1.1 ^1.2 Historic England 2007.
↑ Historic England.
↑ ^3.0 ^3.1 ^3.2 ^3.3 ^3.4 Holman 2005, p. 24.
↑ "Bigbury Camp". Kent Wildlife Trust. http://www.kentwildlifetrust.org.uk/reserves/bigbury-camp. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
↑ ^5.0 ^5.1 ^5.2 ^5.3 ^5.4 ^5.5 ^5.6 ^5.7 Dyer 2001, p. 117.
↑ Gould 1862, pp. 272-273.
↑ Dyer 1981, 1992, p. 25.
↑ Holman 2005, p. 29.
↑ Jessup 1934, p. 295.

References[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Category:Bigbury Camp, Kent.

Dyer, James (1992) [1981]. Hillforts of England and Wales. Shire Archaeology. Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, UK: Shire Publications. ISBN 0-7478-0180-0. OCLC 30029478.

Dyer, James (2001). Discovering Prehistoric England: A gazetteer of prehistoric sites. Discovering. Princes Risborough, Buckinghamshire, UK: Shire Publications. ISBN 0-7478-0507-5. OCLC 51109530.

English Heritage. "National Heritage List for England". http://list.english-heritage.org.uk/resultsingle.aspx?uid=1005169. Retrieved 2013-06-03.

Historic England. "Bigbury Camp (464710)". PastScape. http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=464710

Gould, Nathaniel (1862). The Journal of the British Archaeological Association. London, UK: British Archaeological Association. OCLC 220833991. https://books.google.com/books?id=KSsUAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA272&dq=%22Bigberry%22&hl=en&sa=X&ei=AHqsUe2DFtLw0gXZ54DwDQ&ved=0CGMQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=%22Bigberry%22&f=false.

Holman, David (2005). "Iron Age Coinage and Settlement in East Kent". Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies. pp. 1–54. Digital object identifier:10.3815/000000005784016892. ISSN 0068-113X. JSTOR 30030479. OCLC 4669501400.

Jessup, R. F. (July 1934). "Trial Excavations at Bigberry Camp, Harbledown, Kent". pp. 295–297. Digital object identifier:10.1017/S000358150003821X. ISSN 0003-5815. OCLC 4814493515. http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=7845574.