Before work, I managed to sneak in a quick stroll up to the site this morning. The mist was burning off and no other soul was about so I had the place to myself (excluding a few ponies).
The site is classified as a hillfort (gentle-rise-fort doesn't exist yet!) and was investigated as part of the hillforts of the ridgeway project in the late 1990's.
At the start of the track leading up to the site is a large pile of field cleared sarsens and the track has the remains of a low sarsen wall running parallel to it. The views of Ashdown house are stunning.
The site itself still has lots of sarsens scattered about (remains of a wall no doubt) and you can still make out the 'bump' in the middle of the fort, where the Romano-British farmhouse once stood. Erosion protection is still in place on parts of the banks (much as the last time I visited a few years ago).
The view to the ridge opposite, shows three bumps of round barrows on the skyline. There is also a ploughed out barrow site on the other side of the woods. I spent a few minutes enjoying the silence and then plodded back to the car and unfortunately, back to work.
If ever you visit for the day, a tour of Ashdown house (stunning views from the top) plus visiting this site (and the sarsen field in front of Ashdown house) and maybe a picnic, would, in my humble view, be a nice day out. It's close enough to Waylands and WHH aswell.
The "Dragon", or "Michael" Line passes through the earthen banks and on through Ashbury House. There is a tale that the house was deliberately built on the energy line for the "good masculine energies".
'Alfred's Castle, on the hill west of Ashdown, was called Ashberry Camp on a map of Shrivenham Hundred in 1532 referred to in Miller's History of Ashbury, and it was given the alternative names of Alfred's Castle and Ashbury Camp by Wise in 1738. There is no doubt that the original name was Ashbury Camp, and it is almost certainly the camp from which Ashbury was named, which was spelt Aescesburh in the Anglo-Saxon charters.'
Exceprt from White Horse Hill and surrounding country by L V Grinsell
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