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Fieldnotes
| In the North Oxfordshire countryside, about one mile from the village of Tadmarton, you will find a triangle of steeply banked hills. They are known as Jester's Hill, Round Hill and Madmarston Hill. Madmarston Hill is the site of an ironage hillfort which dates back to circa. 200 BC. The site is now used for farming purposes and nothing remains of the original fort, although it is possible from the west and east, to detect the remains of the earthworks that would have surrounded it. The earthworks enclose a site of around seven acres. A roman road, now a bridle way, popular among horse riders and walkers, runs south along the site so it is possible to get a good view of the place, despite the land being private. The site was the interest of an archaelologist, P J Fowler, and he spent two years from 1957-58 excavating the site. Several row barrows were uncovered and pits containing fractures of pot, animal bone as well as a natural spring were also discovered. Madmarston hill and Jesters hill are both natural formations and both plateau to an even flat summit. Madmarston was presumably chosen as the site for a fort as it is a rounder formation to its longer narrower neighbour. The Ordnance Survey map of the fort (ref SP386389) illustrates the remains of the earthworks on the hill in good detail. |
Posted by jacksprat19th March 2006ce Edited 26th March 2006ce
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