Tunley Farm

Hillfort
ST683591

Also known as:

Monument No. 200471

Nearest town:

Radstock (4km SSE)

OS reference:

ST683591

OS sheet:

172

Latitude:

51° 19' 46.42 N

Longitude:

2° 27' 18.14 W

Added to TMA by

Rhiannon

Sites (1)
News (1)
Fieldnotes (1)
Miscellaneous (2)

Sites within Tunley Farm

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description link

Articles

Tunley Farm

Three fined for dumping waste at Tunley hillfort

baza Aug 22, 2007

“A landowner, one of his tenants and a local trader were ordered to pay £15,065 in fines and costs for illegally dumping huge amounts of waste on land designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument. The case was brought by the Environment Agency.

In March 2006, the Environment Agency became aware that a significant amount of waste was dumped on land at an ancient hillfort at Tunley, three miles south west of Bath.

This is close to Tunley Farm, where the farm buildings have been converted to business units, owned by Stephen Jones, who visits weekly from Wales to collect rent from the traders.

The waste consisted of construction and demolition waste including concrete, tarmac, bricks, blocks, subsoil, metal, fluorescent light tubes, electrical cable, asbestos sheets. Environment Officers also found larger items like an electric cooker, a metal three drawer filing cabinet and a wooden staircase.

A scheduled ancient monument is a nationally important site, given legal protection by inclusion on a list. Appropriate management is therefore essential to ensure that they survive in good condition.”

Environment Agency news

Tunley Farm

Hillfort

CARL Sep 9, 2013

Failed visit 7.9.13

Directions:
Located to the east of the village of Timsbury on the B3115.
Immediately behind Tunley Farm.

Although my O/S showed a public right of way next to the farm from the B3115, in reality it doesn’t exist. In fact all you are confronted with is a stone wall.

Instead we drove up the minor road next to the farm and parked next to the public footpath sign a little way north of the farm. The problem this time was that I was confronted by a field full of head high corn. Not wishing to cause any damage I decided not to go this way. I walked back down the lane to see if there was any other point of access but there is only a large private farm/building yard.

I would imagine the best bet would be to ask permission at the farm as a ‘sneak visit’ appears to be out of the question.

Driving back down the B3115 I looked up to see (what I guess) is the southern side of the Hillfort covered in trees on the brow of the hill

Tunley Farm

Hillfort

Chance Apr 12, 2015

Details of hillfort on Pastscape Pastscape

[ST 684 592] CAMP [G.T.] Tunley Camp – presumably of Iron Age date (2), was probably much larger than shown on the map, most likely following the hedgerow
‘c’ [see 6” sheet ] as far as Priston Colliery with the present Tunley Farm – Priston Colliery road forming its southern boundary.
[Note: both Wedlake and the F.I. (4) stated that there was no trace of the slopes “A” “D”, but this was contrary to the opinion of the S.S. Reviser. (5)]. (2-5) ST 684592 – Iron Age univallate hill-fort of 3 – 15 acres. (6)
This feature appears to be the remains of an Iron Age hill-fort, centred at ST 683591. It has been considerably ploughed down and only its western side, consisting of a scarp up to 4.9m. high, is well defined. The eastern perimeter is less certain, but it is probably indicated by a very slight scarp in the fields to the north and west of Tunley Farm. There is no ground evidence to support the contention that the hill-fort extended a considerable distance further to the east. The slopes shown on the O.S. 6” 1961, are merely scarps associated with modern field boundaries. Published 1:2500 survey revised. (7)

The remains of this hillfort are now so meagre that it is difficult to assess its original form, and the whole area has been ploughed. The north defences have been ploughed flat, although a very slight scarp could be traced running across the middle of the field. On the south and west sides the present hedge sits on a scarp about 2m high and on the west a low wide bank is present immediately west of the hedge.

Tunley Farm

Hillfort

moss Aug 23, 2007

Tunley Cromlech destroyed. Identified by Skinner as a capstone with two supporting stones, but was already being broken up by 1812 for road material. Skinner says;
“there was a cromlech on the highest point to the east of Tunley Camp”
Jodie Lewis (Monuments Ritual and Regionality) Neolithic of north Somerset says, that it could either have been the remains of a Cotwold Severn barrow or a simple portal dolmen.