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Rhossili Down Early Field Boundary

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NPRN408506
Map ReferenceSS48NW
Grid ReferenceSS4220089100
Unitary (Local) AuthoritySwansea
Old CountyGlamorgan
CommunityRhossili
Type Of SiteFIELD BOUNDARY
PeriodPrehistoric
Description
a. Broad, spread stony bank running generally south-west to north-east for some 420m across Rhossili Down, running close to several Bronze Age cairns and heavily truncated in places by later north-south tracks and paths. Recorded during RCAHMW aerial reconnaissance, particularly on winter air photos AP_2006_0235 to 0241. Has the character of a prehistoric field boundary.

T. Driver, RCAHMW, 26th Nov 2008.

b. Barely visible, fragmentary wall running ENE-WSW across the Rhossili Down Ridge. In most places the wall survives as a gentle mound usually 1.5 - 2m wide 0.2 - 0.3m high. About half way along the wall which is approximately 400m long is a 15m stretch of facing where large blocks including an orthostat 0.5m high retain the bank. A cross-section cut by a path immediately west of this facing shows the original wall to have been more substantial with a width of 2.0m and a height of 0.4m. The wall was surveyed by A.H. Ward in January and March 1987 who suggested that an offset approximately 150m from the western end represented a 'gang joint' . The age of the wall is unknown but the style of construction and the degraded type of landscape on either side suggests a prehistoric or early historic date. The original wall may have been much taller, the height increased with timber or brushwood. Undoubtedly it was an important boundary dividing the southern third of the Down from the northern section. The surviving wall appears to be similar in style to the enclosures near Sweynes Howes but is less substantial than the wall forming Bessis's Meadow.
John Latham RCAHMW 8 September 2015
(source NT Report, E Plunkett Dillon)