Monument record MWX43223 - A group of earthworks at Coxon's Hill

A group of earthworks are visible on RAF vertical aerial photographs from 1941 [1]. There are three elements to the group, a bank and ditch system, an area of hollows and a group of parallel shallow ditches. The features all appear to have been plough-levelled within a few years of this date as they are visible only as cropmarks on RAF vertical aerial photographs from 1946 [2].

The central part of the bank and ditch system follows a curvilinear course defining three sides of a D-shaped enclosure. The remaining, roughly straight, side is formed by part of a field drain/minor stream that was extant at the time of photography but has since been removed [3]. Two short banks run off the western side of the enclosure, one near its NW corner and the other near its SW corner, both are flanked by ditches. The alignment of both of these features is continued by extant field drains belonging to the current field layout. To the immediate NW of the enclosure lie two further areas of banking. The southernmost of the banks is c. 30m long and C-shaped in plan; the northernmost lies 8m to its NE and is comma-shaped in plan and c. 60m long. These features may relate to the medieval and post-medieval salt working industry that is well documented in this area.

The hollows lie within the NE part of the D-shaped enclosure and cover an irregularly-shaped area measuring 150m (N-S) x 50m (E-W). On the 1941 aerial photographs, the vegetation is fairly uniform across the field implying that the hollows are not the result of recent ground disturbance. It is not clear what they derive from or whether they are related to the bank and ditch system.

The parallel shallow ditches lie at the centre of the D-shaped enclosure and are spaced at roughly regular intervals c.15m apart. Each ditch is straight, c.40m in length and aligned WNW-ESE. They appear to be later than the hollows as they seem to cut through and overlie them. The date and function of these features is unclear and it is not clear whether they are related to the other features recorded within this area.

A transcription of the features recorded from aerial photography exists within a GIS layer held by this HER [4].

<3> Google Earth (Graphic material). SWX15704.

<4> Wessex Archaeology, 2009-10, South-East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - Aerial Photographic Transcriptions (Digital archive). SWX15705.

<4> Wessex Archaeology, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey - (SE RCZAS) Phase 1: National Mapping Programme Report (Unpublished document). SKE25955.

<4> Cornwall Council Historic Environment Projects and Gloucestershire County Council, 2011, South East Rapid Coastal Zone Assessment Survey National Mapping Programme Components 1&2: Results of NMP Mapping (Unpublished document). SKE25954.