Curwen made seven cuttings into the ditch of enclosure A and discovered it to consist of little more than "a wide and shallow scoop". Although there remains some doubt regarding the exact provenance of datable artifacts from the sample trenches opened in 1929, it would appear, from Curwen's plan and text, that enclosure A is partially overlain by, and therefore stratigraphically earlier than, enclosure C. Enclosure B would appear, on present evidence, to be earlier than A.
The morphology of Wolstonbury A and B may alternatively suggest that both represent the remains of denuded field systems. Certainly the RCHME survey noted the presence of a series of similar 'Celtic' fields across the lower western and south western slopes of the Hill.
Enclosure C
The traditional view regarding
enclosure C is that it represents an enclosure of Early Iron Age date (ie
600 - 100 BC). The recorded artifactual assemblage, such as it is, would,
however, appear to indicate a constructional date in the Early Bronze Age,
with Iron Age and Roman material being so far confined to the secondary
deposits of ditch fill.
| As an enclosure of Iron Age date, Wolstonbury C is unusual in having its ditch inside the bank. This substantially inverted rampart sequence has in the past been interpreted as representing either a form of stock enclosure, with the intention of keeping cattle in as opposed to attackers out, or an unusual form of hillfort, with the builders throwing the soil downslope to form an external defensive bank. Alternatively the site could be viewed as the remains of a Late Neolithic / Early Bronze Age henge. |  |
The lack of secure dating
for the earthwork and the interpretational impasse, has successfully prevented
any detailed discussion concerning enclosure C, its archaeological significance,
function and role in the chronological development of Southern England.