Monument MPM115 - Iron Age stock enclosure and Bronze Age ranch boundary, Portsdown I

Excavations near Hoylake Road, Portsdown Hill, in 1963-65 revealed evidence of a Bronze Age ranch boundary and Iron Age stock enclosure at a site known as Portsdown I. The ranch boundary represented the earliest phase of the site. This consisted of a gully running east-west along the ridge of Portsdown Hill, bounded by post holes thought to represent fences/stockade. An 'entrance' part way along the gully may have been secured by a gate. This boundary may have been used to divide arable land from that used for grazing livestock. During a second phase of activity on the site a sub-rectangular stock enclosure bounded by a ditch was butted onto the earlier ranch boundary. The entrance through the gulley was blocked when the enclosure was constructed. Finds consisted of pottery sherds and fragments of animal bone. Richard Bradley's report 'Excavations on Portsdown Hill 1963-5' in 'Proceedings of the Hampshire Field Club and Archaeological Society Vol 24 1967' should by consulted for the full details of the excavation. [1, 2 p42-58]