Chanctonbury Ring

Chanctonbury Ring is a prehistoric hill fort atop Chanctonbury Hill on the South Downs, on the border of the civil parishes of Washington and Wiston in the English county of West Sussex. A ridgeway, now part of the South Downs Way, runs along the hill. It forms part of an ensemble of associated historical features created over a span of more than 2,000 years, including round barrows dating from the Bronze Age to the Saxon periods and dykes dating from the Iron Age and Roman periods.

Consisting of a roughly circular low earthen rampart surrounded by a ditch, Chanctonbury Ring is thought to date to the late Bronze Age or early Iron Age. The purpose of the structure is unknown but it could have filled a variety of roles, including a defensive position, a cattle enclosure or even a religious shrine. After a few centuries of usage, it was abandoned for about five hundred years until it was reoccupied during the Roman period. Two Romano-British temples were built in the hill fort's interior, one of which may have been dedicated to a boar cult.

After its final abandonment around the late fourth century AD, the hill fort remained unoccupied save for grazing cattle until a mid-18th-century landowner planted a ring of beech trees around its perimeter to beautify the site. They became a famous local landmark until largely being destroyed in the Great Storm of 1987. Periodic replanting on a number of occasions to replace old or destroyed trees has afforded archaeologists the opportunity to carry out a series of excavations which have revealed much about the history of the site.

Description

right|thumb|Map of Chanctonbury Ring and neighbouring archaeological features

Chanctonbury Ring is in a commanding position looking across the Sussex Weald to the north, on the edge of a steep natural escarpment to the northwest and northeast. It is at the middle point of a long, narrow and otherwise treeless plateau, approached via ridges to the east and west. A trig point is located about west of the Ring, recorded by the Ordnance Survey as above sea level. Although this was originally recorded as the top of Chanctonbury Hill and thus the Marilyn summit, recent measurements suggest that the area of the Ring is higher, about above sea level. The fort is defined by archaeologists as a "slight univallate hill fort", indicating a single-walled earthwork with a low rampart.

The original entrance to the hill fort was provided by a gap of approximately on the south-eastern side, where the remains of a causeway are visible. Another gap through the rampart is visible on the south-western side but was probably created much later after the hill fort had gone out of use, as no causeway is visible there. The rampart and outer ditch have largely been preserved on the southern side, though slightly damaged by two small quarries dug into it. Erosion and soil creep have reduced the earthworks on the northern side and only traces remain of the ditch in this area. The perimeter and interior of the hill fort are occupied by a planted stand of beech trees. Evidence for human activity in the Neolithic and early Bronze Age has been found, but not settlement or occupation. The finds consisted of tools likely to have been used for exploiting woodland.

thumb|Mosaic fragments set in plaster from the temple at Chanctonbury Ring

The larger of the two known temples was constructed on a west–east alignment in the centre of the fort, at the highest point on the site. It had a "rectangular central cella or inner chamber" measuring about by . An ambulatory or enclosed covered walkway enclosed it on the west, north and east sides, and was paved with a "rammed chalk floor" around wide. The ambulatory's external wall was covered with red-painted plaster. The building was entered from the east, aligning it with the original entrance to the hill fort.

It is not known why the Roman temples were built on the site, but there are examples elsewhere of the Romans building on the site of Iron Age temples or shrines. However, it is more difficult to argue for this being the case at Chanctonbury Ring, given the gap of half a millennium between the hill fort's abandonment and reoccupation. In other locations, such as at Hayling Island and Maiden Castle, there was continuity of religious use between Iron Age and Roman times, which was clearly not the case with Chanctonbury.

20th century

In 1909, the Gorings decided that they would also plant trees in the fort's interior. Large quantities of Romano-British pottery and building rubble were discovered during preparations for planting, prompting the first archaeological excavation of the hill fort. The two temples and a large number of artefacts were discovered. However, the planting has caused damage to the archaeology within the hill fort due to disturbances caused by tree roots.

In 1977, the Goring estate set about replanting areas of the ring to replace trees which were at the end of their natural lifespan. This provided West Sussex County Council with an opportunity to carry out a further archaeological investigation of the site, which was accomplished during July and August of that year. The replanted trees are only now beginning to restore the ring to its former glory.

Other features in the vicinity

Archaeological sites

right|thumb|A robbed-out round barrow near Chanctonbury Ring

Chanctonbury Ring comprises part of a closely associated group of archaeological sites on Chanctonbury Hill dating from the prehistoric, Roman and medieval periods. They are protected as scheduled monuments. While the eastern dyke is undated, the western dyke has been dated to the Roman period and represents an unusually late example of this type of structure.

A number of prehistoric barrows of the saucer and bowl type and hlaews or Saxon barrows are located in the vicinity of the fort, indicating the importance of the hilltop as a place of sacred and ritual activity for at least 2,000 years.

Three well-preserved saucer barrows and a pair of hlaews are located just to the south-east of Chanctonbury Ring and represent some of the rarest types of barrow, of which only a few dozen examples of each are known nationwide. The saucer barrows are undated but similar examples are known to date to between 1800-1200BC. Such barrows generally contain an inhumation or cremation burial with a few grave goods such as pottery, tools and personal accessories. Hlaews were built during Anglo-Saxon or Viking times for high-ranking individuals and consist of mounds generally built over graves dug into the soil below. The ones at Chanctonbury Ring have not yet been excavated.

There may be additional poorly preserved barrows in the vicinity of the hill fort. A topographical survey conducted by Mark Tibble has identified fourteen landscape features which may be previously unrecognised round barrows. Some barrows have certainly been lost to erosion or ploughing, as in the case of one about further west which was excavated in the 1950s before being destroyed. It was found to contain the skeletons of an adult female and a child and fragmentary remains of a third individual, as well as a fine example of an early Bronze Age Wessex culture dagger dating to around 1800–1500 BC. The story is widely known orally with variations (such as the Devil offering porridge or milk instead of soup) but may be of relatively recent origins, with its first known appearance in print dating to Arthur Beckett's 1909 book The Spirit of the Downs.

The Ring is also claimed to increase fertility in women who sleep underneath the trees for one night.

Access

There are two car parks at the base of the hill: to the north-east on Chanctonbury Ring Road off the A283 Washington Road, and to the west on Washington Bostal just off the A24 road. The hill is located just off the South Downs Way and enjoys extensive views to the north.

In popular culture

The ring features, along with the nearby town of Steyning (Starring in the book, the main protagonist attends a fictional girls' high school there), in the 1925 girls' school story Katharine Goes to School, by Winifred Darch. Chanctonbury serves as an atmospheric meeting place, and there is some mention of the legends surrounding it.

The album Chanctonbury Rings by Justin Hopper, Sharron Kraus and Belbury Poly, released on Ghost Box Records in 2019, contains prose and poetry detailing the geography and legends relating to the rings and its environs.

The ring and immediate area are the setting for The Sussex Downs Murder (1936) by John Bude and reprinted in the British Library Crime Classics.

The 2014 Album Tamatebako by Brighton-based band Cuz features a song The Wheel and the Ring which directly references Chanctonbury Ring.

Mervyn Stockwood, sometime Bishop of Southwark, subtitled his 1983 autobiography Chanctonbury Ring.

References