Abingdon, Serpenhills

Has been described as a Questionable Timber Castle (Other/Unknown), and also as a Questionable Linear Defence or Dyke

There are no visible remains

NameAbingdon, Serpenhills
Alternative NamesShippon; Northcourt
Historic CountryBerkshire
Modern AuthorityOxfordshire
1974 AuthorityOxfordshire
Civil ParishAbingdon

Traces of a bank and ditch c. 390' long extend along a footpath leading to Radley, on the N. side of a large field opposite the turn to Northcourt, on the upper Oxford Road, near Abingdon. Much slighter traces of a bank extend for the same distance on the east side, but nothing was visible on the other two sides. The site is comparable with the unfinished Park Wood intrenchments at Hampstead Norris (SU 57 NW 14) and it fits the position, described by Leland, of an earthwork called 'Serpenhill'. All traces of this earthwork have been destroyed by a housing estate. (PastScape–ref. Huntingford)

Gatehouse Comments

Serpenhil is clearly a corruption of Serpent hill – showing the linear nature of the work in Leland's time. Leland reports this as the site of C9 battle between the Saxons and the Danes and called it the remains of camp trenches. However, Huntingford recorded this as one a several linear earthworks crossing the line of pre-historic and Saxon routeways, and this is a more probably function. Its recorded form, as a linear bank and ditch, is not at all suggestive of a castle, despite being listed by King, and it is unlikely to have had any use after 1000CE.

- Philip Davis

Not scheduled

Not Listed

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s)
County Historic Environment Record
OS Map Grid ReferenceSU503984
Latitude51.6822090148926
Longitude-1.27304005622864
Eastings450380
Northings198420
HyperLink HyperLink HyperLink

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Books

  • King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 13

Antiquarian

  • Chandler, John, 1993, John Leland's Itinerary: travels in Tudor England  (Sutton Publishing) p. 35
  • Toulmin-Smith, Lucy (ed), 1910, The itinerary of John Leland in or about the years 1535-1543 (London: Bell and Sons) Vol. 5 p. 76 online copy

Journals

  • Huntingford, G.W.B., 1936, 'The Ancient Earthworks of North Berkshire' Berkshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 40 p. 164-5 download copy