Circular Earthwork Enclosure, Harolds Bank
- HER Number (PRN): 03702
- Site Name : Circular Earthwork Enclosure, Harolds Bank
- Civil Parish:
- Grid Reference: SJ 4300 0300
- Brief Description: An impressive earthwork consisting of an arc shaped bank and ditch running around the top of a hill.
- Description: Circular earthwork, with an entrance, which surrounds the circular churchyard to the N of the church. It consists of a bank and possibly a silted up ditch, with an entrance. The earthwork may represent an earlier churchyard boundary, a field boundary following the curve of the churchyard or possibly some form of enclosure which preceded the construction of the church on the top of the hill. A sunken lane cutting through its western edge is called Harold's Bank, and may refer to the earthwork or the banks which form the sunken lane. <1>
The earthwork is impressive and consists of an arc shaped bank and ditch running around the top of a hill. It can be interpreted as a prehistoric enclosure / defended settlement, and I would not agree with N Stillman that it comprises an earlier boundary to the churchyard. Only an arc of the enclosure remains; to the east is a modern house and garden and to the west the Church Pulverbatch to Wrentnall road. The earthwork does not continue in the field on the other side of the road which has been ploughed. The ditch is just visible on the east side as a slight depression, and the height from bottom of the ditch to top of bank is c 1.3m to 1.5m. The ditch is at least 2m wide and the bank 3 to 5m wide. There is an entrance which may be original, and has been heavily eroded by cattle and wheeled vehicles. There are some humps in the interior, which may be natural, but one running along the west side could be an inner work of some kind. The condition of the monument is medium. It has suffered a fair amount of erosion from cattle tread, and wheeled vehicles through the entrance…W Horton FI 1991 <2>
Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, Medium score as one of 30 Upland Enclosures. <5>
Photographed during aerial photographic survey in 2009. <6>
Feature evident as a substantial earthwork on LiDAR imagery and on Google Earth imagery c.2010. <7><8>
Visited during a site visit in April 2017. Noted as in similar condition to <2>, with no visible further erosion. The possible further "inner work" recorded in 1991 was noted, at the western side of the feature. Harold's Bank, the sunken lane to the west drops away sharply at this point. Photographs in library link. <9> - Record Type: Monument
- Sources:
(00) Card index: Shropshire County Council SMR. Site and Monuments Record (SMR) cards. SMR record cards. SMR Card for PRN SA 03702. (01) Field survey report: Stillman N. 1980. Castle Pulverbatch - A Field Survey of a Motte and Bailey Earthwork in Shropshire. p13, p16 with sketch plan. (02) Field recording form: Horton Wendy B. 1991. Site Visit Form. SMR site visit form. (03) Photograph: Horton Wendy B. 1991-Jan. Harolds Bank, Church Pulverbatch. Colour. 35mm. (04) Oblique aerial photograph: Musson Chris R. 2000-Mar-05. CPAT 00/MB/2022. Black and White. Medium. (05) TEXT: Horton Wendy B. 1990/ 1991. MPP Evaluation File. (06) Oblique aerial photograph: Shropshire Council. 2009-Mar-19. SA0905_47 to SA0905_50 (4 photos) Flight: 09_SA_05. Colour. Digital. (07) Geospatial data: Environment Agency. LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) Digital Terrain Model (1m). (08) Aerial photograph: Google. Varied. Google Earth. digital. 2010 layer. (09) SMR comment: Carey Giles. 2014 onwards. Comments by Giles Carey, HER compiler in HER database. 06/04/2017. - Tags:
- Related Places:
- For more information contact: Shropshire Council HER
- Date Created: 03/06/1994
- Date Last Edited: 05/11/2018 13:32:29
