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The Wolstonbury earthworks lie upon a prominent chalk outcrop, rising to a maximum height of 225m OD, projecting into the Weald from the main ridge of the South Downs. The site, which possesses commanding views of both the Downs and the Weald, but only a limited view of the coastal plain to the south, lies some 4km north of Brighton and 1.6km west of Clayton, in the parish of Pyecombe, West Sussex. |
Wolstonbury is owned and maintained by the National Trust. The site is presently a Scheduled Monument (English Heritage: West Sussex Monument number 34). Present ground conditions consist of grassland/pasture with a minimal to dense covering of scrub.
The main archaeological enclosure at Wolstonbury (enclosure C), survives
as an oval earthwork enclosing some 2.2 hectares. Two lesser earthworks
(A and B) have been recorded from within C. The earthworks are best preserved
at the north east and south western margins of the site, the interior,
and most of the north and southern perimeter, having been largely destroyed
by 18th - 19th century flint quarry pits.
The aim of the 1995 excavations was to help resolve the interpretational,
environmental and contextual problems regarding the three earthwork enclosures
recorded.