Excavations at South Cadbury Castle, 1968: A Summary Report

Summary

Continued excavations at South Cadbury in July-August 1968 discovered Early Neolithic pottery and flints beneath the Iron Age ramparts and thereby hinted at a 20-acre embanked settlement. Four or five structural phases were revealed in the Iron Age ramparts themselves, the first a timber-revetted bank, the second a stone-faced wall, and the later ones more indeterminate. Within the defences storage-pits, circular houses, and a possible shrine were explored. Wall-trenches for a prefabricated rectangular building may mark a brief Roman military occupation, and the trench for one wall of a probable fifth—sixth century A.D. building was also discovered. Examination of the later phases of the south-west gate showed that a well-built Æthelredan entrance had been savagely slighted, probably under Cnut, and had then been overlaid by a crude drystone gate. Finally, on the summit was found a rock-cut foundation trench of the twelfth or thirteenth century, apparently for a projected castle.