51.13255, -1.801616
From 2008 – 2010 Wessex Archaeology have been providing Chemring Countermeasures with archaeological services in advance of construction of a new range of industrial buildings to comply with a condition of planning permission.
The site is situated on a hilltop at Highpost, to the north of Salisbury, and previous small scale works had suggested that a hilltop settlement had partially survived on the site. Wessex Archaeology supplied a staged approach to the archaeology comprising heritage consultancy, geophysical survey, trial trench evaluation, excavation and post-excavation services. Each stage of the work was agreed in close consultation with Wiltshire County Council’s County Archaeology team on behalf of the client. We are currently completing the analysis and preparing a report on the results for publication.
The works confirmed the presence of the settlement which dates to the Iron Age period. The settlement was surrounded by a substantial enclosure and the internal elements comprised a large quantity of pits containing evidence of domestic, industrial and ritual activity. This activity appeared to extend into the Romano-British period. The analysis works, which are currently ongoing, will contribute to the wider regional understanding of the nature of prehistoric hilltop settlements.
