Desborough Castle is an Iron Age hill fort which lies on the southern side of the valley of the River Wye in Buckinghamshire, which runs through the Chiltern Hills from The Ridgeway and Vale of Aylesbury to the river Thames.
| Desborough Castle | |
|---|---|
| Buckinghamshire, England | |
 Desborough Castle (centre), seen from the air | |
  Desborough Castle | |
| Coordinates | 51°37′56″N 0°46′39″W / 51.6321°N 0.7776°W |
| Grid reference | grid reference SU847933 |
| Type | Hill fort and ringwork castle |
| Site information | |
| Condition | Earthworks remain |
| Website | buckinghamshire.gov.uk |
| Designations | |
Details
editDesborough Castle consists of a Norman ringwork, partly overlying a mound, possibly a barrow reused as a Saxon moot. Both lie within a square enclosure, possibly an Iron Age or Late Bronze Age settlement or stock enclosure.
This valley has always been an important communication route, and has had a known trackway running through since the Bronze Age. The fort lies within what is these days a landscaped grass area, just below the Castlefield council estate and looks over High Wycombe.
Listing
editDesborough Castle was listed in 1933 by the Office of Works as a scheduled monument dues to its importance as an archaeological site.[1] The site suffers from frequent vandalism and fly tipping, and in 2020 Historic England added the castle to its Heritage at Risk Register due to "major localised problems".[2][3]
See also
editReferences
editCitations
edit- ^ Historic England. "Desborough Castle (1020863)". National Heritage List for England.
- ^ Fisher, Charlotte. "Historic Wycombe castle suffers years of vandalism and fly tipping". Greatest Hits Radio (Bucks, Beds and Herts). Retrieved 9 February 2021.
- ^ "Desborough Castle - Buckinghamshire (UA) | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Historic England. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
Sources
edit- A History of the County of Buckingham - Parishes: West Wycombe. Vol. 3. 1925. pp. 135–40. Retrieved 9 February 2021.
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