Laurie's Den

NT61SW 2 6326 1452.

Enclosure, Laurie's Den. On the crest of the slight ridge that runs NNE from Faw Hill in the direction of Laurie's Den plantation, and 100 yds NNE of spot-level 984, there are the remains of a rectangular enclosure with rounded angles measuring 185ft from NW to SE by 176ft from NE to SW over a single ditch and internal bank. The site has been levelled by cultivation, and at the time of visit lay partly under grass and partly under roots. On the SW side the bank measures up to 1ft in height and is spread to a thickness of 30ft, while the ditch is 6ft wide and only a few inches deep. Elsewhere the bank is even more reduced, but the ditch is traceable throughout except at the E angle, where the entrance appears to have been situated. The N and S quarters of the interior are almost completely occupied by two large quasi-circular scoops, while there is a smaller circular scoop in the W quarter. Two of these scoops have been used as water-holes for cattle, and the earthwork, which is not in a defensive position, may simply be a mediaeval stock-pen.

RCAHMS 1956, visited 20 August 1947.

NT 6326 1452 Generally as described by the RCAHMS although the enclosure may have consisted of double banks with a medial ditch. The interior has been much disturbed by surface-quarrying (which also occurs elsewhere on the ridge), so that the three scoops mentioned by the RCAHMS may well be the result of quarrying.

Surveyed at 1/2500.

Visited by OS(WDJ) 22 February 1967.