Portingbury Hills

Portingbury Hills or Portingbury Rings is a hill in Hatfield Forest, Hatfield Broad Oak, Essex [1]. Archaeological excavations were carried out in 1964–1965, with recovered evidence including a small flint blade 4 cm long, animal bones, flints, and charcoal, dated to the Iron Age [1]. The earthworks at Portingbury consist of 3 features; a hill and mound connected by a zig-zag causeway formed by 2 almost parallel ditches to another rectangular enclosure measuring 30 by 21 metres surrounded by a large ditch with a suggested bank up to 11 metres wide [1]. They are located in the northwest of Hatfield Forest in Beggarshall coppice [1]. Archaeologists suggested that the initial ditch surrounding the mound would have been approximately 2 metres in depth suggesting it once had earth ramparts supported by timber [1]. However the earthworks are too small to be a hillfort and are not in a defensible position [1].