Recent excavations at Taplow Court have revealed a long sequence of
activity stretching from the Mesolithic to the Anglo-Saxon period.
Mesolithic struck flints and charred hazelnuts, and early Neolithic
flints, were found in a small number of tree-throw holes. A group of
inter-cutting hollows or shallow pits of Early Bronze Age date included
sherds of Collared Urn and worked flint, rare evidence of domestic
activity of this period. There were also finds of the middle Bronze Age,
although no features of that phase were confirmed. In the late Bronze
Age, a defensible hilltop enclosure about 1.2 ha was constructed on the
site. The enclosure, probably first established in the 11th century cal
BC, had a complex sequence of defences including a pair of post-rows
possibly indicating a timber palisade backed by a raised walkway, a
trench-built palisade, a ditch and rampart and further posthole-lines
outside the ditch. Only a limited area of the interior was examined, but
includes a series of parallel fence lines, one probable roundhouse and
up to five possible four-post structures, with occupation extending into
the 9th century cal BC. Following a probable hiatus in activity
represented by a standstill deposit in the upper part of the ditch, a
larger U-profiled hillfort ditch was constructed in the Early Iron Age,
probably in the 5th century cal BC, the spoil being dumped over the
previous ditch to form a timber-laced rampart, which was soon after
destroyed in places by fire. The remains of the charred timbers within
the rampart have revealed some details of its construction. The ditch
however remained open into the Saxon period, and another internal
roundhouse may be Middle Iron Age. A third and even larger V-profiled
ditch was found outside the second ditch. Although the date of
construction of this outer ditch is uncertain, it too remained open into
the Saxon period, suggesting that the hillfort had many ditches its
later stages. Price is approximate.
