St Catherine's Hill fort

St Catherine's Hill is a splendid Iron Age hill fort, built on a chalk hill overlooking the ancient city of Winchester in the county of Hampshire England. Unusually for a hill fort, it is defended on the western side by the River Itchen and its water meadows. In this position, it guards the north-south route along the river. The hill, properly known as St Catherine's Hill, is 318 feet, or (97 m), high and approximately a mile south of the city.
The hill was once connected to Tyford down to the east, but has been cut off by the construction of the M3 motorway. The scars can be still seen around junction 11, the turn off to the A 3090, where the chalk still shines white.

The hill is currently owned by Winchester College and marks the western edge of the South Downs National Park. The hill also forms a part of the East Hampshire Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty or AONB. St Catherine's Hill has been designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest or SSSI and has become a nature reserve cared for by the Hampshire Wildlife Trust.

The Hill fort

The Hill fort now a Scheduled Ancient Monument was constructed in the Iron Age around 600-300 BC, as a single bank with ditch in front; the fort had an entrance at the southern and northern end. Although we do not know for sure the possible builders of the fort would have been the local tribe. At this time the principal tribe of the area were the Atrebates*, who at the time of the Roman invasion had a capital at Silchester.

The hill has a long history of use* lasting nearly 3,000 years. From the Iron Age, Roman, Anglo-Saxon. The fort appears to been abandoned by the original builders around the middle of the Iron Age 150-100 BC. So it appears this was another of the many hill forts that was never besieged during the Roman invasion.

But that's not all there is, although the fort has never been properly excavated however we do know that the forts builders appear to have built several round houses within the fort. The hill was then used as a Saxon cemetery after it was abandoned.

The finds that show the main periods of occupation were the Iron Age as shown by finds of pottery and a spindle whorl. The Iron Age homes were the typical round houses of the period* centered around the house of the headman or chief. The settlement would have been laid out with care with ordered lanes and paths allowing access to the homes. Livestock such as sheep and pigs were kept by individuals and so the round houses would have had pens to keep them from wandering. Storage houses for food have been seen around the site, grain would have been stored below ground in pits. The individual craftsmen would have carried out their work at their homes, however some trades such as metal working may have been practiced at the edge of the settlement or in sparsely settled areas for risk of fire. So in all living in a hill fort would have likely have been busy, noisy, not very private and probably by our standards smelly.

And later evidence of Roman activity is shown by pottery find and a coin, and a road that runs past the eastern side of the hill. There is also the of Roman city of Venta Belgarum 1000 meters to the north. Maybe Roman families came up to the hill to relax, picnic and let their children play.

Later the Anglo-Saxons placed a burials within the earthwork ditch as a fine Anglo-Saxon bowl was found in a grave in the forts ditch. During the Black Death of the 1660's, several plague pits were dug in the area to the west of the hill for the dead of Winchester and the surrounding area. In the 12th Century chapel was built near the center of the hill fort in honor of St. Catherine.

There is no known occupation after the Iron Age prior to the Civil War period, records then indicate the earthworks at the western end of the downs were used as a military camp by the Parliamentarian forces. Later between 1647 and 1710 a turf cut mizmaze, was made within the enclosure of the hill fort. In the center of the enclosure there is a copse of beech trees that mark the site of St.Catherine's chapel.

Olivers Battery¹

Olivers Battery also a Scheduled Ancient Monument dates back to the English Civil War and is specifically associated with Oliver Cromwell's siege of Winchester in 1645. Although there is no evidence that Cromwell ever visited the camp, a map of 1780 refers to the area as "Cromwell's Camp" and later maps show it as "Oliver Cromwell's Battery".

This ancient earthwork is at the western extremity of the downs is separated from St Catherine's Hill by the River Itchen, and may have provided a suitable campsite for the besieging Parliamentarian forces. It has been said that cannon of the period would have lacked the range to fire on Winchester Castle and city walls from the so-called battery site. However it has been stated in contemporary documents, that a standard field cannon of the period had an effective range of 1500 strides.
*
Today a stride is calculated to be 1 yard* this means a cannon placed on Olivers Battery, with a range of 1500 yards could easily reach to within 40 feet of the Cathedral.

*

That means 60% of the city was in range of the Parliamentary cannon. This threat of this would have caused panic in a town with mainly wooden framed buildings. This could be why the fort was given the name of Olivers battery and why has it stayed in local memory.

Later history of the Hill

During the centuries after the Civil War, Olivers battery was left as open downland grazed by sheep. Permanent settlements only appeared in the early years of the twentieth century with the establishment of a military camp around the site of Olivers Battery. During the First World War the army maintained an extensive Veterinary Hospital for horses. After the war, the camp was split up into small holdings with army huts being used as dwellings. Gradually, a community developed on the western bank of the Itchen as huts were replaced with houses and other homes were built.

Thankfully the eastern banks or the River Itchen have not been developed and St Catherine's Hill now marks the western edge of the South Downs National Park. And it also forms a part of an area designated the East Hampshire AONB (Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty). St Catherine's Hill has been declared a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) there are many butterflies that may be seen on the downs including the,

The Chalk Hill Blue,The Adonis Blue,The Common Blue,The Small Skipper,The Silver-spotted Skipper (Hesperia comma),The Small Heath,The Essex Skipper,The Meadow Brown, and the The Marbled White.

Walking

It is also a excellent area for walking as the long distance footpaths the The Clarendon Way from Winchester to Salisbury and the foot path over the M3 to the top of the Twyford Down and the ancient track way and earth works known as the The Dongas.
There are car parking areas near the hill however they are isolated and there is the possibility of theft, in quieter times so do take care.

It is also possible to walk up the hill fort from the footpath that follows the Itchen Navigation*. There is a wooden stair cut into the hillside allowing an easy climb to the top of the western side of the hill.

How to get to St Catherine's Hill Fort *

It is often difficult to find sites or points or interest mentioned, so map reference points are provided here relating to the text.

1. St Catherine's Hill Fort Hill fort, southern gate. --
   -- (51.04621,-1.310742)
2. Nearest car park --
   -- (51.050486,-1.306021)
3. Mizmaze* --
   -- (50.980446,-1.0858024)
4. Viking And Saxon Boat And Barrow Burials --
   -- (50.981466,-1.0909737)

Just copy and paste the numbers into a computer search or map search bar and it will take straight to the site indicated. It also works on some sat nav systems.