Chanctonbury Ring is an Iron Age hillfort on the South Downs scarp in West Sussex, within whose univallate enclosure two Romano-Celtic temples were constructed, active from the later 1st century AD through the 3rd or 4th century. The principal temple was a polygonal (effectively rectangular) cella structure, with a second, unusual D-shaped or apsidal building nearby, suggesting a rural cult focus rather than a major civic sanctuary.
Source: Pleiades — A Community-Built Gazetteer and Graph of Ancient Places. View the Pleiades record →
Sited on a prominent downland summit visible across the Weald and coastal plain, the temples represent the Romanisation of a pre-existing sacred or strategic place, paralleling other hilltop sanctuaries such as Lancing Down and Harrow Hill in Sussex. It points to continuity of indigenous religious practice under Roman administration, serving a dispersed rural population in the territory of the Regni.
Excavations by Mitchell in 1909 and more systematically by Owen Bedwin and the Sussex Archaeological Society in 1977 and 1988–91 (following the 1987 storm which felled the beech clump) revealed flint and mortar foundations, painted wall plaster, tesserae, and a notable assemblage of pig and boar bones and teeth, hinting at a possible cult association with a boar deity. Finds included coins spanning the 1st–4th centuries, brooches, and votive items, confirming sustained use throughout the Roman
Chanctonbury Ring is an Iron Age hillfort on the South Downs scarp in West Sussex, within whose univallate enclosure two Romano-Celtic temples were constructed, active from the later 1st century AD through the 3rd or 4th century. It is recorded in the Pleiades gazetteer of ancient places as a temple site from the Roman period in Britain.
Chanctonbury Ring hillfort and Romano-Celtic temples is classified as a Roman temple — a religious site in the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer. Roman Britain's archaeology encompasses thousands of sites ranging from legionary fortresses and marching camps to villas, temples and towns.
Several Roman sites lie within a short distance, including Section of Roman road north of Rock (3.4 km), Regular aggregate field system with prehistoric and Romano-British farmsteads and a Bronze Age bowl barrow on Park Brow (3.5 km), Roman building 200yds (180m) NW of Spring Copse (3.9 km). Aubrey Research maps over 2,200 Roman sites across Britain, drawn from the Pleiades ancient world gazetteer.
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Research the area around Chanctonbury Ring hillfort and Romano-Celtic temples