Bathampton Down

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Map sources for Bathampton Down at grid reference ST775652

Bathampton Down, is an early Medieval earthwork, just east of Bath in Somerset, England. The site is a flat plateau in a bend of the River Avon. The hill rises to a height of to 204 m.

The enclosure is roughly rectangular in shape, approximately 650 m (east-west) by 500 m (north-south). The eastern side needs no protection, because the ground falls away steeply to the River Avon, 170 m below. There is a single rampart and flat-bottomed ditch on the other three sides (univallate). The north and west ramparts are borrowed from the older Wansdyke, which leads eventually to Maes Knoll in the south-west, and also continues eastward into Wiltshire on the other side of the river. The Wansdyke passed out of use after being overrun by Saxons in 652 AD, and the enclosure must date from after this period.

Only the southern rampart was constructed to complete the enclosure. The total area is about 32 ha (80 acres), but there is no evidence of settlement within the site. The large perimeter and gentle slopes to the south mean it would be difficult to defend, so it is a generally thought to be an enclosure for animals, not a defended hill fort.

Several Bronze Age round barrows (tumuli) reported in or around the the site, have been destroyed, with little trace remaining above ground.

The area is now part of a golf course behind the University of Bath.