South Weald Camp

Although for a long time after the Iron Age, the Camp didn't have much use, in the medieval period the fort was used as part of a deer-park and then later used as a WWII training ground.

Lock and Ralston, in their Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland, describe South Weald Camp as a slight univallate hillfort lying 300 metres (980 ft) to the west of Calcott Hall Farm within South Weald Country Park.

Almost circular in plan it comprises a single bank and external ditch enclosing approximately 2.8 hectares (6.9 acres).

[2] The deer park at South Weald continued in use up to 1939; but sites to the north-west have been quarried for sand and gravel, very possibly to provide metalling construction materials for turnpikes or later roads.

The park became part of the land of Weald Hall, and there is evidence of widespread landscape gardening including, presumably, removal or flattening of some of the fort's ramparts.

In 1990, Essex County Council gave permission for a small research excavation to be undertaken on the western portion of the earthwork (Weald Country Park) under the general direction of Owen Bedwin, with day-to-day supervision by Steve Godbold and the writing of the report (and much of this article) Maria Medlycott.

[3][2] Post-war, the east of the site has been levelled to provide for a cricket pitch, and only slight landforms are still evident in the west.