CROFT AMBREY, AYMESTREY ... - English Heritage

of the boundary earthwork was explained as the new 'rampart' changing direction in
order to utilise the old 'plateau camp rampart' part way along its course. (Stanford 1974,
25). Why only part of the complex should be enlarged was not explained. If Stanford's
interpretation is correct, however, it implies that the former enclosure would have been
even more long and thin than the existing one. It is not merely a case of the builders
utilizing a contour for the line of the earthworks, as the course of the earthwork rises
obliquely across the contour to reach the level of the 'extension'. Little is gained in terms
of land enclosed; the 'extension' is just 80m long and 30m wide, or less if the internal
quarry ditch is taken into account. Equally no evidence was forthcoming of an earlier bank
that formerly cut straight across from the dog-leg to the escarpment edge which would
have allowed the 'extension' to be considered as a later attachment.
Figure 17 Interpretation plot depicting the components of the main enclosure boundaries.
Dark grey = ditches or ledges and light grey = banks.
The nature of the east entrance is not easily understood. Stanford excavated extensively
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