Danes Bank, Coughton

1 A long rectangular mound crowning the top of Cappa Hill. It is like a gigantic barrow encompassed by a double rampart, terminating on the N side with 2 rectangular enclosures.
2 Plan.
3 The remains are now slight and disconnected but were strong when Burgess saw them. Described c 1784 as an old camp with deep ditches.
4 The earthwork was formerly known as La Trenche. On the earthwork are traces of a row of stakes which, it has been suggested, marked the E limit of the Royal Forest of Feckenham at some period and were used as a deer leap.
5 The posts were, according to the gamekeeper, 3.6m from the ditch on the SW side. Plainly a deer leap. The ditch being the boundary of Coughton Park and one of the possible boundaries of Feckenham Forest. Info from Miss Scrogg; taken from Chatwin’s map.
6 Scheduling reference.
7 There is nothing extant to warrant an archaeological association. It is an enclosed/banked area within the precincts of Coughton Park that has been used for major quarrying work, possibly of 17th – 18th century date. The two ‘highest points’ on Burgess’ plan are spoil/upcast ridges – his 2 rectangular enclosures are not traceable, and the ‘ravine with water’ is a deep quarry pit. Whether there was occupation on the hill prior to the industrial working cannot now be ascertained. The site is not particularly defensively strong, is very water-logged, and no record has been encountered re local archaeological finds. The site is now under thick bracken with light tree growth.
8 Scheduling description.
9 Scheduling map.