Billington Camp, Billington. Single rampart
Mowsbury Hillfort > Beds Hillforts
Billington Camp / Hillfort, earthworks no longer visable.
The centre of Great Billington is Billington Hill, on top of which is the small parish church. An Iron Age fort and settlement once occupied this site. The church was originally a small mediaeval chapel.
The banks of the earthwork were bulldozed down in 1959, and although the ground presents an uneven appearance, no recognisable features are apparent. The site is on level ground at the NE end of a short ridge.
Single rampart Iron Age enclosure on the crest of Billington Hill. A few trial cuts were made on the site in August 1958 by members of the Manshead Archaeological Society. All the cuts showed evidence of gravel digging and a feature of the spoil heaps was that they contained nothing later than the Roman period. However, without further excavation, it is not possible to say whether or not the gravel workings were in fact, Roman. A great amount of pottery was found and one flint hammer. Among the sherds were hand-made pots with flattened rims re-inforced with crushed flint and one piece carried an applied band in the Bronze Age tradition, suggesting perhaps an occupation that started early in the Iron Age. There were also samples of Belgae and Iron Age AB pottery. The latest pottery was a few Roman `pie-dishes' associated with fragments of Castor Ware.