Goosehill Camp

Goosehill Camp is on the hillside and hidden within the woods of Kingley Vale lie the remains of an Iron Age settlement called Goosehill Camp. Long hidden in the woods these ancient remains have been protected from the plough. The camp was made up of two concentric banks and ditches which may have had fencing on top, creating an inner enclosure for the family and an outer one for their animals. In the central enclosure there were three round platforms, suggesting there may have been three roundhouses there. It was a small settlement, probably for just one family group of relatively high status who may not have lived there all year round. They may have only lived in the camp when their sheep flocks needed to be watched or protected – perhaps while they were lambing. When previously excavating one of the roundhouses, archaeologists discovered a collection of pebbles that once lay in a jar or basket. These pebbles might have been a store of ammunition for a slingshot – the weapon of choice to keep wolves and other intruders at bay, or for herding sheep on the South Downs. The views from Goosehill in 500 BC would have been spectacular, stretching right across the valley. On a fine day it would have been possible to see the Trundle hillfort, with its gleaming white chalk banks and colourful palisade, on the top of St Roche’s Hill. Goosehill is one of only a few well preserved examples on the South Downs of a wider Iron Age community that once occupied this area.