Details

The monument includes a roughly oval enclosure situated within an extensive
and well-preserved field system. The enclosure is situated in an elevated
position 0.5 km north of Yarnbury Castle hillfort. It is some 1.2 ha in area,
limited by a bank 4m wide and 1m high, and cut by a modern track. Considered
to be of Iron Age or Romano-British date, the enclosure may relate to pastoral
activity. The field system, which comprises the best surviving elements of a
wider complex, covers an area of nearly 40 ha. It includes a "flight" of low
lynchets or banks on the east-facing slope below the enclosure and limited to
the south-west by a ditch. The field system may relate to the use of the
enclosure or to the occupation of Yarnbury Castle.

MAP EXTRACT
The site of the monument is shown on the attached map extract.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

The most complete and extensive survival of downland archaeological
remains in central southern England occurs on Salisbury Plain,
particularly in those areas lying within the Salisbury Plain Training
Area. These remains represent one of the few extant archaeological
"landscapes" in Britain and are considered to be of special
significance because they differ in character from those in other areas
with comparable levels of preservation. Individual sites on Salisbury
Plain are seen as being additionally important because the evidence of
their direct association with each other survives so well.

Well preserved field systems particularly when in association with
boundary earthworks and potentially contemporary enclosures offer
valuable opportunities for understanding the nature and evolution of
downland settlement during the Prehistoric and Romano-British periods.
The Parsonage Down monument is of particular significance because of
its excellent preservation and its proximity to the Yarnbury Castle
hillfort.

Source: Historic England