Merdon Castle Site up to 1441
Earliest History
Before the development of the Hursley Park House site (in 1413) the area’s dominance came from the site of Merdon on which stood, at various times, a hill fort, a manor and village, and later a castle. This site is about 0.62 miles (1 km) due north of the present Park House.
The Merdon Castle site is likely to have been inhabited from prehistoric times, though food- questing Palaeolithic man left few obvious traces of his nomadic existence. Although Neolithic artefacts are easily overlooked against a background of abundant natural flint, two Acheulian (of the Palaeolithic period in Europe) hand axes were found in the area in 1969. However, right before our eyes exists undeniable proof that the Bronze Age ‘Beaker’ folk (immigrants from the continent with their distinctive beaker pottery) lived here as a settled community from about 2,000 years BC, and possibly earlier. Their burial mounds, round barrows, can be seen today in the park; these are marked as ‘tumuli’ on Ordnance Survey maps.
The name Merdon implies a fortification of the ancient Britons, those Celtic inhabitants who saw the Romans arrive and depart. The imaginative Celts usually chose both personal and place names with descriptive aptitude. ‘Mere-dun’ - the ‘fort of the mire’ - could not have been more opposite, unless it related to boggy land 1 mile (1.6 km) to the south. The ‘Dun’ part of the name signifies a fortified place, though ‘Mer’ (or Mere) is less certain, probably referring to the meres or mires that the topography has indicated to have surrounded much of the cleared upland slopes at that time. Another possibility is that it is a later prefix (signifying a defended ‘march’ or boundary), which has supplanted or is a corruption of an earlier name.
The fort’s position on a chalk hill would not have let it retain for long any rainwater for a moat, yet its earthen ramparts and deep ditch with a thorn and bramble barrier backed up by stout palings (substantial posts with pointed tops butted against each other) provided a good inner line of defence. On the southern side was the supporting agricultural land and probably cattle enclosures with ditches and earth banks with some sort of paling fence on top, with the mires way beyond - a useful outer line of defence to deter invasion on that side of the fort. This was typical of hill forts of the period. This land on the southern side was developed into a deer park of some note by 1500.
The benefits of such a substantial and secure site would have ensured continuous habitation for a population of about seventy. This Iron Age fort enclosed about ten acres (3.7 hectares), and if size can be related to importance, then this was a fort of some significance. Its deep ditches backed up by high earth banks, extending to over 2,500 feet (760 m) in length, show the investment in time and effort. Only a proper archaeological excavation can reveal the original depth of the ditches and height of the defence banks. The present day excellence of what are substantial banks and ditches may be by courtesy of the builders of the Norman castle, who could have enhanced this outer Iron Age ring to double their defences on their more vulnerable sides.
Today these banks are up to 16 feet (5 metres) in height, and so the question of later enhancement has to be taken into account.
It is very probable that the site had the character of a fortified ‘family-tribe’ farm for most of the Iron Age period, and may have retained this through Roman times. Through the pre-Roman period the dwellings would have been renovated or rebuilt several times, and probably included a chief’s house or hall surrounded by many smaller dwellings. There would have been grain pits, small barns and the well, which may have been roofed over. From the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles it is safe to assume that the site was both inhabited and an important fortified village through the 600 years of Saxon occupation. (Merdon is today listed as one of the lost villages of Hampshire, along with neighbouring Silkstead and Farley Chamberlain.)
How the site developed is debatable, but it might have been used later as a ready—made strategic position by the Romans. As the site has never been excavated, the proof of Roman, and the extent of Saxon, habitation has yet to be verified, although excavation of the site might not prove very informative, because construction of the Norman castle (earth works and buildings) would have obliterated much of the evidence of earlier occupation. The only hope of finding Saxon evidence lies in the 1.5 acre (0.6 hectares) area between the Norman earth works and the Iron-Age ring on the east side of the site, and a narrower strip on the west side. Within a few miles of the site there are the remains of Roman villas, and 0.62 miles (1 km) to the south of Merdon, the Park House site has yielded some Roman coins and one significant Saxon silver penny, as tantalising evidence of man’s past involvement.