This denuded hillfort is oval and encloses almost two acres. The defences comprise triple circuits of bank and ditch, with scarps representing outworks to the NE. The innermost bank is the slightest and may represent an earlier, univallate fort.
Category: Iron Age
Barry Hill Fort
‘The most prominent feature of this site is the ruin of a very large and strong wall, originally timber-laced and now partly vitrified, forming and enclosure of regular plan with parallel sides and semicircular ends, area about 0.2 hectares.
Cleave Dyke Defensive System
The Cleave dyke system is several Dykes which combine to create a boundary of between 9 and 18 kilometres running north south to the west of Thirsk.
Castle Steads Hill Fort
Castle Steads is a Hill-Side Enclosure, seemingly built without worry of threat from the upper slopes of the hill it is built on.
Castle Dykes Roman Villa
This earthwork was partially excavated in 1870, these revealed the foundations for a Roman villa of obvious opulence. It’s final Roman owners were believed to have suffered a grisly death as the villa burnt around them. It is likely that future excavations will reveal that the villa was built over of an earlier tribal centre. Probably replacing the shrine to the “Light Water” with a more Mediterranean alternative.
Tor Dyke
Tor Dyke appears to have been attributed to Venutius which dates it of the period AD 52 – 70. The presence of a legionary size marching camp a few miles to the southwest at Malham certainly indicates an active role in the Roman advance of AD 70. However, given the lack of published research so far a clear picture has yet to emerge.
Live Moor Hill Fort
“Whorlton, Live Moor, (NZ 496012) A previously unrecorded promontory fort was identified by D. Smith on air photographs and later surveyed by him and G. W. Goodall. A single rampart with external ditch extends across the west-facing spur of Live Moor to enclose an area of approximately 2 acres known as Knolls End.
Staple Howe West Hesterton
This small farmstead was established on top of the small chalk hills on the northern edge of the Yorkshire Wolds.
Roulston Scar Hill Fort
“”We were shocked to discover such a huge complex,” said Alastair Oswald, archaeological field investigator for English Heritage. Preliminary examinations of the remains suggest it was more than twice the size of most other prehistoric strongholds. Built of timber palisades and girdled by a 1.3 mile circuit of ramparts, 60 per cent of which are cut out of solid limestone, the fort has been provisionally dated at 400BC.
Stanwick Hill Fort
Stanwick is very close to the Scotch Corner junction of the A1, close to Darlington. From Scotch Corner, take the A66 towards Barnard Castle for a couple of miles then take the right turn towards Forcett. The road will take you past part of the defences, at which point a left turn will take you to Stanwick St John Church, which is a suitable starting point for any visit.
