Stanwick Iron Age Hill Fort This note describes a partial perimeter walk of the largest hill fort in England. This walk covers some six miles and takes in the major extend of the fort and covers the two stages in it’s development. Location:: O/S 1:50,000 map 92 ref, 178123 Stanwick is very close to the …
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Sep 30
Maiden Castle, Pooley Bridge, Cumbria
Maiden Castle – Pooley Bridge, Cumbria A superbly circular “fort”, built on the side of the hill, which seems to be a Brigantian fashion (see below). This is built with two rampart walls and a very narrow ditch between – 1-2m. If these were defences, they seem pretty slight. In it’s way, a miniature version …
Sep 29
Dunmallard Hill, Cumbria
Dunmallard Hill – Pooley Bridge, Cumbria Dunmallard Hill, shrouded in trees, hides a true hill-fort. It uses the steed slopes of the hill to good effect, adding to the defence with a deep ditch and rampart within. The ramparts are up to 10m in height from the base of the ditch, which is still 2-3m …
Sep 29
Roulston Scar, North Yorkshire
Roulston Scar – Thirsk “”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 …
Sep 28
Maiden Castle, Reeth, North Yorkshire
Maiden Castle – Reeth For over five hundred years, the miners and smelters of Reeth produced mountains of precious lead. The lead ores from Reeth had high concentrations of Silver, Lead itself became and important ingredient in bronze. Maiden Castle, deep in the Swaledale lead mining territory a unique piece of Iron Age architecture. It …
Sep 28
Scoles Coppice, South Yorkshire
Scoles Coppice Little is known about the camp at Scholes Coppice, but it’s small size and proximity to Roman Rig mean it could well have been used as a patrol fort for the Roman Rig defense. This is the 1850’s os map showing Scoles Coppice camp, the Roman Rig dyke runs a few hundred meters …
Sep 28
Mam Tor, Peak District, Derbyshire
Mam Tor – Dark Peak, Derbyshire Mam Tor, seen from the east. Plan of Mam Tor “despite is unusually high position, this fort contains traces of a number of huts, and on investigation these have yielded plentiful pottery, as well as charcoal giving a surprisingly early radio carbon date. The defense is single dump …
Sep 28
Live Moor, Whorlton, North Yorkshire
Live Moor – Whorlton – North Yorkshire Moors “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 …
Sep 28
Staple Howe, West Hesterton, North Yorkshire
Staple Howe – West Hesterton, North Yorkshire “This small farmstead was established on top of the small chalk hills on the northern edge of the Yorkshire Wolds. The chosen site was a good defensive position with a level oval shaped platform about 54.7m long and 12.2m wide. A timber stockade encircled the site which at …
Sep 28
Sutton Common, Doncaster, South Yorkshire
Sutton Common – Doncaster Sutton Common is an early Iron Age fort/enclosure site just north of Doncaster, A key feature of this “marsh fort” is that it seems to use the surrounding marsh land as part of its defence – a twist on the more common hill fort. A further point of interest is the …