Eddisbury hill fort
Eddisbury hill fort | |
---|---|
General information | |
Architectural style | Iron Age hill fort |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 53°13′13″N 2°40′13″W / 53.220214°N 2.670175°W |
Technical details | |
Size | 7 acres (28,000 m2) interior 15.5 acres (63,000 m2) including defences |
Designated | 17 December 1934 |
Reference no. | 1013295[1] |
Eddisbury hill fort, also known as Castle Ditch, is an
Background
Hill forts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC.[2] The reason for their emergence in Britain, and their purpose, has been a subject of debate. It has been argued that they could have been military sites constructed in response to invasion from continental Europe, sites built by invaders, or a military reaction to social tensions caused by an increasing population and consequent pressure on agriculture. The dominant view since the 1960s has been that the increasing use of iron led to social changes in Britain. Deposits of iron ore were located in different places to the tin and copper ore necessary to make bronze, and as a result trading patterns shifted and the old elites lost their economic and social status. Power passed into the hands of a new group of people.[3] Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe believes that population increase still played a role and has stated "[the forts] provided defensive possibilities for the community at those times when the stress [of an increasing population] burst out into open warfare. But I wouldn't see them as having been built because there was a state of war. They would be functional as defensive strongholds when there were tensions and undoubtedly some of them were attacked and destroyed, but this was not the only, or even the most significant, factor in their construction".[4]
Location and layout
Although there are over 1,300
History
There is evidence of
In the late 1st century AD, the hill fort was destroyed (
Eddisbury was
The site has been assessed as being "at high risk" due to ploughing on the site, causing erosion.[14] Five of Cheshire's seven hill forts have been assessed as being "at high risk" compared to 15% of North West England's Scheduled Monuments.[17] Although the western and northern parts of Eddisbury are owned by the Forestry Commission, the rest of the site is part of Old Pale Farm.[14]
In fiction
Eads Byrig is a burh that is fought over in Bernard Cornwell's novel Warriors of the Storm.
See also
- Hillforts in Britain
- List of hill forts in England
- Scheduled Monuments in Cheshire (pre-1066)
References
- Notes
- ^ a b Historic England, "Eddisbury hillfort east of Old Pale Farm (1013295)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 1 December 2012
- ^ Payne, Corney & Cunliffe 2007, p. 1.
- ^ Sharples 1991, p. 71–72.
- ^ Time Team: Swords, skulls and strongholds, Channel 4, 19 May 2008, retrieved 16 June 2009
- ^ Forde-Johnston 1962, p. 13–14.
- ^ a b c d e Forde-Johnston 1962, p. 23.
- ^ a b c d e Historic England. "Castle Ditch (71146)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 25 September 2018.
- ^ a b "Iron Age hillfort at Eddisbury", Revealing Cheshire's Past, Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester councils, retrieved 25 September 2018
- ^ Forde-Johnston 1962, p. 25.
- .
- ^ "Post medieval quarrying at Eddisbury", Revealing Cheshire's Past, Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester councils, archived from the original on 20 February 2012, retrieved 25 September 2018
- ^ "Early Saxon activity at Eddisbury". Revealing Cheshire's Past. Cheshire East and Cheshire West and Chester councils. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
- ^ Sharp, Tony (2013). "The Foundation of the Chester Burh in the Tenth Century: When and by Whom?". Retrieved 25 September 2018.
- ^ a b c Archaeological management issues: Eddisbury, Habitats & Hillforts Landscape Partnership Scheme, archived from the original on 25 February 2012, retrieved 25 September 2018 Alt URL
- ^ Forde-Johnston 1962, p. 26.
- ^ Eddisbury Hill: the reconstructed eastern entrance (on-site notice), Habitats and Hillforts Project, 2010
- ^ Archaeological management issues, Habitats & Hillforts Landscape Partnership Scheme, archived from the original on 29 August 2012, retrieved 25 September 2018
- Bibliography
- Forde-Johnston, James (1962), "The Iron Age Hillforts of Lancashire and Cheshire", Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 72: 9–46
- Payne, Andrew; Corney, Mark; Cunliffe, Barry (2007), The Wessex Hillforts Project: Extensive Survey of Hillfort Interiors in Central Southern England, English Heritage, ISBN 978-1-873592-85-4
- Sharples, Niall M (1991), English Heritage Book of Maiden Castle, London: B. T. Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-6083-0
Further reading
- Varley, William Jones (1936), "Recent investigations into the origins of Cheshire hill-forts", Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 51: 51–59
- Varley, William Jones (1950), "Excavations of the castle ditch, Eddisbury, 1935–1938", Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire, 102: 1–68