Kelsborrow Castle
| Kelsborrow Castle | |
|---|---|
 The former ramparts of Kelsborrow Castle | |
  Location within Cheshire | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Iron Age hillfort |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 53°12′12″N 2°42′08″W / 53.2034°N 2.702097°W |
| Technical details | |
| Size | 9 acres (4 ha) |
Kelsborrow Castle is an
Location
Although there are over 1,300
hill forts in England, most are concentrated in southern England, and there are only seven in Cheshire.[4] Along with Eddisbury and Oakmere, Kelsborrow forms a small cluster of Iron Age hill forts within 3 miles (5 km) of each other, near the Mouldsworth Gap, a break in the central ridge that runs north–south through Cheshire. The hill forts at Eddisbury and Oakmere lie to the north-east and east respectively.[5] Kelsborrow Castle is located at grid reference SJ53176752, 400 ft (120 m) above sea level. The site overlooks the Cheshire Plain to the west, south-west, and south. There is high ground immediately to the east of Kelsborrow Castle, rising to a height of 500 ft (150 m).[6]
Layout
As well as being a hill fort, Kelsborrow Castle is a type of
one-phase site, indicating it would only have been used for a short time.[8] The hill fort is similar in typology to the hill forts at Bradley, and Oakmere, in Cheshire, and Castercliff and Portfield in Lancashire.[8]
Preservation and current state
storage pits buried within the hill fort. The site is part of wider agricultural land and suffers erosion from vehicles and livestock movement. Animal burrows and the spread of bracken also pose a threat to the site. Although the site is designated as "at low risk", a more recent survey has suggested changing it to "at high risk" because of activities such as ploughing at Kelsborrow Castle.[9] Five of the hill forts in Cheshire have been assessed as being "at high risk" compared to 15% of North West England's Scheduled Monuments.[10]
See also
- Scheduled Monuments in Cheshire (pre-1066)
References
Citations
- ^ a b Kelsborrow promontory fort on Castle Hill, Cheshire.gov.uk, retrieved 26 March 2009
- ^ a b Historic England. "Kelsborrow Castle (71310)". Research records (formerly PastScape). Retrieved 26 March 2009.
- ^ Historic England, "Kelsborrow promontory fort on Castle Hill 300m south west of Castle Hill Farm (1013294)", National Heritage List for England, retrieved 1 December 2012
- ^ Forde-Johnston (1962), pp. 13–14.
- ^ Forde-Johnston (1962), p. 14.
- ^ a b c Forde-Johnston (1962), p. 20.
- ^ Forde-Johnston (1962), p. 21.
- ^ a b Forde-Johnston (1962), p. 45.
- ^ Archaeological management issues: Kelsborrow Castle, Habitats & Hillforts Landscape Partnership Scheme, archived from the original on 25 March 2011, retrieved 9 July 2009
- ^ Archaeological management issues, Hillforts, archived from the original on 25 April 2012, retrieved 5 July 2009
Sources
- 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