Mellor hill fort
Mellor hill fort | |
---|---|
General information | |
Architectural style | Iron Age |
Town or city | Mellor, Greater Manchester |
Country | England |
Coordinates | 53°23′49″N 2°01′37″W / 53.396926°N 2.027073°W |
Technical details | |
Size | c. 1 ha (2.5 acres) (inner enclosure)[1] |
Mellor hill fort is a prehistoric site in
Location
Mellor lies on the western edge of the Peak District in the
Background
Until the 19th century little was known about
The study of hill forts was popular in the 19th century, with a revival in the 20th century due to excavations at Danebury.[7] However, it was not until the 1990s that the settlement at Mellor was discovered; the site had a lack of tell-tale earthworks, such as a circular ditch (which would indicate ancient activity).[8] Excavations began in 1998 where unusual marks had been noted in 1995 during a drought. Instead of the medieval ditch the marks were thought to denote, the ditch of an Iron Age hill fort was revealed.[9] Before these excavations began, relatively little was known about the prehistory of the Stockport area before about 1,200 BC.[10] It was generally thought that the areas of Marple and Mellor had been mostly untouched by prehistoric human activity, including during the Romano-British period.[9] Little is known about Iron Age activity in North West England as pottery is rare on the sites excavated in the region, and there is a dearth of settlement sites. Of the more than 1,300 hill forts found in England,[11] relatively few are in the northwest. The paucity of known sites led archaeologist Colin Haselgrove to describe the region as a "black hole" for the Iron Age.[12] Mellor is the only hill fort in Greater Manchester, and one of four known Iron Age settlement sites in the county.[13]
History
There is evidence of human activity on the site pre-dating the Iron Age, as far back as 8,000–6,000 BC. During this period Mellor may have been a
A flint dagger was discovered on the site. This type of artefact is rare in Greater Manchester; the nearest comparable site is in Saddleworth. Its presence has been taken as an indication that during the Bronze Age the site was used for funerary practices. Many of the hills near Mellor are surmounted by Bronze Age funerary monuments such as Brown Low, Shaw Cairn, and Werneth Low, supporting the possibility that Mellor was also a funerary site.[14] Also dating from the Bronze Age and found at Shaw Cairn was a rare high-status amber necklace.[15] Amber does not occur naturally in Britain – the nearest source is the Baltic. It would have been traded over long distances. The necklace was discovered as part of a 4,000‑year‑old burial.[16]
The hill fort was built in and used throughout the Iron Age, as demonstrated by finds from the site which span the period.[18] Occupants lived in roundhouses, and habitation of the site was spread over a long period. In common with many other hill forts, the site was probably divided into separate areas for habitation, industry, and agricultural activities such as storage, although the layout of these areas changed over time.[19] Excavations indicate that the area enclosed by the inner ditch was used mainly for habitation, while the area between the inner and outer ditches was agricultural. The separation was not necessarily fixed as some of the outer area shows signs that it was used as a living space.
The
Investigation
With sites such as Danebury where there is no modern habitation or built environment, extensive excavations can be undertaken to establish the general layout. The modern settlement of Mellor extends over the Iron Age hill fort, which restricts archaeological investigation. A geophysical survey was performed to establish the extent of the settlement; methods such as magnetometry and ground-penetrating radar were successful in identifying the eastern and northern sections of the ditch encircling the site. Excavations have been concentrated around the Old Vicarage. By 2004 there were 43 trenches, 14 trial trenches, and 17 test pits.[8] The investigation of the site has revealed two ditches. While the external ditch encloses a larger area, it has smaller dimensions than the internal ditch.
The chronological relation between the two ditches is uncertain.
The outer ditch is 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) wide and 1.4 m (4 ft 7 in) deep, and like the inner ditch was cut in the local bedrock.
The archaeological excavations that have been undertaken since 1998 are funded by
See also
- Brown Low – an Early Bronze Age funerary monument 2 km (1 mi) north of Mellor
- Castlesteads, Greater Manchester – an Iron Age promontory fort in Bury
- Mam Tor – Iron Age hill fort about 20 mi (32 km) away in Derbyshire
References
- Notes
- ^ Nevell & Redhead (2005), p. 50.
- ^ Historic England, "Monument No. 1344612", Research records (formerly PastScape), retrieved 8 May 2009
- ^ Nevell & Redhead (2005), p. 11.
- ^ Nevell & Redhead (2005), p. 18.
- ^ Cunliffe (1983), p. 11.
- ^ Cunliffe (1983), pp. 12–13.
- ^ Cunliffe (1983), p. 12.
- ^ a b c d Nevell & Redhead (2005), p. 20.
- ^ a b The story of the site, Mellor Archaeological Trust, retrieved 16 May 2009 [dead link]
- ^ a b Nevell & Redhead (2005), p. 49.
- ^ Forde-Johnston (1962), pp. 13–14.
- ^ Hodgson & Brennand (2006), p. 51.
- ^ a b Nevell & Redhead (2005), p. 52.
- ^ The possibility of its being a stray find is unlikely as it is a high-status object. Nevell & Redhead (2005), pp. 21–22.
- ^ "Shaw Cairn". Mellor Archaeological Trust. Retrieved 7 April 2024.
- ^ Bronze age necklace unearthed, University of Manchester, 1 December 2008, archived from the original on 7 March 2016
- ^ Rare Bronze Age necklace is found, BBC Online, 1 December 2008, retrieved 16 May 2009
- ^ a b c Nevell & Redhead (2005), pp. 23–24.
- ^ Nevell & Redhead (2005), pp. 29–30.
- ^ Nevell & Redhead (2005), pp. 32–33.
- ^ Nevell & Redhead (2005), p. 33.
- ^ Philpott (2006), p. 74.
- ^ Nevell & Redhead (2005), p. 22.
- ^ Nevell & Redhead (2005), p. 24.
- ^ Nevell & Redhead (2005), p. 25.
- ^ Hodgson & Brennand (2006), p. 56.
- ^ a b c Nevell & Redhead (2005), p. 26.
- ^ Iron Age roundhouses, Mellor Archaeological Trust, retrieved 22 May 2009 [dead link]
- ^ Open days, Mellor Archaeological Trust, archived from the original on 5 September 2008, retrieved 22 May 2009
- Bibliography
- ISBN 0-7134-0998-3
- Forde-Johnston, James (1962), "The Iron Age Hillforts of Lancashire and Cheshire", Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society, 72: 9–46
- Hodgson, John; Brennand, Mark (2006), Brennand, Mark (ed.), "The Prehistoric Period Resource Assessment", Archaeology North West, 8: 23–58, ISSN 0962-4201
- Nevell, Mike; Redhead, Norman, eds. (2005), Mellor: Living on the Edge. A Regional Study of an Iron Age and Romano-British Upland Settlement, ISBN 0-9527813-6-0
- Philpott, Robert (2006), "The Romano-British Period Resource Assessment", Archaeology North West, 8: 59–90, ISSN 0962-4201
External links
- Mellor Heritage Project run by the Mellor Archaeological Trust