LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Tees 65 (None)
NMR: NZ 51 NE 6 (27513)
SM: 1011273
NGR: NZ 56759 18267
X: 456759 Y: 518267 (OSGB36)
Occupying high ground on the rocky promontory at Eston Nab and overlooking the Tees Valley and the river mouth, a univallate fort of 1.1ha. It measures 250m EW by 120m transversely and is situated on the steep, N-facing scarp edge of the nab. The fort has a semi-circular defensive bank and ditch with a counterscarp bank externally in the S. This post-dates two successive palisaded enclosures, the foundation slots of which survive as buried features. Excavations have shown that the rampart was constructed from earth banked up against a drystone boulder wall (Elgee 1927-9). A simple break in the SE is considered to be the original entrance with another possibly in the SW. Within the interior is a least one roundhouse and lines of stones which have been interpreted as hearths. The site is well preserved, and has undergone a number of excavations with environmental evidence for late Bronze Age settlement and for vegetation clearance preceding the construction of the 5th century rampart. Recorded on 1885-1900 1st Ed OS mapping.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -125108 Y: 7276260 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -1.1238676121177362 Latitude: 54.556481223992854 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England; None
Current County or Unitary Authority: North Yorkshire
Historic County: Yorkshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Guisborough
Suffers damage from unauthorised vehicles and heathland fires. On Heritage at Risk Register (2015).
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Aerial imagery suggests the land is under scrub.
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✗ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✓ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
A contour fort situated at 242m OD on a steep, N-facing scarp edge
| Contour Fort | ✓ |
| Partial Contour Fort | ✗ |
| Promontory Fort | ✗ |
| Hillslope Fort | ✗ |
| Level Terrain Fort | ✗ |
| Marsh Fort | ✗ |
| Multiple Enclosure Fort | ✗ |
| Hilltop | ✗ |
| Coastal Promontory | ✗ |
| Inland Promontory | ✗ |
| Valley Bottom | ✗ |
| Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop | ✗ |
| Ridge | ✗ |
| Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp | ✓ |
| Hillslope | ✗ |
| Lowland | ✗ |
| Spur | ✗ |
Dominant Topographic Feature: Steep N-facing scarp edge on Eston Nab
| North | ✓ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✓ |
| Northwest | ✓ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: 242.0m
Union and Urban District Boundary shown running through the E of the enclosure on historic OS mapping
Boundary Type: Other
Excavation suggests two successive late Bronze Age palisaded enclosures, probably with associated settlement preceded the construction of the hillfort proper. In the early 5th century a ditch and rampart comprising a boulder wall and banked earth was constructed on a larger circuit than the palisade enclosure.
Reliability: B - Medium
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✓ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✓ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✓ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
| Artefactual: | Bronze Age |
| Artefactual: | Mesolithic and Neolithic |
On 1st Ed OS map (1885-1900). General reference in Elgee (1930). Field investigation in 1967. Excavations (1927-9, 1966-8 and 1985-7) produced Mesolithic and Neolithic flintwork and evidence for one or more Bronze Age barrows prior to the construction of the hillfort. There is environmental evidence for late Bronze Age settlement and for vegetation clearance preceding the Iron Age rampart (Vyner 1988). Scheduled
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1930): | None |
| Other (1952): | Scheduled |
| Excavation (1953): | Ostridge, J. |
| Other (1967): | Field investigation |
| Excavation (1987): | Vyner, B.E. and CCAJ |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (None): | OS one inch |
| Excavation (None): | Elgee F. |
| Excavation (None): | Aberg, A. |
Excavation shows at least one roundhouse and two lines of stones 30m long and 90cm apart which have been interpreted as hearths. Surface evidence - a low, stone walled enclosure is undated but possibly contemporary with the enclosure.
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Hearths, low stone walled enclosure
| No Known Features | ✗ |
| Round Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Rectangular Stone Structures | ✗ |
| Curvilinear Platforms | ✗ |
| Other Roundhouse Evidence | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
None
| No Known Excavation | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✓ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
None
| No Known Geophysics | ✓ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Quarry Hollows | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| Nothing Found | ✗ |
Palaeolithic implement and Mesolithic flints (1927-9; 1967-8); Cremation burial, food vessel and barbed and tanged arrowhead. Cup stone found in ditch.
| No Known Finds | ✗ |
| Pottery | ✓ |
| Metal | ✗ |
| Metalworking | ✗ |
| Human Bones | ✓ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✓ |
| Environmental | ✓ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| APs Not Checked | ✓ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
A drawn survey of Eston Nab shows two breaks in the ramparts. The simple gap in the S-E is considered original, a narrow break in the S-W with a rounded ditch terminal suggests this might be a second original entrance.
| 2: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South east): | None |
| 2. Simple Gap (South west): | None |
Univallate and semi-circular comprising a single bank which survives to a maximum height of 1m, earth and dry-stone wall, and a ditch between 4-6m wide in places. A counterscarp bank up to 4m wide and 1m high constructed from material quarried from the ditch lies outside the main defences. The ditch was originally 2m deeper
| Area 1: | 1.1ha. |
| Total: | 1.1ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
Curving single bank and ditch and counterscarp in the south
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | Naturally defended elsewhere |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✓ |
| Stone Wall | ✗ |
| Rubble | ✗ |
| Wall-walk | ✗ |
| Evidence of Timber | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✗ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✓ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| None | ✗ |
| Earthen Bank | ✓ |
| Stone Wall | ✓ |
| Murus Duplex | ✗ |
| Timber-framed | ✗ |
| Timber-laced | ✗ |
| Vitrification | ✗ |
| Other Burning | ✗ |
| Palisade | ✓ |
| Counter Scarp Bank | ✗ |
| Berm | ✗ |
| Unfinished | ✗ |
| No Known Excavation | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Elgee, F. 1930. Early man in north-east Yorkshire. John Bellows: Gloucester. 154-6
Hogg, A.H.A.1979, British Hill-Forts. An Index. British Archaeological Reports, British Series 62.
Vyner, B. E. 1988. The hill-fort at Eston Nab, Eston, Cleveland. Archaeol J 145, 1988 60-98
Atlas of Hillforts:
Wikidata:
This work is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
and should be cited as:
Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk
Document Version 1.1