EN0104: Barrock Fell   | (Barrock Tell) |
Sources: Esri, DigitalGlobe, Earthstar Geographics, CNES/Airbus DS, GeoEye, USDA FSA, USGS, Getmapping, Aerogrid, IGN, IGP, and the GIS User Community
HER:  Cumbria 707
NMR:  NY 44 NE 8 (11330)
SM:  1007874
NGR:  NY 4645 4756
X:  346450  Y:  547560  (EPSG:27700)
Boundary:  ✗
Lying 400m NW of the summit of Barrock Fell, the cropmark and earthwork remains of a probable slight univallate hillfort. Aerial photographs and lidar show a single D-shaped ditched enclosure measuring 115m by 112m enclosing approximately 1ha, with the earthworks in the SW masked by Great Barrock Wood but shown by lidar to be extant. Cropmarks suggest a slightly out-turned entrance in the NE. No internal features are visible. Scheduled. Not recorded on OS mapping and no investigation is known.
Citizen Science:   | ✗   |
Reliability of Data:   | Confirmed |
Reliability of Interpretation:   | Confirmed |
X:  -315583  Y:  7327016  (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude:  -2.834929  Latitude:  54.820032  (EPSG:4326)
Country:  England
Current County or Unitary Authority:  Cumbria
Historic County:   Cumberland
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Hesket
The site is visible as a cropmark on aerial photographs and earthwork on lidar in Great Barrock Wood. Principle threat is from ploughing (Heritage at Risk Register 2013)
Extant:   | ✓ |
Cropmark:   | ✓ |
Likely Destroyed:   | ✗ |
Lies in an area of arable fields. A conifer plantation is present on the western edge.
Woodland:   | ✓ |
Commercial Forestry Plantation:   | ✗ |
Parkland:   | ✗ |
Pasture (Grazing):   | ✗ |
Arable:   | ✓ |
Scrub/Bracken:   | ✗ |
Bare Outcrop:   | ✗ |
Heather/Moorland:   | ✗ |
Heath:   | ✗ |
Built-up:   | ✗ |
Coastal Grassland:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
A univallate hillslope fort lying at 183m OD on the upper slopes of Barrock Fell.
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:  Situated on the upper slopes of Barrock Fell.
North:   | ✗ |
Northeast:   | ✗ |
East:   | ✗ |
Southeast:   | ✗ |
South:   | ✗ |
Southwest:   | ✗ |
West:   | ✗ |
Northwest:   | ✓ |
Level:   | ✗ |
Altitude:  183.0m
Boundary Type:   | ✗ |
Second HER:  ✗
Second Current County or Unitary Authority:  ✗
Second Historic County:  ✗
Second Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  ✗
Undated, presumed Iron Age
Reliability:  D - None
Pre 1200BC:   | ✗ |
1200BC - 800BC:   | ✗ |
1200BC - 800BC:   | ✗ |
400BC - AD50:   | ✗ |
AD50 - AD400:   | ✗ |
AD400 - AD 800:   | ✗ |
Post AD800:   | ✗ |
Unknown:   | ✓ |
Pre Hillfort Activity:   | ✗   |
Post Hillfort Activity:   | ✓   | Surface finds of Roman pottery |
Artefactual:   | Surface finds of 29 sherds of coarse greyware and one small samian fragment in May 1978. Donated by Dr D Welsby, Univ of Newcastle upon Tyne, June 1983. At Tullie House, Acc no 121-1983 (Richardson 1990). |
Recorded on aerial photograph in 1949. General reference in Challis and Harding (1975). Scheduled in 1974. Environment Agency lidar survey
LiDAR Survey (Uncertain):   | |
Other (1949):   | Aerial photograph/St Joseph, 9/7/49 |
Other (1974):   | Scheduled |
1st Identified Written Reference (1975):   |
Surface finds of 29 sherds of coarse Roman greyware and one small samian fragment. No other evidence.
None:   | ✓ |
Spring:   | ✗ |
Stream:   | ✗ |
Pool:   | ✗ |
Flush:   | ✗ |
Well:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
No Known Features:   | ✓ |
Round Stone Structures:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Stone Structures:   | ✗ |
Curvilinear Platforms:   | ✗ |
Other Roundhouse Evidence:   | ✗ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
No Known Excavation:   | ✓ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Postholes:   | ✗ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Nothing Found:   | ✗ |
No Known Geophysics:   | ✓ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Quarry Hollows:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Nothing Found:   | ✗ |
Surface finds of 29 sherds of coarse Roman greyware and one small samian fragment
No Known Finds:   | ✗ |
Pottery:   | ✓ |
Metal:   | ✗ |
Metalworking:   | ✗ |
Human Bones:   | ✗ |
Animal Bones:   | ✗ |
Lithics:   | ✗ |
Environmental:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
APs Not Checked:   | ✗ |
None:   | ✓ |
Roundhouses:   | ✗ |
Rectangular Structures:   | ✗ |
Pits:   | ✗ |
Postholes:   | ✗ |
Roads/Tracks:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Cropmarks suggest a slightly out-turned entrance in the NE.
Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:   | 1  |
Number of Possible Original Entrances:   |   |
Guard Chambers:  ✗
Chevaux de Frise:   | ✗   |
Entrance 1 (Northeast):   | Out-turned |
D-shaped ditched enclosure measuring approximately 115m by 112m enclosing approximately 1ha. it is surrounded by a single infilled ditch. Lidar suggests it is still extant in places.
Enclosed Area 1:   | 1.0ha. |
Enclosed Area 2:   | ✗ |
Enclosed Area 3:   | ✗ |
Enclosed Area 4:   | ✗ |
Total Enclosed Area:   | 1.0ha. |
Total Footprint Area:  ✗
Multi-period Enclosure System:   | ✗   | Interpretation from lidar suggests it is much larger than the 65m diameter (0.3ha) reported by Challis and Harding (1975). |
Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:   | ✓   |
Number of Ramparts:   | 1:   | A sub-circular enclosure measuring approximately 65m in diameter; it is surrounded by a single infilled ditch. |
Number of Ramparts NE Quadrant:   | 1 |
Number of Ramparts SE Quadrant:   | 1 |
Number of Ramparts SW Quadrant:   | 1 |
Number of Ramparts NW Quadrant:   | 1 |
Partial Univallate:   | ✗ |
Univallate:   | ✓ |
Partial Bivallate:   | ✗ |
Bivallate: | ✗ |
Partial Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Unknown:   | ✗ |
Partial Univallate:   | ✗ |
Univallate:   | ✗ |
Partial Bivallate:   | ✗ |
Bivallate:   | ✗ |
Partial Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Multivallate:   | ✗ |
Earthworks in woodland not investigated
None:   | ✓ |
Earthen Bank:   | ✗ |
Stone Wall:   | ✗ |
Rubble:   | ✗ |
Wall-walk:   | ✗ |
Evidence of Timber:   | ✗ |
Vitrification:   | ✗ |
Other Burning:   | ✗ |
Palisade:   | ✗ |
Counter Scarp Bank:   | ✗ |
Berm:   | ✗ |
Unfinished:   | ✗ |
Other:   | ✗ |
None:   | ✗ |
Earthen Bank:   | ✗ |
Stone Wall:   | ✗ |
Murus Duplex:   | ✗ |
Timber-framed:   | ✗ |
Timber-laced:   | ✗ |
Vitrification:   | ✗ |
Other Burning:   | ✗ |
Palisade:   | ✗ |
Counter Scarp Bank:   | ✗ |
Berm:   | ✗ |
Unfinished:   | ✗ |
No Known Excavation:   | ✓ |
Other:   | ✗ |
Gang Working:   | ✗  |
Ditches:  ✓
Number of Ditches:   | 1:   | Single infilled ditch. |
Annex:   | ✗   |
Challis A.J. and Harding, D.W. 1975. Later prehistory from the Trent to the Tyne. BAR (British series 1) (1974) - 20 (i) Page(s)122
Challis A.J. and Harding, D.W. 1975. Later prehistory from the Trent to the Tyne. BAR (British series 1) (1974) - 20 (ii) Page(s)46
Hogg, A.H.A. 1979. British Hill-Forts. An Index. British Archaeological Reports, British Series 62.
Richardson, C. 1990. A catalogue of recent acquisitions to Carlisle Museum and reported finds from the Cumbrian area, Trans Cumberland Westmorland Antiq Archaeol Soc 66, 36
Atlas of Hillforts:  https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/?query=Atlas_of_Hillforts_4166_0%2CMain_Atlas_Number%2C0104
Wikidata:  http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q31110529
The online version of the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland should be cited as:
Lock, G. and Ralston, I. 2017.  Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. [ONLINE] Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk.
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