LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Herefordshire MHE771 (1552)
NMR: SO 34 SW 19 (106123)
SM: 1014544
NGR: SO 327421
X: 332710 Y: 242160 (OSGB36)
Isolated inland promontory hillfort on steep slopes of a spur just below the summit of Dorstone Hill overlooking the River Dore. Roughly triangular in plan, measuring c. 0.19ha, and could be likened to a cross-ridge dyke. The promontory is cut off by a rampart and ditch 71m long running SW to NE, some 7m wide and up to 1.7m high. NE end of the ditch re-cut as a field boundary. Artificially scarped slope and berm to NE. Very degraded bank appears to underlie the rampart, extending away for some 15m, its origin unclear. Dense conifers over most of site, with grassed areas of forest track and open wood at the edge if a pasture field. Scrub on ramparts and mature trees in the ditch. Little visible. On 1st Ed. OS map (1887).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Unconfirmed
X: -332091 Y: 6813456 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.98322408531953 Latitude: 52.07366231904884 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England
Current County or Unitary Authority: Herefordshire
Historic County: Herefordshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Dorstone
Forestry clearance has damaged the site which is generally at risk. On Heritage at Risk Register (2015).
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Dense conifers over most of site, with grassed areas of forest track and open wood at the edge if a pasture field. Scrub on ramparts and mature trees in the ditch.Little visible.
| Woodland | ✓ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✓ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✓ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Sloping spur promontory.Located on steep slopes of a spur just below the summit of Dorstone Hill overlooking the River Dore.
| 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: Spur
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✓ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: 257.0m
N/A
Thought of by some part of the nearby Neolithic complex, but probably a small Iron Age fort of indeterminate date to Romano-British period (finds evidence).
Reliability: C - Low
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✓ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✓ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
| Artefactual: | Neolithic struck flints (20) and Romano-British pottery |
On 1st Ed. OS map (1887). Herfordshire Council survey 2012.
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1887): | OS map |
| Other (2012): | Herefordshire Council survey |
No features known, but chance finds of Neolithic struck flint and Romano-British pottery.
Spring located 0.6 km outside fort
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
None
| 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 | ✗ |
Neolithic finds of struck flint. Romano-British pottery
| 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 | ✗ |
Simple gap sited midway along the rampart. No modern gaps.
| 1: | No modern gaps. |
| 2: | Entrance midway along rampart. |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South east): | Simple gap sited midway along the rampart. |
Rampart and ditch 71m long running SW to NE, some 7m wide and up to 1.7m high. Artificially scarped slope and berm to NE. The scarped slope and berm is difficult to detect on the NE side.
| Area 1: | 0.19ha. |
| Total: | 0.19ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | Very degraded bank appears to underlie the rampart, extending away for some 15m, its origin unclear. |
| ✓ | The shape is D-shaped and difficult to detect in places. |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✓ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Artificially scarped slope with berm to the NE.
| 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 |
| ✓ | Ditch to NW of the bank. |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Dorling, P. and Wigley, A. 2012: Assessment of the archaeological and conservation status of major later prehistoric enclosures in Herefordshire and Shropshire, EH PNUM, Version 3.2, Hereford and Shrewsbury: Herefordshire Council/Shropshire Council.
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