LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Shropshire 745 (None)
NMR: SO 28 NE 5 (105254)
SM: 1021363
NGR: SO 276867
X: 327605 Y: 286738 (OSGB36)
Small, wooded, contour hillfort located on a steep-sided spur above the River Unk at a stream confluence. Measures 0.25ha internal area. Bank is of earth and stone, the top level with the interior and varies in height from c. 0.5m to 1.7m on the N to its highest at 1.5m to 2.4m on the S and SW. The E side has been formed by artificially accentuating the line of the spur with no bank and ditch. The external ditch, which surrounded the interior except on the E, has been filled in and buried and probably destroyed by the road on the N part of the W side. The line of the ditch can be seen as a slight terrace on S. The entrance is unclear, but possibly located to the N. Late 20th century site part planted with conifers and colonised by secondary wood and now ramparts totally wooded and W side affected by a road. Undated. On 1st Ed OS map (1885-1900).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -341448 Y: 6886239 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.067277377634512 Latitude: 52.47372532279357 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England
Current County or Unitary Authority: Shropshire
Historic County: Shropshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Mainstone
Ramparts and interior wooded with gradual scrub control by owner during the past decade. A road impinges on the W rampart and ditch.
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Late 20th C site part planted with conifers and colonised by secondary wood. Road impinges on the W side.
| Woodland | ✓ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✓ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✗ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✓ |
Classified as a promontory fort by the VCH (1908). However, it does not just cut off the promontory but has earthworks around all sides of the circuit, roughly following the contours. Sited on the SE end of a steep-sided spur summit above the River Unk at a stream confluence.
| 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-sided spur.
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 300.0m
N/A
None
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | None |
On 1st Ed OS map (1885-1900). Field observation Ordnance Survey 1973. Field observation Shropshire CC 1981. Air Photograph Interpretation RCHME: Marches Uplands NMP 1993-2000. Shropshire Council survey 2012.
| Other (1973): | Field observation OS. |
| Other (1981): | Field observation Shropshire CC. |
| Other (2012): | Shropshire Council survey. |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (None): | OS 1st Ed |
| Other (None): | Air Photograph Interpretation RCHME: Marches Uplands NMP. |
None
Stream located 0.2 km outside the 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 | ✗ |
None
| 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 | ✗ |
The site of any entrance has not been determined exactly, but probably at the W end of the N side. No modern gaps.
| 1: | No modern gaps. |
| 2: | The site of any entrance has not been determined exactly, but probably at the W end of the N side. |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. In-turned (North): | The site of any entrance has not been determined exactly, but probably at the W end of the N side. |
The bank is of earth and stone, the top level with the interior and varies in height from c. 0.5m to 1.7m on the N to its highest at 1.5m to 2.4m on the S and SW. The E side has been formed by artificially accentuating the line of the spur with no bank and ditch. The external ditch, which surrounded the interior except on the E, has been filled in and buried and probably destroyed by the road on the N part of the W side. The line of the ditch can be seen as a slight terrace on the S and SW sides.
| Area 1: | 0.25ha. |
| Total: | 0.25ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
Traces of a bank except on the E side.
| ✗ | Small site, but definitely a hillfort. |
| ✗ | Ramparts surround the circuit except on the E where the slope is steepest and no major defence required. |
| NE Quadrant: | 0 |
| SE Quadrant: | 0 |
| 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 | ✗ |
Earth and stone bank.
| 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 |
| ✓ | The external ditch, which surrounded the interior except on the E, has been filled in and buried and probably destroyed by the road on the N part of the W side. The line of the ditch can be seen as a slight terrace on the S and SW sides. |
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.
Page, W. ed. 1908. Victoria County History of Shropshire, 1, 353, Institute of Historical Research.
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