LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Shropshire 1219 (None)
NMR: SO 29 NE 7 (105529)
SM: 1003015
NGR: SO274964
X: 327477 Y: 296437 (OSGB36)
Perhaps the best example of an inland promontory fort in Shropshire, Caerbre is located on E-facing slopes of a N to S ridge of a very steep rocky spur above a sharp bend of the River Camlad and opposite to Calcot Camp (Atlas No 0053), with which it is sometimes confused. Internal area c. 2.5ha. The S is bounded on the E and SW by steep and rocky cliffs falling c. 100m to the river. A massive earth and stone rampart cuts off the promontory on the E and NE, some 14m wide and up to 1.7m high internally and standing 4.5m above an outer ditch 8m wide and 1.2m deep. The rampart stops abruptly at the S end at the edge of the natural slope, and it is here that the entrance was located. To the N the rampart fades out at the natural slopes, or may not have been completed. The E half of the site was is less steep and may have been the site for settlement, but there is no evidence for this. Undated. On 1st Ed OS map (1885-1900).
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -341893 Y: 6902184 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -3.0712799785880716 Latitude: 52.56088793822217 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England
Current County or Unitary Authority: Shropshire
Historic County: Shropshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Chirbury with Brompton
Good banks in evidence.
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Wooded slopes above the River Camlad.
| Woodland | ✓ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✗ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Probably the best defined promontory fort in Shropshire. Located on E-facing slopes of a N to S ridge of a very steep promontory above a sharp bend of the River Camlad.
| 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 above the River Camlad.
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 150.0m
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. Field observation English heritage 1987. Air Photograph Interpretation RCHME: Marches Uplands NMP 1993-2000.
| Other (1973): | Field observation OS. |
| Other (1981): | Field observation Shropshire CC. |
| Other (1987): | Field observation EH. |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (None): | 1st Ed OS |
| Other (None): | Air Photograph Interpretation RCHME: Marches Uplands NMP. |
None
River Camlad located 0.1 km (100m below) 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 rampart stops abruptly at the S end at the edge of the natural slope, and it is here that the entrance may have been located.
| 1: | No evidence of modern gaps. |
| 2: | Possible S entrance. |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South): | The rampart stops abruptly at the S end of the site. |
The S is bounded on the W and SW by steep and rocky cliffs falling c. 100 m to the river. A massive earth and stone rampart cuts off the promontory on the E and NE, some 14 m wide and up to 1.7 m high internally and standing 4.5 m above an outer ditch 8 m wide and 1.2 m deep. The rampart stops abruptly at the S end at the edge of the natural slope, and it is here that the entrance was located. To the N the rampart fades out at the natural slopes, or may not have been completed.
| Area 1: | 2.5ha. |
| Total: | 2.5ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
Ramparts cut off the promontory on the E side.
| ✗ | Possible area only. |
| ✗ | Rampart cuts off the promontory. |
| NE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SE Quadrant: | 1 |
| SW Quadrant: | 0 |
| NW Quadrant: | 0 |
| Total: | 1 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Possibly earth and stone bank. To the N the rampart fades out at the natural slopes, or may not have been completed.
| 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 |
| ✓ | Outer ditch to rampart. |
Number of Ditches: 1
| ✗ | None |
Page, W. ed. 1908. Victoria County History of Shropshire, 1, 354-55, 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