LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Northumberland 666 (None)
NMR: NT 82 SE 2 (932)
SM: 1014492
NGR: NT 88714 23085
X: 388714 Y: 623085 (OSGB36)
To the SE of Fleehope overlooking the College Valley and burn in the E, a univallate stone-built hillfort lying in a clearing amidst conifer plantation. Approximately oval in plan, it measures 62m N-S by 51m E-W with an enclosed area of 0.19ha. The site was first identified in 1949 from aerial photographs taken in the 1930's and interpreted in 2000 as a hillfort and presumed to be Iron Age (Oswald 2000). It is sited at 363m OD on a N-S ridge on the summit of Fawcett Shank with the ground falling away steeply in the E and W but overlooked by West Hill in the south. The ramparts are more massive in the W where it overlooks the College Valley. It is now partially obscured by a post-medieval sheepfold which was constructed over the collapsed remains of the Iron Age rampart. The stonework has tumbled in places with a spread of up to 10m exposing the rubble core. In-situ dressed revetting stones are visible in places, surviving up to two courses high in the SW. No sign of a ditch. A single 2m wide entrance lies in the E flanked by straight stretches of rampart and large stones either side. No traces of internal settlement contemporary with the hillfort have been identified. Further earthworks visible on aerial photographs in 1948 within the environs of the hillfort had now been destroyed by subsequent afforestation (Oswald 2006). The site is recorded only as a sheepfold on OS mapping. It is unexcavated and undated but presumed Iron Age. It was scheduled in 1996 as a defended settlement.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -242700 Y: 7459801 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.1802124225550776 Latitude: 55.50144615083282 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England
Current County or Unitary Authority: Northumberland
Historic County: Northumberland
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Kirknewton
Extant but partially overlain by a post-medieval sheep fold.
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
The hillfort is surrounded by plantation which prevents access by grazing animals. Bracken has grown within the interior.
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✗ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✓ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
A contour fort lying at 363m OD on a N-S ridge on the summit of Fawcett Shank
| 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: N-S ridge on the summit of Fawcett Shank
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 363.0m
N/A
Undated, presumed Iron Age
Reliability: D - None
| Pre 1200BC | ✗ |
| 1200BC - 800BC | ✗ |
| 800BC - 400BC | ✗ |
| 400BC - AD50 | ✗ |
| AD50 - AD400 | ✗ |
| AD400 - AD 800 | ✗ |
| Post AD800 | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✓ |
| Pre Hillfort: | None |
| Post Hillfort: | Post medieval sheep fold, summit cairn and OS trig point |
| Morphology/Earthwork/Typology: | None |
General reference in MacLauchlan (1867). Described as a sheepfold on OS mapping. Field investigations in 1955, 1960, 1969, 1976 and 1987. Scheduled in 1996 as a defended settlement. The site underwent a detailed analytical survey and reinterpretation in 1998 (Oswald 2000) at the request of the Northumberland National Park Authority
| 1st Identified Written Reference (1867): | None |
| Other (1955): | Field investigation |
| Other (1960): | Field investigation |
| Other (1969): | Field investigation |
| Other (1976): | Field investigation |
| Other (1987): | Field investigation |
| Other (1996): | Scheduled |
| Earthwork Survey (1998): | Analytical Survey 'Discovering our Hillfort Heritage' Project |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (None): | None |
No features contemporary with the hillfort have been identified
None
| None | ✓ |
| Spring | ✗ |
| Stream | ✗ |
| Pool | ✗ |
| Flush | ✗ |
| Well | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Enclosures within and outwith the enclosure are believed to relate to the use of the sheepfold
| 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 | ✗ |
A single 2m wide entrance lies in the E flanked by straight stretches of rampart and large stones either side.
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (East): | None |
Stone-built bank with some evidence for stone facing, no evidence for a ditch. The ramparts are more massive in the W where it overlooks the College Valley. Now partially obscured by a post-medieval sheepfold which was constructed over the collapsed remains of the Iron Age rampart. The stonework has tumbled in places with a spread of up to 10m exposing the rubble core. In-situ dressed revetting stones are visible in places, surviving up to two courses high in the SW.
| Area 1: | 0.19ha. |
| Total: | 0.19ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | Overlain by a sheepfold and now tumbled 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 | ✗ |
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: None
| ✗ | None |
MacLauchlan, H. 1867. Additional Notes to Roman Roads in Northumberland . 39
Oswald, A. 2000. An Iron Age hillfort on Fawcett Shank, Northumberland. English Heritage. Unpublished
Oswald, A. Ainsworth, S. and Pearson, T 2006 Hillforts: Prehistoric Strongholds of Northumberland National Park. English Heritage
Oswald, A. Ainsworth, S. Pearson, T. 2008, Iron Age Hillforts in their Landscape Contexts: a Fresh Look at the Field Evidence in the Northumberland Cheviots, Archaeologia Aeliana, fifth 36: 1-45
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