Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland

EN0753 Norbury Camp, Northleach, Gloucestershire

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade

Satellite Imagery

Satellite Imagery

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HER:  Gloucestershire 273 (None)

NMR:  SP 11 NW11 (329935)

SM:  1003355

NGR:  SP127155

X:  412700  Y:  215500  (OSGB36)

Summary

Large, roughly rectangular, multivallate promontory hillfort located between steep re-entant valleys above River Leach to W and Sherborne Brook to E, W of village of Farmington. Much affected by farm buildings and roads and ploughed down W end. Measures c. 890m E-W and 520m N-S, encloses 22ha. W and E sides defined by banks set along extremities of slight rise. N and S defined by edges of promontory with scarping. Scarping on S extends for c, 270m from SW corner. On N low bank set on terrace beneath scarp edge, possibly originally natural feature modified by later scarping, probably when trees planted on regular, scarped slopes above and below. W bank under plough, but c. 1.3m high externally and 0.3m high internally. E bank c. 1m high and 8.0m wide, topped by field wall. Internal slope damaged or destroyed by ploughing. S of road bank almost destroyed by development. Ditches only now as cropmarks. Innermost bank of W rampart visible as slight earthwork on 2006 aerial photographs. Original entrances, now used by modern roads, possibly gap near centre of E bank and hollow-way in S scarp. Excavations in NW corner of Hospital Field 1977 in advance of farmbuilding (Saville and Ellison 1983). Features showed late Iron Age occupation with 3 probable four-post structures. Also pit (possibly Roman), ditch and gully excavated. Pit contained incomplete semi-crouched inhumation suggesting mutilation. Little dating evidence , but Iron Age pottery found. Neolithic long barrow in SW corner and Romano British settlement in NE corner. On 1st Ed. OS map (1884). .

Status

Citizen Science:  ✗

Reliability of Data:  Confirmed

Reliability of Interpretation:  Confirmed

Location

X:  -202278  Y:  6770873  (EPSG: 3857)

Longitude:  -1.8170911576988849  Latitude:  51.83792227098422  (EPSG:4326)

Country:  England; None

Current County or Unitary Authority:  Gloucestershire

Historic County:  Gloucestershire

Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland:  Northleach with Eastington; Farmington

Monument Condition

Mutilated with plough and building damage. Short lengths of N and S ramparts visible as scarp edges, with NE corner of hillfort. Remainder of enclosing banks, ditches and scarps hidden from aerial view by trees, field boundaries and modern housing.

Condition:
Extant   ✓
Cropmark   ✗
Likely Destroyed   ✗

Land Use

None

Current Use:
Woodland   ✓
Commercial Forestry Plantation   ✗
Parkland   ✗
Pasture (Grazing)   ✓
Arable   ✗
Scrub/Bracken   ✗
Bare Outcrop   ✗
Heather/Moorland   ✗
Heath   ✗
Built-up   ✓
Coastal Grassland   ✗
Other   ✗

Landscape

Hillfort Type

Large, roughly rectangular, multivallate promontory hillfort located between steep re-entant valleys above River Leach to W and Sherborne Brook to E, W of village of Farmington.

Type:
Contour Fort   ✗
Partial Contour Fort   ✗
Promontory Fort   ✓
Hillslope Fort   ✗
Level Terrain Fort   ✗
Marsh Fort   ✗
Multiple Enclosure Fort   ✗

Topographic Position

Located at the headwaters of the Sherborne Brook, a tributary of the River Windrush between re-entrant valleys

Position:
Hilltop   ✗
Coastal Promontory   ✗
Inland Promontory   ✓
Valley Bottom   ✗
Knoll/Hillock/Outcrop   ✗
Ridge   ✗
Cliff/Plateau-edge/Scarp   ✗
Hillslope   ✗
Lowland   ✗
Spur   ✗

Dominant Topographic Feature:  Spur promontory.

Aspect:
North   ✗
Northeast   ✗
East   ✗
Southeast   ✗
South   ✗
Southwest   ✗
West   ✗
Northwest   ✗
Level   ✓

Altitude:  190.0m

Boundary

Boundary Type:  Parish/Townland


Dating Evidence

Excavation and geophysical survey revealed Iron Age and Romano British occupation and Iron Age pottery found. Neolithic long barrow in SW corner.

Reliability:  B - Medium

Principal Activity:
Pre 1200BC   ✗
1200BC - 800BC   ✗
800BC - 400BC   ✓
400BC - AD50   ✓
AD50 - AD400   ✗
AD400 - AD 800   ✗
Post AD800   ✗
Unknown   ✗

Other Activity:
Pre Hillfort:   None
Post Hillfort:   None

Evidence:
Artefactual:   None

Investigation History

On 1st Ed. OS map (1884). Magnetic survey and watching briefs and small excavation in advance of building, A.Saville, Corinium Museum 1977. Aerial photograph interpretation RCHME Primary Record Project 1992-96. geophysical survey, A. Marshall 1996. Evaluation, Cotswold Archaeology, 1998. Geophysical survey, A. Marshall 2002. Aerial photograph interpretation, Gloucestershire County Council: Cotswolds Hills (S. Cotswolds) NMP, 2007-2010.

Investigations:
1st Identified Map Depiction (1884):   OS map.
Excavation (1977):   A. Saville.
Geophysical Survey (1996):   A. Marshall
Other (1998):   Cotswold Archaeology
Geophysical Survey (2002):   A. Marshall.
Other (None):   Aerial photograph interpretation RCHME
Other (None):   Aerial photograph interpretation, Gloucestershire County Council: Cotswolds Hills (S. Cotswolds) NMP.

Interior Features

Excavations in NW corner of Hospital Field 1977 in advance of farmbuilding. Features showed late Iron Age occupation with 3 probable 4-post structures. Also pit (possibly Roman), ditch and gully excavated. Pit contained incomplete semi-crouched inhumation suggesting mutilation. Little dating evidence , but Iron Age pottery found. Geophysics undertaken has found evidence of interior structures and other features.

Water Source

None

Source:
None   ✓
Spring   ✗
Stream   ✗
Pool   ✗
Flush   ✗
Well   ✗
Other   ✗

Surface

None

Interior Features (Surface):
No Known Features   ✓
Round Stone Structures   ✗
Rectangular Stone Structures   ✗
Curvilinear Platforms   ✗
Other Roundhouse Evidence   ✗
Pits   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✗

Excavation

Excavations in NW corner of Hospital Field 1977 in advance of farmbuilding. Features showed late Iron Age occupation with 3 probable 4-post structures. Also pit (possibly Roman), ditch and gully excavated.

Interior Features (Excavation):
No Known Excavation   ✗
Pits   ✓
Postholes   ✗
Roundhouses   ✗
Rectangular Structures   ✓
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✓
Nothing Found   ✗

Geophysics

Geophysics undertaken has found evidence of interior structures and other features.

Interior Features (Geophysics):
No Known Geophysics   ✗
Pits   ✗
Roundhouses   ✗
Rectangular Structures   ✗
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Quarry Hollows   ✗
Other   ✓
Nothing Found   ✗

Finds

Pit contained incomplete semi-crouched inhumation suggesting mutilation. Little dating evidence , but Iron Age pottery found.

Interior (Finds):
No Known Finds   ✗
Pottery   ✓
Metal   ✗
Metalworking   ✗
Human Bones   ✓
Animal Bones   ✗
Lithics   ✗
Environmental   ✗
Other   ✗

Aerial

None

Interior Features (Aerial):
APs Not Checked   ✓
None   ✗
Roundhouses   ✗
Rectangular Structures   ✗
Pits   ✗
Postholes   ✗
Roads/Tracks   ✗
Other   ✗

Entrances

Original entrances, now used by modern roads, possibly gap near centre of E bank and hollow way in S scarp.

Total Number of Breaks Through Ramparts:  
2:   None

Number of Possible Original Entrances:  
2:   None

Guard Chambers:  ✗

Chevaux de Frise:  ✗

Entrances:
1. Simple Gap (East):   None
2. Hollow Way (South):   None

Enclosing Works

W and E sides defined by banks set along extremities of slight rise. N and S defined by edges of promontory with scarping. Scarping on S extends for c, 270m from SW corner. On N low bank set on a terrace beneath scarp edge, possibly originally natural feature modified by later scarping, probably when trees planted on regular, scarped slopes above and below. W bank under plough, but c. 1.3m high externally and 0.3m high internally. E bank c. 1m high and 8.0m wide, topped by field wall. Internal slope damaged or destroyed by ploughing. S of road bank almost destroyed by development. Ditches only now as cropmarks. Innermost bank of W rampart visible as slight earthwork on 2006 aerial photographs.

Enclosed Area:
Area 1:   22.0ha.
Total:   22.0ha.

Total Footprint Area:  Noneha.

Ramparts

None

Multi-period Enclosure System:
✗   None

Ramparts Form a Continuous Circuit:
✓   Ploughed down W end possibly multivallate - no details.

Number of Ramparts:  
NE Quadrant:   1
SE Quadrant:   1
SW Quadrant:   1
NW Quadrant:   1
Total:   1

Morphology

Current Morphology:
Partial Univallate   ✗
Univallate   ✓
Partial Bivallate   ✗
Bivallate   ✗
Partial Multivallate   ✗
Multivallate   ✗
Unknown   ✗

Detailed Morphology:
Partial Univallate   ✗
Univallate   ✗
Partial Bivallate   ✗
Bivallate   ✗
Partial Multivallate   ✗
Multivallate   ✗

Surface Evidence

None

Enclosing Works (Surface):
None   ✗
Earthen Bank   ✓
Stone Wall   ✗
Rubble   ✗
Wall-walk   ✗
Evidence of Timber   ✗
Vitrification   ✗
Other Burning   ✗
Palisade   ✗
Counter Scarp Bank   ✗
Berm   ✗
Unfinished   ✗
Other   ✗

Excavated Evidence

Bank not sectioned.

Enclosing Works (Excavation):
None   ✗
Earthen Bank   ✗
Stone Wall   ✗
Murus Duplex   ✗
Timber-framed   ✗
Timber-laced   ✗
Vitrification   ✗
Other Burning   ✗
Palisade   ✗
Counter Scarp Bank   ✗
Berm   ✗
Unfinished   ✗
No Known Excavation   ✓
Other   ✗

Other

Gang Working:
✗   None

Ditches:
✓   Ditches visible only as cropmarks.

Number of Ditches:  1

Annex:
✗   None

References

Marshall, A. 1996. ARCHAEOLOGICAL ASSESSMENT OF A POTENTIAL DEVELOPMENT AREA WITHIN FARMINGTON NORBURY HILLFORT NORTHLEACH WITH EASINGTON.

Marshall, A. 1996 Northleach long barrow and Norbury Camp. Trans Bristol Gloucestershire Archaeol Soc,114; 170-185.

Marshall, A. J. 2003. SUMMARY OF GEOPHYSICAL SURVEY UNDERTAKEN AT NORBURY HILLFORT, NORTHLEACH WITH EASINGTON, GLOS, Unpublished.

RCHME 1976. Ancient and historical monuments in the County of Gloucestershire, Vol. I: Iron Age and Romano- British monuments in Gloucestershire Cotswolds, London: HMSO, 87-8.

Saville, A. and Ellison, A. 1983. Uley Bury and Norbury hillforts: rescue excavations at two Gloucestershire Iron Age sites. Bristol: Western Archaeological Trust.

Witts, G.B. 1883. Archaeological handbook of the County of Gloucestershire, Cheltenham: Norman Brothers, 37, 72.



Terms of Use

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


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