LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
Scroll left/right to view further images.
HER: Northamptonshire 783/1 (MNN15739)
NMR: SP 6 5 NW 5 (None)
SM: 1018857
NGR: SP 6183 5669
X: 461838 Y: 256695 (OSGB36)
Located 1km N of Farthingstone and just S of the well preserved Castle Dykes Motte and Bailey Castle, on a ridge top with steep slopes to N and S. On 1st Ed OS map (1885-1900). Approximately rectangular in plan enclosing 2.5ha, a single bank and outer ditch with counterscarp bank evident in places, the earthworks are best preserved in the N and NW but much reduced by ploughing elsewhere, the S side of the enclosure is obliterated by a minor road. Small excavations in 1959 (Knight 1986-7) across the N ramparts showed the ditch to be U-shaped, c.2m deep and c.5m wide, with evidence for a stone-fronted box rampart containing burnt stone and charcoal suggesting destruction by fire, more of which has been uncovered by ploughing along the line of the rampart. Limited finds and a bronze fibula suggest a date of M and LIA, also iron slag suggesting iron working..
Citizen Science: ✓
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -122065 Y: 6837274 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -1.0965259859720502 Latitude: 52.20498391975829 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England
Current County or Unitary Authority: Northamptonshire
Historic County: Northamptonshire
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Farthingstone
On Heritage at Risk Register (2015).
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✓ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
None
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✓ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
A partial contour fort on the top of a ridge with steep slopes to the N and S.
| 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: On ridge top with steep slopes to N and S.
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✓ |
Altitude: 175.0m
N/A
Limited pottery and artefacts from small-scale excavation (Knight 1986-7) suggest MIA.
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: | None |
On 1st Ed OS map (1885-1900). Small scale excavation, two trenches across the N rampart and ditch, by A. Warhurst reported in Knight (1986-7)
| Excavation (1959): | None |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (None): | 1st Ed OS map |
No known features. Small amounts of pottery, iron artefacts and a bronze La Tene fibula found in excavation of N defences.
None
| 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 | ✗ |
Small amounts of pottery, iron artefacts and a bronze La Tene fibula found in excavation of N defences.
| No Known Finds | ✗ |
| Pottery | ✓ |
| Metal | ✓ |
| Metalworking | ✓ |
| Human Bones | ✗ |
| Animal Bones | ✗ |
| Lithics | ✗ |
| Environmental | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
NO APPARENT FEATURES
| APs Not Checked | ✓ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
No obvious original entrance, may have been in the S side which is detroyed. A simple break through the N counterscarp bank but not through the inner rampart.
| 1: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
Originally univallate with counterscarp bank, now destroyed in places by ploughing, best preserved in N and W. Excavation (Knight 1986-7) confirmed a U-shaped ditch c.2m deep and c.5m wide, with evidence for a stone-fronted box rampart containing burnt stone and charcoal suggesting destruction by fire, more of which has been uncovered by ploughing along the line of the rampart.
| Area 1: | 2.5ha. |
| Total: | 2.5ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✓ | None |
| 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: 1
| ✗ | None |
Knight, D. 1986-7. An Iron Age hillfort at Castle Yard, Farthingstone, Northamptonshire. Northamptonshire Archaeol. 21, 31-40.
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