LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: County Durham 2367249, 2301062, 2367250, 2301062 (None)
NMR: NY 91 NW 60 (1214379)
SM: 1016614
NGR: NY 94824 19926
X: 394824 Y: 519926 (OSGB36)
Located 480m to the NW of Brier Dykes, the surface and sub-surface remains of a palisaded enclosure on the summit of a small spur with the ground falling away in the SE. It comprises a slight bank 0.2-0.3m high and a 3m wide and an outer ditch surviving as a slight depression which forms a parallelogram measuring 87m by 82m enclosing approximately 0.7ha. Excavations in 1982 (Fairless and Coggins 1982) recovered evidence for a timber palisade within the ditch. A slight bank in the E running parallel with the main enclosure is possibly a further palisade. Within the interior an arc of postholes suggest the remains of a hut circle. The site is undated but probably late Bronze Age/early Iron Age based on morphology. A further trapezoidal enclosure 20m by 36m with an external ditch lies on lower ground to the E of the palisaded enclosure and a cup-marked rock on the break of slope at the SE edge. Not recorded on OS mapping. Scheduled. No further information is available
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -231721 Y: 7279726 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -2.0815820405639407 Latitude: 54.57453505699292 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England
Current County or Unitary Authority: County Durham
Historic County: County Durham
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Hunderthwaite
None
| Extant | ✓ |
| Cropmark | ✗ |
| Likely Destroyed | ✗ |
Rough grassland
| Woodland | ✗ |
| Commercial Forestry Plantation | ✗ |
| Parkland | ✗ |
| Pasture (Grazing) | ✓ |
| Arable | ✗ |
| Scrub/Bracken | ✗ |
| Bare Outcrop | ✗ |
| Heather/Moorland | ✗ |
| Heath | ✗ |
| Built-up | ✗ |
| Coastal Grassland | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
Former palisaded enclosure lying on a small spur at 351m OD
| 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: Hilltop
| North | ✗ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✓ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: 351.0m
N/A
The site is undated but probably late Bronze Age/early Iron Age based on morphology.
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 |
| Morphology/Earthwork/Typology: | None |
Excavated in 1982 (Fairless and Coggins 1982). Scheduled
| Excavation (1982): | None |
| Other (1999): | Scheduled |
Evidence for a possible stake built hut was found during excavation
Springs in the vicinity of the enclosure
| 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 | ✗ |
Stake-built hut
| 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 location of entrances is unknown
| None: | None |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
A slight bank 0.2-0.3m high and a 3m wide and an outer ditch surviving as a slight depression which forms a parallelogram measuring 85m by 85m enclosing 0.7ha. Evidence for a timber palisade within the ditch. A slight bank in the E running parallel with the main enclosure is possibly a further palisade.
| Area 1: | 0.7ha. |
| Total: | 0.7ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | Estimated area |
| ✓ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SW Quadrant: | 1 |
| NW Quadrant: | 1 |
| Total: | 2 |
| Partial Univallate | ✓ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✓ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
| Unknown | ✗ |
| Partial Univallate | ✗ |
| Univallate | ✗ |
| Partial Bivallate | ✗ |
| Bivallate | ✗ |
| Partial Multivallate | ✗ |
| Multivallate | ✗ |
Slight 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 |
| ✗ | Palisade trenches |
Number of Ditches: None
| ✗ | None |
Fairless, K, and Coggins, D. 1982. Brier Dykes. University of Durham Archaeological Services. Unpublished
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