LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
LiDAR 1m DTM Hillshade
Satellite Imagery
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HER: Northumberland 3392 (None)
NMR: NU 02 NE 4 (5438)
SM: None
NGR: NU 0676 2630
X: 406787 Y: 626368 (OSGB36)
Located approximately 730m to the NE of Chillingham Castle and partially within Moor Dam Plantation to the W, the remains of a defended settlement or hillfort. It comprises a roughly semi-circular earthwork with two wide concentric ramparts, an outer ditch and traces of a counterscarp. The inner bank varies in width of between 8-12m and stands 0.6m high, the outer bank, where visible, averages 8m wide and survives to a height of 0.3m. Beyond this, the ditch is 10-12m wide and 0.7m deep with a counterscarp in the NE up to 0.4m high. A simple gap entrance lies in the SW facing on to lower ground. No internal features are known. The ramparts are now spread and the outer bank and ditch levelled in the E, in the location of a former stream bed. The SE side has been virtually obliterated by drainage ditches and afforestation. This is a small site with a diameter of 42m giving an internal area of only 0.13ha. It is poorly sited, lying on a saddle at 124m OD with the ground rising gradually in the E and W and with the only extensive view to the N, but the ramparts are substantial. The site is recorded on 1980 OS mapping. No investigation has been carried out, undated.
Citizen Science: ✗
Reliability of Data: Confirmed
Reliability of Interpretation: Confirmed
X: -210842 Y: 7465618 (EPSG: 3857)
Longitude: -1.8940266515550899 Latitude: 55.53103254623332 (EPSG:4326)
Country: England
Current County or Unitary Authority: Northumberland
Historic County: Northumberland
Current Parish/Community/Council/Townland: Chillingham
None
| 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 possible level terrain fort lying at 124m OD on a saddle with the ground rising to the E and W
| 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: Saddle
| North | ✓ |
| Northeast | ✗ |
| East | ✗ |
| Southeast | ✗ |
| South | ✗ |
| Southwest | ✗ |
| West | ✗ |
| Northwest | ✗ |
| Level | ✗ |
Altitude: 124.0m
N/A
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 |
| Morphology/Earthwork/Typology: | None |
Field investigations in 1955 and 1969. Recorded on 1980 OS mapping. The site was mapped in 2003 as part of The Till-Tweed air photo (AP) mapping project.
| Other (1955): | Field investigation |
| Other (1969): | Field investigation |
| 1st Identified Map Depiction (1980): | None |
| Other (2003): | Mapped as part of The Till-Tweed air photo mapping project. |
Destroyed
Relict stream bed suggests earlier water supply
| 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 | ✗ |
Interior destroyed
| APs Not Checked | ✓ |
| None | ✗ |
| Roundhouses | ✗ |
| Rectangular Structures | ✗ |
| Pits | ✗ |
| Postholes | ✗ |
| Roads/Tracks | ✗ |
| Other | ✗ |
A simple gap entrance lies in the SW
| 1: | Numerous gaps lie round the circuit |
| 2: | None |
Guard Chambers: ✗
Chevaux de Frise: ✗
| 1. Simple Gap (South west): | Inner rampart |
| 1. Simple Gap (South west): | Outer rampart |
A roughly semi-circular earthwork with two wide concentric ramparts, an outer ditch and traces of a counterscarp. The inner bank varies in width between 8-12m and stands 0.6m high, the outer bank where visible, averages 8m wide and survives to a height of 0.3m. Beyond this, the ditch is 10-12m wide and 0.7m deep with a counterscarp in the NE up to 0.4m high.
| Area 1: | 0.13ha. |
| Total: | 0.13ha. |
Total Footprint Area: Noneha.
None
| ✗ | None |
| ✗ | None |
| NE Quadrant: | 2 |
| SE Quadrant: | None |
| SW Quadrant: | 2 |
| NW Quadrant: | 2 |
| Total: | 2 |
| 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 |
Gates, T. and Deegan, A. 2009. Monuments in the Landscape in Passmore, D.G. and Waddington, C. (eds). Managing Archaeological Landscapes in Northumberland. Till-Tweed Studies, Vol 1. Oxbow, 125-71.
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