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WORLEBURY CAMP

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DESCRIPTION

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The scheduled monument includes a large multivallate hillfort, known as Worleury Camp, situated on the spur of Worlebury Hill. It has a sub-rectangular interior with maximum dimensions of 690m from east to west and 200m from north to south. Neolithic arrowheads and axes recovered from the area suggest that the hilltop was occupied before the Iron Age. Following the period of Iron Age occupation and the construction of the hillfort, further occupation of the hilltop can be attested during the Romano-British period. During investigations at the site by Warre in the 1850s, a hoard of Roman coins (dated to c.AD 450) were recovered along with a quantity of Roman pottery, glass beads and fragments of bronze.

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[Centred ST 31406250] Worlebury Camp (LB)
Gateway: Hut Circles: Circles (LB). (1)

Worlebury is a stone-built hillfort with tumbled ramparts, 15-20ft
high, on all sides but the north which is a cliff. There is a system
of short ditches at the east end and, to the South East the main entrance which is inturned. A few yards east of this, a ditch, partly natural, runs North North West across the interior and cuts off the east, or higher, end of the fort. Another entrance (North East) is much ruined and a third (West) has a small postern approached by five rock-cut steps.

Dymond (2) noted 93 pits within the hill fort, many of which had
been excavated by Warre (3), who described them as `circles and
huts'. They are, in fact, Iron Age storage pits, which, at the time
of the excavation, contained human and animal remains, an iron
axehead (La Tene III type), iron spearheads and bead-rim pottery of
Glastonbury type (4).

There is little evidence of Romano-British occupation, but a coin hoard, deposited c450 AD, was found within the hillfort in 1852 (5); it was associated with coarse Roman pot sherds, glass beads and fragments of bronze. The finds are in Taunton and Weston-Super-Mare Museums.
(2-5)

This hillfort is at the West end of a narrow, tree-covered ridge. The ditch system is primarily quarry working, and quarrying has also
destroyed the west entrance. The North Eastern entrance carries a modern pathway and the South Eastern entrance utilises a natural re-entrant; there is no clearly defined gap. The cross-ridge interior ditch is rock-cut, and shows slight traces (unsurveyable) of an inner bank. It is quite clearly defensive and probably represents an earlier phase of the hillfort.

Some coins from the hoard are in Taunton Museum. The rest of the
material from this site, mainly finds made by Warre, are in
Weston-Super-Mare Museum. (Acc 648-657), which also has a
leaf-shaped arrowhead from here. (58/0124). There are also two stone
axes (Acc 53.0013) but the provenance is suspect: one of polished
black stone may be foreign: the other is of pitted igneous (?) rock.
Surveyed at 1/1250. (6)

A hillfort with stone ramparts enclosing about ten acres,
multivallate on the east and naturally defended by a scarp to the
north and west; there is a single rampart and ditch along the south
side. The ramparts are constructed of rough masonry faced with well
built courses on inside and outside.

Remains of about eighteen human skeletons have been found within the
defences, at least half of which showed signs of a violent death.

A damaged cast bronze pennanular collar now in the University of
Cambridge Museum of Archaeology and Ethnography, Accession number
35.306, is said to have been found at Worlebury Camp, although
acquired from an antique dealer.
It is crescentic in shape, and possibly unique in Britain as it is
of a Middle Bronze Age type found in women's graves in North
Germany. (7-11)

Additional references (12-13)

Ramparts and ditches of Worlebury Hillfort cleared of vegetation to reveal impressive rock-cut ditches and stone ramparts (14)

Clearance continued. More hut platforms and probable pits were
identified (15)

Merck's rhinoceros from Worlebury Hill, found a short distance to the east of Worlebury Camp (16)

Additional reference - Worlebury Camp (17)

Worlebury Camp. Description with plan. (18)

The Iron Age Multivallate hill-fort referred to above (1-18) is visible on aerial photographs taken in 1954. Five ramparts can be seen on the eastern side of the fort through gaps in the densely wooded hill-fort. The largest inner bank follows the slope of the hill on the south side of the fort. The further four banks become progressively smaller and vary in size from west to east. Two further banks to the east are not visible due to dense vegetation. (22)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) General reference

Ordnance Survey 6" 1929

( 2) General reference

Dymond C 1902 Worlebury

( 3) Somerset archaeology and natural history : the proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society

4 Page(s)125

( 4) Royal Archaeological Institute The Archaeological Journal

87 Page(s)473

( 5) Numismatic chronicle

6 Page(s)153

( 6) General reference

First Ordnance Survey Archaeology Field Investigator 09/02/1965

( 7) General reference

Grinsell LV 1970 Prehistoric Sites in the Mendips p 27

( 8) by J L Forde-Johnston 1976 Hillforts of the Iron Age in England and Wales : a survey of the surface evidence

Page(s)167-8

( 9) BAR British series

1981 Page(s)199-200

(10) BAR British series

1980 Page(s)420

(11) Somerset archaeology and natural history : the proceedings of the Somersetshire Archaeological and Natural History Society

120 Page(s)109

(12) General reference

Burrow E 1924 Ancient Earthworks and Camps of Somerset pp 100-101

(13) General reference

Evans J 1980 Worlebury The Story of an Iron Age Hillfort at Weston-super-Mare (Woodspring Museum)

(14) Council for British Archaeology Group 13: Newsletter

106 Page(s)13

(15) Council for British Archaeology Group 13: Newsletter

107 Page(s)20

(16) University of Bristol Spelaeological Society proceedings

15 Page(s)219-26

(17) BAR British series

91 Page(s)215-217

(19) edited by William Page 1911 The Victoria history Somerset, volume two

The Victoria history of the counties of England Page(s)501-2

(20) General reference

English Heritage Schedule Entry 15/04/1997

(22) Vertical aerial photograph reference number

RAF/58/1354 (F21) 0026-0027 23-FEB-1954

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