More information : "A circular double-line camp, very like that north of Yarlsber near Ingleton (SD 77 SW 3)" stands on a hill called Sweyn or Swine Shaw Bank, about 1 mile NW of Old Town (SD 5884) north of Kirkby Lonsdale. At the time of the Commons enclosure, a quern was found
not far from it; this is now in the possession of Mr Conder of Old Town. (1)
"Near Cathridding, about 3 miles NW of Kirkby Lonsdale, is a large circular earthwork on a hill called Sweyn Shaw". (2)
Photographed in 2000, the feature can be seen to be a large (112m by 105m) sub-circular enclosure containing internal features centered at SD 58347 84309. A ditch with an outer bank defines the enclosure, neither of which are visible continuously. Internal features include a ditch enclosing the south west 'corner' of the enclosure, and a number of banks defining possible enclosures and habitation spaces. (3)
A large curvilinear defended enclosure of probable Iron Age and/or Roman date is visible as earthworks on air photographs on the eastern lower shoulder of Kitridding Hill, centred at SD 5834 8431. The enclosure comprises a ditch with outer bank for most of the perimeter, with evidence of an inner bank to the north and south. The whole has maximum internal dimensions measuring 98m by 100m. The enclosure is a 'teardrop' in plan, predominantly oval with a right-angled corner to the east. Numerous internal banks probably define hut circles and small enclosures or pens. A number of linear banks extend from the enclosure to the south, most notably an intermittently visible boundary bank which extends from the enclosure's right-angle to the south-east for over 270m. Most of the features are extant on the latest 2012 oblique photography though pasture improvement appears to have eroded elements of the earthworks. It is uncertain whether this site may be the same as a 'moated tower house' recorded to the immediate west (UID 1390382). (4)
The enclosure was targeted for follow-on ground investigation in Stage 2 of EH's NAIS Upland Pilot Project (covering parts of the Lakes, Dales & Arnside), and was briefly perambulated to assess the earthwork elements ahead of geophysical prospection.
The enclosure occupies the western end of a flattish saddle of land that extends east from the summit of Kitridding Hill, a high point in the Cumbrian Low Fells on the west side of the Lune valley. As such the enclosure dominates lower ground on three sides, most dramatically to the south, but is itself overlooked by ground that rises slightly to the west. It is separated from this rising ground, however, by a shallow dry valley that cuts across the saddle, draining both north and south. The tops and higher slopes of the hill are all pasture, seemingly improved. There is an upland mire at SD 5859 8406 on the southern flank of the hill only a few hundred metres to the south-east.
The enclosure's form is very much as described by authorities 3 and 4, namely a sub-circular or 'teardrop' shape with a sharp, near 90-degree, angle on the east side. It comprises a ditch with inner and outer banks. The ditch is c 5m wide by up to 0.5m deep around the northern arc of the circuit where best preserved, but elsewhere is a much slighter feature more more akin to a shallow terracing into the hillside, presumably because it has here been more severely degraded by past land improvement. The only entrance would appear to be in the north-west, where the enclosure is approached by a shallow hollow-way-like feature that rises up out of the dry valley, although this is exactly where the enclosure ditch and banks are least well preserved; the identification of this as the entrance is therefore tentative. There is a very narrow break in the inner bank in the southern arc of circuit, but this is probably a modern cut to help drain a series of large scoops or terraced platforms, of uncertain origin or purpose, in the interior, many of which support rushy grass indicative of underlying wet conditions. A long linear bank c 2-3m wide by 0.2m high runs away south-east from the eastern angle of the enclosure and runs down the steep, southern flank of Kitridding Hill for over 200m into the modern pasture field to the south where it dies out as an earthwork. Its relationship with the enclosure is uncertain on the ground, but the sharp angle that the enclosure ditch here takes very much suggests that the linear is primary and the enclosure ditch was positioned to respect it.
Historic OS maps indicates that in the mid-19th century the land on which the enclosure lies was still part of the unenclosed Lupton Common (5a), but that enclosure of the area was underway by 1898 (5b). This fits in well with the late-19th century references recorded above (authorities 1 and 2), and also to a reference at the beginning of that century by the antiquarian John Hodgson that 'Near the limits of Preston Patrick township, on a hill, are large and strong foundations, surrounded by a moat, with a road to it, and called by some Swainshaw-bank Abbey, by others Kit-ridding' (5c). This has recently been interpreted by Denis Perriam and John Robinson as indicating that a medieval tower house formerly existed at Kitridding, which they site to SD 581 843, but the other references they quote are confused and actually relate to Kirkby Thore Hall (UID 13571) in the Eden valley or to nearby Kitridding farmhouse (SD 58034 83903) (5d). It is much more likely that, as authority 4 suggests, Hodgson was actually referring to the present enclosure site, which then presumably lay on unimproved common land and was therefore a much more impressive and complete earthwork than now.
Although not surveyed on this occasion, the enclosure and surrounding area would definitely benefit from a detailed survey and other forms of investigation, particularly geophysical prospection, small-scale excavation to recover dating evidence, and possibly environmental sampling of the nearby upland mire. (5) |