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CASTLE DITCH

ALTERNATIVE NAME:

EDDISBURY HILLFORT

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An Iron Age bivallate hillfort of 3.5 hectares. The ramparts are fairly well preserved as earthworks, although damaged in places by quarrying. On the north-east side, where best preserved, the inner rampart is 15 meters in width and 0.6 metres high internally and 4 metres externally; the inner ditch is 10 metres wide and 0.5 metres deep. The outer rampart is 16 metres in width and 2 metres high internally and 5.5 metres externally. There is no outer ditch. Any surface remains that may have existed in the interior have been levelled by ploughing. Excavations by Varley in 1935-8 revealed, according to the excavator, an early Iron Age palisaded enclosure succeeded by a univallate hillfort, later modified to a bivallate contour fort. It was then claimed that it was destroyed by the Romans and then re-occupied as an open site in the 4th-6th and 6th-8th centuries. In 914 AD Eddisbury is documented as a Saxon burh, although it was probably only short-lived since there was no mint there. Various aspects of Varley's conclusions, especially relating to the chronological sequence, have been questioned.

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[SJ 553 693] Castle Ditch (NAT) Hill Fort (NR) (1)

The excavation of Castle Ditch, Eddisbury, was carried out under Varley from 1936 to 1938. Four areas were excavated and a number of sections cut through the defences which suggested the following constructional sequence:
Phase 1: The erection of pre-rampart palisade defences, probably pre 250 BC.
Phase 2: The construction of the original univallate hill-fort around the eastern half of the hill, about 200-100 BC.
Phase 3: The reconstruction of the hill fort by an extension westwards and transforming Eddisbury Hill into a bivallate contour work, AD 1-50.
Phase 4: The complete destruction of the hill fort by the Romans in the late 1st century AD.
Phase 5: The re-occupation as an open site in the Dark Ages, 4-6th century AD.
Phase 6: a. The first Saxon occupation of the site attested by a hut dated 6th-8th century AD.
b. The re-erection of the defences in the 10th century AD which is possibly the AD 914 burh of Aetheflaeda.
Phase 7: The mediaeval and modern occupation. (See SJ 56 NE 2) (See
AO/61/209/7-8 & 210/1-3). (2)

Mrs Cotton describes Eddisbury in her article on 'British Camps with Timber-laced Ramparts'. (3)

See resurvey. (4)

Survey of 1961 checked and found correct. (5)

Forde-Johnston reinterprets the constructional sequence. (6)

An Iron Age bivallate contour hillfort on Eddisbury Hill measures, overall, 380.0m NW-SE by 200.0m transversely. On the NE side, where best preserved, the inner rampart is 15.0m in width, 0.6m high internally, 4.0m externally and the inner ditch, 10.0m wide, 0.5m deep. The outer rampart is 16.0m in width, 2.0m high internally, 5.5m externally. There is no outer ditch. Either side of an inturned entrance at the NW end of the work and along the SW side, the defences have been reduced by ploughing and other agricultural activities, to little more than steep-faced scarps but also incorporate natural steep slopes of outcrop sandstone, particularly on the S and E. There is a small, probably original entrance at the SE end, cut through the natural sandstone outcrop. The former NW side of the fort, before extension westwards, is bounded by a normal field hedge bank, but there are no traces of the original earthworks here.
Published 1:2500 survey, 1970, correct. (7)

Listed by Challis and Harding as a small univallate fort with stone-revetted rampart with timbers in core. A stockade was built on the site prior to the construction of the ramparts (Iron Age). (8)

(SJ 5534 6933) In 1987 the RCHME carried out a Level 3 analytical earthwork survey of Castle Ditch, Eddisbury hillfort and Burh. The monument is essentially as previously described, but the field evidence does not support Varley's claims that the first hillfort was univallate and confined to the eastern part of the hill and was later expanded and strengthened. The ramparts have been more extensively damaged by quarrying than previously recognised. Evidence for the rebuilding of the N defences was observed in the earthworks in a marked steepening of the rampart near its top. This relates closely to the evidence recorded by Varley for the rebuilding of this site as part of the Aethelfleadan occupation of Eddisbury. The site was surveyed by the RCHME at 1:1000 scale; plans and supporting text are available from the NMR archive. (9)

SJ 552 694. Eddisbury. Listed in gazetteer as a multivallate hillfort covering 3.1ha. (10)

SJ 5534 6933. Eddisbury hillfort, Delamere, E of Old Pale Farm. Scheduled RSM No 25692. The fort is of a type familiar on the Welsh side of the Marches but unusual in Cheshire. It has additional value as an example of reoccupation after the departure of the Roman army and as such is rare indeed. (11)

Publication of the RCHME survey, with additional documentary research. The absence of material from the excavations means that it is impossible to confirm Varley's assertion of reoccupation in the Roman and post-Roman period. Eddisbury is documented as a burh in 914 but was never a mint, and may have been replaced as a burh by Runcorn which was built in 915. Furtehrmore it is difficult to support Varley's conclusion that there was originally a small fort which was later enlarged, and that the southern defences were continuous. on the line he suggested. (12)

In May 2000, English Heritage carried out a desk-top assessment and Level 1 field survey of Old Pale Farm; Castle Ditch falls partly within the bounds of this area. The monument remains as described by Source 9. Source 10's estimate of the area is probably c.0.5ha too little considering the damage done by quarrying recorded by Source 9. The quarries which impinge on the northern side of the hillfort (possibly the source of building stone for Vale Royal Abbey) and probable medieval field boundaries at its south-eastern end were allocated new NMR numbers to enhance the record (respectively SJ 56 NE 36 and 37). An excellent large scale plan of the monument is included on the OS 2-inch surveyor's draft of 1839 (13a). The EH survey suggests that the prehistoric field system alleged to exist on the northern side of the hill, detected by NJ Higham on his 1987 aerial photographs (13b), can probably be dismissed as being either geological or post-medieval in origin. (13)

A written report and plans are available from the NMR archive. (13)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1954

( 2) Transactions of the Historic Society of Lancashire and Cheshire

W J Varley 102, 1950 Page(s)1-68

( 3) Royal Archaeological Institute The Archaeological Journal

M A Cotton (1954) Page(s)61-2

( 4) Field Investigators Comments

Ordnance Survey Field Investigation JHW 13-OCT-61

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

Ordnance Survey Field Investigation JHW 23-JUN-64

( 6) Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society

J F Johnston 72, 1962 Page(s)23-5

( 7) Field Investigators Comments

Ordnance Survey Field Investigation ASP 12-MAR-76

( 8) by A J Challis and D W Harding 1975 Later prehistory from the Trent to the Tyne

BAR British series1 (1974) - 20(i-ii) Page(s)44, 45

( 9) Field Investigators Comments

RCHME Field Investigation WRWN 26-FEB-87

(10) by A H A Hogg 1979 British hillforts : an index

BAR British series1 (1974) - 62 Page(s)154

(11) Scheduled Monument Notification

31-OCT-1995

(12) W D Cocroft ... [et al] 1989 Castle Ditch hillfort, Eddisbury, Cheshire, reconsidered : the excavations of 1935-38 in the light of recent field survey

From Cornwall to Caithness : some aspects of British field archaeology : papers presented to Norman V. Quinnell Page(s)129-35

(13) Field Investigators Comments

English Heritage: Old Pale Farm Survey

(13A) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

Ordnance Survey 2-inch survey map sheet 176 80 SW C3 (Copy in Cheshire CRO) surveyed 1839

(13B) S Rhys Williams 1997 West Cheshire from the air : an archaeological anthology

Chester Archaeological Service occasional papersNo.1 (1993) - no.4 Page(s)16

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