More information : (SO 8355 8320) Camp (NR) (1)
Kinver Edge Hill Fort. The situation corresponds with other Class
'B' Hill Forts, although the shape is not typical. The SW and SE
sides are practically straight with a rounded corner at their
junction, and apparently there was an entrance at each extremity.
These sides have a single line of vallum and fosse with slight
indications of a former double line. The NE side is edged by
precipitous slopes. This side of the ramparts may have been
scarped. The NW line against the slope of the hill has a scarped
inside vallum.
The extreme internal length is 300 yds and width 180 yds, with an
internal area of 7 1/2 acres. (2)
Kinver Camp. Class 'A' Promontary Fort. (3)
A univallate IA ridge end fort cutting off a roughly rectangular
area at the northern end of Kinver Edge and consisting of a
massive rampart and outer ditch, on the SW and SE sides. The
rampart measures up to 20.0m in width, 2.0m in height internally
and drops 6.5m to the base of the ditch which is up to 15.0m in
width and 2.0m in depth. The ground falls away so precipitously
on the NW and NE sides that no defences were required. Traces of
an apparent irregular bank along the NW side are due to a
slightly sunken footpath which runs parallel to the edge, but the
first 60.0m or so is a more prominent bank, 7.0m in width and up
to 0.9m in height, probably constructed to prevent the rampart
being outflanked. The original approach was up a narrow ridge
onto the NE corner of the work. Steep natural slopes flank it on both
sides and there are traces of a rampart partly blocking the approach
and so reducing the width of the entrance itself. The termination
of the rampart some 15.0m from the edge of the natural slopes at
the eastern end is the result of modern mutilation, gravel
digging and the levelling for a footpath, and there is no ground
evidence for an original entrance here nor at the western end, as
is suggested by Lynam.
The site is upon the Bunter Pebble Beds, the interior has
reverted to heathland and the ramparts are largely overgrown with
trees and bushes. The earthwork is the property of the National
Trust and is open to the public. Published 1:2500 survey revised. (4)
(SO 8355 8320) Fort (NR) (5)
Kinver Edge camp. The defences consists of a single bank and
ditch defending the south-eastern and south-western sides, with
natural defences on the two remaining sides. The site covers
about 2.4 ha. or 6 acres. (see illus. card) (6). Scheduled (7).
The promontory fort stands in 283 acres of National Trust heath
and woodland (8).
SO 836 833. Kinver Edge. Listed in gazetteer as a univallate hillfort
covering 3.2ha. (9)
The univallate hillfort, centred at SO 8357 8329 at the north end of
Kinver Edge, was surveyed at 1:1000 by RCHME in 1988.
The earthworks are much as described by A.Phillips (Authority 4). The
low bank at the NW side of the fort survives to a height of only
0.7m, and represents the remains of former defences along the
escarpment edge. There is no evidence for the rampart controlling the
approach to the NE corner of the fort via the E spur mentioned by
A.Phillips (Authority 4). A deep cut through the westernmost corner
of the fort probably does not represent a former entrance as
suggested by C.Lynam (Authority 2), although an entrance at the
easternmost corner remains a possibility. Earthworks which may
represent a blocked entrance were identified by the present survey
half way along the SE rampart arm. Very degraded narrow ridge and
furrow survive in the N of the fort; low scarps parallel to the
inside of the rampart are probably associated with this later
ploughing. The area enclosed by the fort is 3.75 ha or 9.25 acres.
Slight external banking beyond the ditch (described by C.Lynam
(Authority 2) as "indications of a former double line [of defences]"
may also be attributed to a 19th century field system around the
fort. Extensive quarrying at the W and E ends of the ramparts has
caused considerable damage to the earthworks.
Full RCHME survey information, including a detailed report, is
available in the NMR Archive. (10) |