| Summary : The scheduled monument is a large partly-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. The site is notable for its massive stone-built ramparts and a number of pits excavated in the 19th century and not back-filled. |
More information : [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)
The remains of this hillfort are also visible on lidar imagery. The lidar provides a good overview of the remain of the ramparts and the internal pits. It shows that much of the northern boundary of the hillfort appears to be defined by a natural cliff. It also highlights how the multiple ramparts on the eastern side were adapted to fit the available land. (23)
Level 3 survey undertaken by Historic England's Archaeological Survey & Investigation team in the winter of 2018-19 followed a condition survey by Cotswold Archaeology the previous winter. (24)
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