| Summary : The buried and earthwork remains of the slight univallate hillfort at Castlebank Plantation. A bank and outer ditch encloses a roughly oval area orientated south east to north west and measuring 170 metres long and 140 metres wide. The earthworks are best preserved on the north, east, south and parts of the west side, where the bank varies between 1 metre and 2 metres high and up to 8 metres wide, and the ditch is 1 metre to 2 metres wide and up to 4 metres deep. There are indications of a further ditch to the north east and south east, which suggests that the hillfort may originally have been bivallate with two rings of defences. In the north west corner of the hillfort a deep clay pit, now containing a pond, has removed the traces of the banks and ditch, and an access drive cuts the earthworks on the south western angle. Scheduled. |
More information : [SK 0620 0330] FORT [OE] (Spearheads and Arrowheads found). (1)
Castle Old Fort, Shenstone is classified as a hill-fort. It is egg-
shaped in plan; its extreme inner length c.171 yds. width, 138 yds. The inner rampart is fairly complete and there was apparently an
outer bank and ditch. The north-west defences have been destroyed
together with the entrance that was probably here. [See AO/55/111/1
for a photo-reproduction of the plan]. (2)
Two entrances on the south-east and north-west. A barbed flint
arrowhead, Roman pottery and coins of Otto, Domitian, and
Nero have been found here. (3)
Castle Old Fort is an ovoid, univallate hill-fort occupying the
south-eastern end of a ridge. The defences comprise a bank and
ditch with counterscarp bank. They have been destroyed by
quarrying at the north-western quadrant and mutilated elsewhere
by carriage drives and ornamental gardening to the house which
now occupies the interior. No trace of any entrances was seen.
No further information on the 17th c. finds was gained.
A 25" survey has been made. (4)
No change - survey of 1958 correct. (5)
No change since reports of 21.4.58 and 9.9.74. (6)
Listed by Challis and Harding as a univallate hillfort, of 3.5
acres, now mutilated and destroyed. (7)
SK 062 033. Castle Ring Old Fort. Listed in gazetteer as a univallate
hillfort covering 1.5ha. (8)
The hillfort, centred at SK 0620 0330, was surveyed at 1:1000 by
RCHME in 1988. Much of the original defences of the
hillfort of Castle Old Fort survive (as described by Authority 4),
but are in poor condition. The main ditch is traceable around the
entire circuit with the exception of the NW and SE corners of the
fort where extensive quarrying has virtually destroyed the ramparts.
An outer bank is visible in places, but this is quite diffuse - to
the north it has clearly been over-ploughed with narrow ridge and
furrow. It is possible that a broad external bank to the SW of the
fort is not directly associated with the ramparts and may instead
represent a cultivation headland. Narrow ridge and furrow also covers
much of the fort interior on an east-west orientation, and this has
affected the preservation of the inner rampart. Down the west side
the ridge and furrow appear to overlie the inner rampart, whilst at
the east the inner scarp has been sharpened by ploughing; a low bank
toward the southern end is probably associated with later cultivation
rather than with the original defences. The fort has internal
measurements of 170m north to south and 130m transversely. The
remains of a simple in-turned entrance are visible in the rampart in
the SE of the fort. This entrance remained in use until the
construction of The Castle Fort house, at which time the gap was
closed. A second blocked gap is discernable in the SW rampart; this
appears to have been in use until at least 1923 (9a). A former track
way associated with the SE entrance is still discernable as a narrow
terrace extending from the breach in the rampart in a NW direction
for a distance of around 90m. No evidence of a former entrance in the
NW of the fort was found, and a breach in the centre of the N rampart
does not appear to be original. Numerous track ways now dissect the
fort interior, principally a means of access to a reconstructed house
within the fort (SK 00 SE 12).
Full RCHME survey information, including a detailed report, is
available in the NMR Archive. (9) |