More information : [SE 15251405] Castle Hill [TI] Camp [GT] Castle [GT] (Site of). (1)
The Iron Age hillfort at Almondbury was excavated by Varley in 1939, 1946 and 1947, and was shown to have had four prehistoric phases [See plan]. (2)
The only finds of Iron Age type were three small pieces of pottery now in the Tolson Museum, but Cotton states that finds included `part of a quadrangular vessel together with its lid and the lid of a second similar vessel'. A small fragment of Arretine ware was found in 1939. (3-4)
The hillfort may reasonably be identified with Camulodunum, a Brigantian town, of Ptolemy. (5, 7)
A coin hoard, formerly associated with Almondbury, has been dismissed by Allen who attributes the coins to the Lightcliffe hoard [SE 12 SW 3]. (6)
A motte and bailey, mentioned in a Charter of Stephen, was subsequently constructed, the mound being formed by upcast from a ditch 40 feet wide dug across the west end of the promontory. A later stone keep was dismantled by Henry III. (8, 9)
Survey of 19.4.61 unchanged.
A bivallate Iron Age hillfort, possessing at its southern end the remains of a Medieval motte and bailey. The complex, as a whole, is in good condition, and in general conforms to plan B in A0/LP/64/185. The outer works shown in plan D are no longer discernible.
An original entrance at the northern end has been mutilated by the construction of a modern access to the summit, and a modern road now breaches the eastern ramparts. (10)
SE 152 148. Castle Hill. The most intensively investigated hillfort in the Pennines was excavated by the late W J Varley in 1939, 1946-7, 1969-70 and 1972. Apart from a summary with a plan, some sections and some pottery drawings by the excavator, published in 1976, the results are still unpublished. This multi-period site provides an important series of radio-carbon dated construction phases.
Phase 1: Neolithic occupation sites on the summit. C14 date 2110 +/- 130 bc.
Phase 2: No occupation.
Phase 3: Univallate enclosure: south-western half of summit, area 5.5 acres (2.2ha). A bank without known ditch, a simple central entrance gap on the north-eastern side flanked by a guard room. The bank had kerbs of vertical flagstones supported by drystone walling for a clay core.
Phase 4: No occupation
Phase 5: An open settlement over whole summit with stone kerbed circular huts.
Phase 6: Univallate fort, enclosing south-western half of the summit, area 5.5 acres (2.2ha). Rampart built on top of the Phase 3 bank including the gateway on north-eastern side. Foundation of two rows of vertical slabs 3m apart set in trenches. Inner and outer revetment walls with internal cellular walls, filled with clay, and stiffened with vertical and horizontal timbers. Core topped with flagstones that had stone lined-post at 3m intervals. Berm and round-bottomed ditch, 3m wide 2m deep; and external bank. Occupation floors inside rampart. C14 date: 595 +/- 95 bc (I-4542).
Bivallate fort: extension to enclose the whole of the summit, 8 acres (3.7ha). Rampart extended over earlier north-eastern ditch on a packing of large boulders to enclose the northern half of the site, identical in construction to the Univallate fort. A gateway at the north-eastern end of the new circuit. The defences of the univallate fort still used were reinforced by additional revetment walling. Hut floors behind the rampart bank. C14 dates: 520 +/- 110 bc (HAR-84), 555 +/- 95 BC (I-5931), and 530 +/- 110 bc (HAR-183).
Multivallate fort: with an outer circuit down the slope. Total area 25 acres (12ha). The previous rampart raised and widened to cover the berm and filling up half the ditch to carry a new revetment wall. A deep V-shaped ditch cut around the summit with counterscarp bank. A third bank was built as a glacis for a short distance along a natural shelf on the eastern side, and a fourth bank linked up with the eastern entrance. A fifth bank with ditch extended around a level bench, below the eastern end of the hill to enclose a quadrilateral `annex' that had hut foundations.
The eastern entrance was extended down hill by a hollow-way curving northwards and running through an outer rampart down the hillslope close to the 800ft OD contour. At the western end of the hill the outer rampart turned inwards to provide a second entrance. Rampart C14 dates: 450 +/- 130 bc (HAR-135) and 460 +/- 130 bc (HAR-83).
Vitrification of rampart around summit. Could have been caused by spontaneous combustion of the Coal Measures shale bank aided by the presence of structural timbers. This is the alternative to a deliberate firing of the structure. TL date: 431 +/- 180 bc. (11)
SE 152 140. Almondbury. Listed in gazetteer as a multivallate hillfort covering 2.20ha. (12)
The remains of the hillfort, centred at SE 1525 1407, were surveyed by RCHME in 1995 as part of its overall survey of Castle Hill. Following the survey, the medieval castle which overlies the fort and which has previously formed part of this record, has been separated off and made the subject of a new, discrete NMR record (SE 11 SE 24). Similarly, new records have been created for other aspects of the site previoulsy included in this record, namely: the neolithic occupation of the hill (see SE 11 SE 31); the alleged annexe at the north-east end of the fort (SE 11 SE 26); and the alleged outer works/ramparts close to the 800 foot contour (SE 11 SE 27).
Varley's excavations are still largely unpublished. The phasing given by authority 11 above effectively summarizes the few published details available to date (13a, 13b). The area of the hillfort forms part of Scheduled Ancient Monument number West Yorkshire 58/RSM 13297 (13c).
Castle Hill is a small but prominent hill rising to 273m above OD. It is roughly oval-shaped in plan, with generally very steep sides and a flattish summit stepping down slightly to the north-east. Geologically, it is composed of alternating bands of sandstones and shales laid almost horizontally, which have resulted in the hill in places having a rather stepped profile due to differential weathering of strata of varying hardness exposed on its flanks. The hillfort occupies the southern, slightly higher, part of the summit. It comprises a main, inner, rampart with massive external terrace/ditch, plus a second, lesser, rampart with occasional ditch beyond. Additional defences (Varley's multivallations) guard the more vulnerable north-eastern flank of the fort where the main defences cut across the summit of the hill, and the fort can be approached across the level ground of the annexe. There is a single, unelaborated entrance in the north-east.
Varley's excavations revealed that the inner rampart was stone-built, but also that it is now everywhere buried beneath the dump ramparts of the later castle (SE 11 SE 24). It is likely, however, that the general form and position of the ditch below the rampart are much as they were in the Iron Age. An exception to this is around the northern quadrant of the hill, where the ditch appears visibly recut and possibly repositioned slightly, probably during the medieval refortification. Around the southern end of the hill, the ditch bottom is as much as 6m below the level of the fort's interior. Survey suggests that here it has been created by cutting back the steep natural fall of the hill to form a terrace, and erecting a slight, second rampart on the outer lip. It is possible that in so doing the original builders took advantage of one of the natural steps in the hill's profile. If, as seems likely, this step was confined to the southern part of the hill and divided the summit in two, it would provide a plausible explanation of why the northern end of the hill was not included within the main defended area. A number of such steps run across the hilltop at this point, and were incorporated to maximum advantage within the defences of the fort by augmenting the natural obstacle presented by the `riser' of each step with banks and ditches (the multivallations). Varley claims that there are two such additional banks - his Ramparts III and IV - although survey failed to find any trace of a bank that could equate to Rampart III, and located only very slight traces of what is probably Rampart IV at the top of a natural step 2m or more high. Survey also located faint surface trace of a ditch which Varley claimed lies at the foot of this riser, and suggested the possibility of a very silted ditch external to the second rampart in this quadrant plus perhaps another behind the line of Rampart IV, neither of which is mentioned by Varley.
Varley's claim that the hollow way leading up to the north-east entrance to the fort is Iron Age is not borne out by the field evidence. Varley does not make explicit the basis for this claim, but his published site plans indicate that he believed the sides of the hollow way connected with the end of Rampart IV. However, in the field the relevant scarps fall well short of each other, and have no directly observable relationship.
All surviving surface features in the interior of the fort are medieval or later. The southern half of the fort is mainly occupied by two 19th-century buildings - the Victoria Tower and Castle Hill Hotel - plus their associated car parks. A modern road climbs the south-east flank of the hill and has breached the fort's defences about half way along the eastern side. Map evidence shows a farm complex called Castle Hill Top stood until recently at SE 1533 1405 close to this point (13d). Although now demolished, it has effaced part of the course of the inner ditch, second rampart, and the eastern end of the multivallations. Traces of narrow ridge-and-furrow ploughing within the fort's interior are probably associated with the farm (see SE 11 SE 25). Modern footpaths approach either end of the fort, which is now managed as public open space, and cut across the ramparts or pass through the north-east entrance. Gravel paths have been laid on the top of the ramparts and across parts of the interior to combat visitor erosion. Otherwise, the site is under grass, although parts of the ramparts are obscured by brambles and gorse.
Full details of the survey, including a plan at 1:500 scale, and a detailed earthwork account (13e), are contained in the full site survey archive in the NMR. (13)
The hillfort has traditionally been thought to have been the powerbase of Cartimandua of the Brigantes. However, this supposition is very weak given the dating evidence available. (14)
Additional reference. (15) |