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HEREFORDSHIRE BEACON

ALTERNATIVE NAME:

BRITISH CAMP

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Description

DESCRIPTION

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A well preserved and spectacular Iron Age hillfort of two or more phases with over 100 possible hut circles. The hillfort originally covered at area of approximately 8 acres. The site was apparently reused as the site of a medieval ringwork, possibly in a further two phases, and grew to an area of around 32 acres in size. The site is also known as British Camp.

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MORE INFORMATION & SOURCES

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(SO 760400) Camp (NR) (1)

Excavations in 1879 revealed much pottery "both of the early British and Romano-British date, a few flint implements, hones and sling stones"; also bones of domestic animals. (2)

These excavations "would seem to suggest occupation in Iron Age "B" as well as later." (3)

Superficial examination suggests four phases of construction, two Iron Age, two Mediaeval:

I. An enclosure of upwards of 8 acres protected by a slight bank above an artificially steepened scarp at the foot of which was a ditch, supplemented across the relatively level ridge on the NE by a counterscarp bank. Entrances to NW and SE.

II. Enclosure enlarged to four times original size by "a magnificent line of defence" along 1,000ft contour. The upper edge of the escarpment bears slight and intermittent traces of a bank backed by a quarry-ditch from which it was derived. Four entrances of the overlapping type.

"The number of entrances is exceptional and suggests a fairly permanent usage of the fortified ridge by a considerable community with territorial interests in all directions".

III. The original enclosure was partly reoccupied as a small fortified post. A steep rock-cut ditch and internal rampart built to enclose an oval area 60yds long on the summit of the hill and a short length of subsidiary bank partially outlined a small platform or bailey outside, towards NE. Entrance on S - the causeway to NE is almost certainly modern. "The approaching ridgeway from the S is flanked by two small mounds which doubtless represent a former gate-structure. The relative freshness and general character of the work confirm an old suggestion that the whole of this work is mediaeval. The central enclosure may be described as a ring-motte, and its hilltop situation classes it with similar native adaptations of Norman modes in the highland zone. It is presumably of the 12th century, too early (it would seem) to have formed a guardpost in connection with phase iv".

IV. Shire Ditch (see SO 73NE 12) made use of the counterscarp bank of the east ditch of phase II. (2-4)

SO 76004000. A fine IA hill-fort within which is a ring motte.
Descriptions of authority 3 correct.
Published survey (25") revised. See GP. (5)

No change. Survey of 30 8 67 correct. (6)

General description of the I A Hillfort and Norman motte. (7)

SO 760400 Herefordshire Beacon Camp. Scheduled 3. (8)

SO 759398. Herefordshire Beacon. Listed in gazetteer as a multivallate hillfort covering 7.1ha. (9)

Herefordshire Beacon. Description and plan. (10)

Herefordshire Beacon Camp. Description and plan. (11)

Surveyed at 1:1000 by EH in 1999-2000 as part of the RCHME: Malvern Hills AONB Project. This survey confirms Wheeler's phasing (4) for the prehistoric earthworks but reverses the medieval phases. It also suggests the possibility of an intervening (and possibly incomplete) Phase 'IIa'. None of the phases is absolutely dated. Classification of the Phase II hillfort as multivallate (9) is misleading. Over one hundred possible and probable hut circles were noted within the Phase II hillfort. Evidence for Romano-British activity is extremely slight. Though the earthworks support the assumption that the Shire Ditch is later than the fort, it is considered to be probably of earlier date, in origin, than the ringwork. The ringwork may have held a hunting lodge built in connection with Malvern Chase (12a) but it may also relate to the (disputed) boundary marked by the Shire Ditch. The symbolic aspects of the ringwork, in its prominent location and positioning within an ancient enclosure, are stressed but its possible functional value is also acknowledged. Further details are held in the NMR. (12)

A basic plan of the Iron Age hillfort, described by the previous authorities, has been mapped as part of the Malvern Hills AONB NMP. For a detailed plan see the 1:1000 survey referred to by authority 12. (13-19)

Additional reference and photograph. (20)

SOURCE TEXT

( 1) Ordnance Survey Map (Scale / Date)

OS 6" 1905

( 2) Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club : transactions

(F G H Price) 1877-80 Page(s)214

( 3) The Antiquaries journal : journal of the Society of Antiquaries of London

(C F Hawkes) 5 - 1931 Page(s)83

( 4) Royal Archaeological Institute The Archaeological Journal

(R E M Wheeler) 109 - 1952 Page(s)146-48

( 5) Field Investigators Comments

F1 FDC 30-AUG-67

( 6) Field Investigators Comments

F2 MHB 28-JUN-71

( 7) by S S Frere and J K S St Joseph 1983 Roman Britain from the air

Cambridge air surveys 1983 Page(s)7-8

( 8) English Heritage 1987 County list of Scheduled Ancient Monuments : December 1987

1987 Page(s)11

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

BAR British series1 (1974) - (AHA Hogg) 62 - 1979 Page(s)186

(10) edited by William Page, F.S.A. 1908 The Victoria history of the county of Hereford, volume one

The Victoria history of the counties of England 1908 Page(s)205-6

(11) Royal Commission on Historical Monuments, England 1932 An inventory of the historical monuments in Herefordshire. Volume II: east

1932 Page(s)55-7

(12) Field Investigators Comments

M Bowden/ 1999-2000/EH: Field Investigation

(12A) Robert Higham and Philip Barker 1992 Timber castles

1992 Page(s)200,239

(14) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

NMR SO7639/29-30 (18274/06-07) 02-FEB-1999

(15) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

NMR SO7639/17-18 (14933/11,13) 24-JUN-1993

(16) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

NMR SO7640/07-08 (WAP 11726/30531-2) 01-JAN-1979

(17) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

NMR SO 7640/40 (18270/12) 02-FEB-1999

(18) Oblique aerial photograph reference number

NMR SO 7640/48 (MIL 19532/098) 29-AUG-1998

(19) Vertical aerial photograph reference number

RAF 106G/UK/1652 1339-1340 11-JUL-1946

(20) Della Hooke 2006 England's Landscape: West Midlands

Page(s)32

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