Camp Hill Iron Age defended settlement near Catcherside (Kirkwhelpington)
(NY 98968725) Ancient Earthwork. (1)
'Camp Hill'. An oval earthwork with multiple ramparts approximately 1/2 acre in area. (Listed under Native Sites in Northumberland). (2)
Listed as pre-Roman Iron Age univallated (includes forts, settlements and enclosures). (3)
A probable small fort, the major part of which has been extensively ploughed-down. The visible remains consist of an oval, scarped platform, separated by a berm-cum-depression from an outer scarp, which virtually merges with natural slopes.
On the north-west side, a pronounced ditch between the central platform and a strong outer rampart indicates the former proportions of the work, and suggests an original defence of two ramparts with medial ditch. Published survey (25 inch) revised. (4)
NY 9895 8725. Multivallate hillfort 420m SSW of Catcherside. Scheduled RSM No 21011. The hillfort has a central oval platform measuring 48m by 35m with artificial scarps on all sides. The largely infilled ditch is best preserved on the NW side, where it is a pronounced feature 12.5m wide and 1.2m deep below the interior ground level. Outside the ditch on the NWside there is a well preserved rampart 9m wide and 2m high above the bottom of the ditch. On all other sides the rampart has been reduced to a slight scarp. Ridge and furrow covers and surrounds the site and has clearly contributed to its erosion. (5)
NY 989873 Catcherside. Cord rig in small plot cultivation, contemporary with unenclosed stone-built settlement. (6)
Medieval ploughing covers most of the monument's extent. (7)
A sub-oval Iron Age fort survives as a residual earthwork which has been much reduced by rig ploughing. In its present form the earthwork appears as a more or less level platform enclosed by a ditch. This ditch is most clearly apparent on the north side where it is accompanied externally by a rampart or counterscarp bank. Elsewhere the bank has been reduced to little more than a slight swelling in the ground surface. The lack of a corresponding inner wall or rampart can best be explained by the combined effects of ploughing and stone robbing. As Hodgson (1827, 196) relates, "On Camp-hill, in Catcherside Park, there was a large camp, which the tenant, Richard Shanks, afterwards of the Parkhead, in Chesterhope, improved by ploughing and ridding it of stones. The floors of a great many shields or circular huts, which had been in it, were rudely paved, and had strong marks of fire upon them. Above 200 yards of wall to the south of it were built from the stones got out of it". Hodgson's description strongly implies that the fort originally possessed an overlying Roman-British settlement of round stone houses of which no surface trace now remains. Estate records show that a Mr Shanks was joint tenant of Catcherside in 1778/9 and this suggests that the 'improvement' spoken of by Hodgson, and the subsequent rig ploughing, took place in the late 18th century (NRO ZWN A/5). (8)
NY 989 873. Camp Hill, Catcherside. Listed as a univallate hillfort covering 0.28ha. (9a)
[NY 9895 8725] Fort [NR] (9b)
'Camp Hill'. An oval earthwork with multiple ramparts approximately 1/2 acre in area. (Listed under Native Sites in Northumberland). (2)
Listed as pre-Roman Iron Age univallated (includes forts, settlements and enclosures). (3)
A probable small fort, the major part of which has been extensively ploughed-down. The visible remains consist of an oval, scarped platform, separated by a berm-cum-depression from an outer scarp, which virtually merges with natural slopes.
On the north-west side, a pronounced ditch between the central platform and a strong outer rampart indicates the former proportions of the work, and suggests an original defence of two ramparts with medial ditch. Published survey (25 inch) revised. (4)
NY 9895 8725. Multivallate hillfort 420m SSW of Catcherside. Scheduled RSM No 21011. The hillfort has a central oval platform measuring 48m by 35m with artificial scarps on all sides. The largely infilled ditch is best preserved on the NW side, where it is a pronounced feature 12.5m wide and 1.2m deep below the interior ground level. Outside the ditch on the NWside there is a well preserved rampart 9m wide and 2m high above the bottom of the ditch. On all other sides the rampart has been reduced to a slight scarp. Ridge and furrow covers and surrounds the site and has clearly contributed to its erosion. (5)
NY 989873 Catcherside. Cord rig in small plot cultivation, contemporary with unenclosed stone-built settlement. (6)
Medieval ploughing covers most of the monument's extent. (7)
A sub-oval Iron Age fort survives as a residual earthwork which has been much reduced by rig ploughing. In its present form the earthwork appears as a more or less level platform enclosed by a ditch. This ditch is most clearly apparent on the north side where it is accompanied externally by a rampart or counterscarp bank. Elsewhere the bank has been reduced to little more than a slight swelling in the ground surface. The lack of a corresponding inner wall or rampart can best be explained by the combined effects of ploughing and stone robbing. As Hodgson (1827, 196) relates, "On Camp-hill, in Catcherside Park, there was a large camp, which the tenant, Richard Shanks, afterwards of the Parkhead, in Chesterhope, improved by ploughing and ridding it of stones. The floors of a great many shields or circular huts, which had been in it, were rudely paved, and had strong marks of fire upon them. Above 200 yards of wall to the south of it were built from the stones got out of it". Hodgson's description strongly implies that the fort originally possessed an overlying Roman-British settlement of round stone houses of which no surface trace now remains. Estate records show that a Mr Shanks was joint tenant of Catcherside in 1778/9 and this suggests that the 'improvement' spoken of by Hodgson, and the subsequent rig ploughing, took place in the late 18th century (NRO ZWN A/5). (8)
NY 989 873. Camp Hill, Catcherside. Listed as a univallate hillfort covering 0.28ha. (9a)
[NY 9895 8725] Fort [NR] (9b)
N9422
FIELD OBSERVATION, Ordnance Survey Archaeology Division Field Investigation 1967; B H Pritchard
FIELD SURVEY, HARTINGTON MOOR, WALLINGTON HALL ESTATE 1996; P J Fowler and K D Strutt
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH INTERPRETATION, The Archaeology of the Wallington Estate: an air photographic survey 2002; T Gates
FIELD SURVEY, Hill forts and settlements in Northumberland ; G Jobey
FIELD SURVEY, HARTINGTON MOOR, WALLINGTON HALL ESTATE 1996; P J Fowler and K D Strutt
AERIAL PHOTOGRAPH INTERPRETATION, The Archaeology of the Wallington Estate: an air photographic survey 2002; T Gates
FIELD SURVEY, Hill forts and settlements in Northumberland ; G Jobey
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