Hillforts of the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge Hillforts of the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge 3 Hillforts on the Sandstone Ridge Chapter One
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HILLFORTS of the Cheshire By Dan Garner Sandstone Ridge Copyright © Cheshire West and Chester 2012-10-12 ISBN 978-1-905702-77-0 Published by The Habitats and Hillforts Landscape Partnership Scheme, (Cheshire West and Chester Council) Funded by the Heritage Lottery Fund Contents Chapter 1 Introduction 5 Chapter 2 Early Prehistory 11 The Palaeolithic, Mesolithic & Neolithic Chapter 3 The Bronze Age 21 Chapter 4 Hillforts (1) 33 Dedication Late Bronze Age (1140-650 BC) “We dedicate this book to our late Chairman, Dr Andrew Deadman, an avid supporter of the Chapter 5 Hillforts (2) 47 project, who loved this landscape and all the secrets it held” Ellie Morris, October 2012. The Iron Age (650 BC – AD43) Acknowledgements Chapter 6 Hillforts (3) 61 I would like to thank my colleagues Dr Jill Collens, Ellie Morris and Steve Clarke for all their Continuity and re-use (AD 43 – AD 1100) support in proof reading the text, producing maps and illustrations, and offering guidance and support regarding the content. I would also like to thank all of the respective landowners who Chapter 7 Postscript 70 have helped to make the archaeological work on this project possible. Last, but by no means least, I would like to thank all of the people who have volunteered to help with the archaeological field work over the four years of the Habitats and Hillforts Project. Without your support and hard work in fair weather and foul a lot of this book could not have been written. Dan Garner, October 2012 2 Hillforts of the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge Hillforts of the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge 3 Hillforts on the Sandstone Ridge Chapter One Introduction About the Habitats & Hillforts Project The Countryside Character volume for the The hillforts were chosen as the focus of North West of England identified the Cheshire the project because they were the most Sandstone Ridge as a distinct character area. prominent ancient monuments on the Ridge This area formed the limits for a Life ECOnet and represented a type of monument that is network which was given the title of the not found elsewhere in west Cheshire. Sandstone Ridge ECOnet Partnership (SREP) formed as part of an initiative by the former Subsequently, the HLF awarded a full stage Cheshire County Council in 2005. 2 grant to the Habitats and Hillforts Project and it was launched as a 3 year project in October The SREP area was used as the basis for a 2008. bid by Cheshire County Council to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) for a Landscape Partnership The project was adopted by Cheshire West Scheme called ‘Habitats and Hillforts’. and Chester Council, the successor authority to Cheshire County Council, in April 2009. The project did not cover the entire SREP area but instead focused on six Iron Age hillforts The Habitats and Hillforts Project is divided in on the Ridge; each of which was allocated a to four programmes of work: management zone within which additional work would be focused. Stage 1 funding was • Programme 1: Habitats of the Ridge granted by the Heritage Lottery Fund for the Project Development Phase in 2007, from • Programme 2: Hillforts of the Ridge which both an Archaeological Desk Based Assessment and an Archaeological Condition • Programme 3: Access and interpretation Assessment were commissioned from and delivered by Oxford Archaeology (North). • Programme 4: Training and volunteering (Left) Map showing the Habitats and Hillforts management zones and the larger area of the Sandstone Ridge Econet Partnership (SREP) Hillforts of the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge 5 Within Programme 2 (Hillforts of the Ridge) The restoration work involved a range of The decision was taken early on in the process Scientific techniques referred to there are two main threads of work which are measures aimed at stopping the active erosion that the book would follow a chronological in this book: divided between Understanding hillforts and of the monuments and putting in place better approach and that this would cover the period Restoring hillfort heritage. management agreements with the various from the end of the last Ice Age through to just Geophysics: Geophysical survey is used to landowners. after the Norman Conquest and the create maps of subsurface archaeological Prior to the Project, archaeological information compilation of the Domesday Book in 1086. features. It uses non-intrusive and non- on the hillforts of the Ridge was confined The work included the removal of invasive destructive techniques to determine the to excavations carried out between the plant species such as Rhododendron, bracken The reason for this was mainly due to the fact presence or absence of buried archaeological 1930s and the 1980s, with those conducted and birch; the management of burrowing that the bulk of the archaeological information features such as pits, ditches and walls. at Beeston Castle providing the most animals; and the repair and improvement of recovered from the field work covered this Geophysical instruments can detect buried significant results. fences, hedges and footpaths. earlier time span. features when their physical properties It was also acknowledged that the later history contrast measurably with their surroundings. However there were still major gaps in our About this book of the Habitats and Hillforts Project area is In some cases individual artifacts, especially understanding of the chronology, structure, covered by one of our other publications; a metal, may be detected as well. Readings taken function, economy and status of these sites. This book was written as a consequence of a discussion with the late Habitats and Hillforts local history book compiled by David Joyce and in a systematic pattern form a data set that The work undertaken as part of the steering group chairman, Dr Andrew Deadman Barbara Foxwell entitled ‘Captured Memories can be rendered as image maps. Survey results Understanding hillforts thread within shortly before his intimely death in April 2012. Across the Hillforts of Cheshire’. Unfortunately, can be used to guide excavation and to give Programme 2 has involved archaeological this has meant that there is an inevitable archaeologists insight into the patterning of fieldwork in the form of both non-invasive Andrew felt that so much had been achieved gap between the two publications covering the buried archaeology in the non-excavated parts surveys and trial excavation in an attempt to from the archaeological survey and excavation medieval and early post-medieval periods. of a site. work carried out as part of the project that address some of these gaps in our knowledge. A problem in producing a book like this was Magnetometry: A magnetometer is a there needed to be some medium for in deciding how to refer to the geographical measuring instrument used to measure the Local volunteers as well as students from both disseminating the results in a digestible format. area covered by the Habitats and Hillforts strength or direction of magnetic fields. Chester and Liverpool Universities have been area. Various labels have been used in the past Magnetometers are also used to detect buried heavily involved in the delivery of much of the This is a difficult task when the nature of the including ‘The Sandstone Ridge’, ‘Cheshire’s archaeological features. archaeological fieldwork within the Project. information is already somewhat specialist Sandstone Ridge and ‘The Mid Cheshire Ridge’, and the methods used to acquire it were rather in the end I have chosen to refer to it as the There are many types of magnetometer in use It is hoped that the results of this work will technical as well as scientific. ‘Ridge’ for the purposes of this book. but during the Habitats and Hillforts Project lead to a greater understanding of the role of Fluxgate gradiometers were favoured due to these sites in the Cheshire landscape and will For this reason this book is aimed at all of the The second problem is in explaining the their compact configuration and relatively easy also result in an enhanced appreciation of amateur and budding archaeologists out there, myriad scientific techniques deployed during use; a Caesium magnetometer was also used the physical nature and survival of these sites including all of those who were directly the archaeological study of the hillforts; for during commercial surveys of larger hillfort thereby feeding into their long term involved in the Habitats and Hillforts Project, this reason there is a short glossary below that areas. management. and assumes a basic understanding of British will hopefully help to enlighten the reader. archaeology. Magnetometers can be used to detect buried The part of the programme dedicated to fireplaces, hearths, walls of baked bricks and restoring hillfort heritage was prompted by magnetic stones such as basalt and granite; the fact that all six hillforts had been placed tracks and roadways can sometimes be on English Heritage’s ‘At Risk Register’ for mapped with differential compaction or various reasons. disturbance of the soils. 6 Hillforts of the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge Hillforts of the Cheshire Sandstone Ridge 7 Resistivity: Electrical resistance meters can be This technique can date soils up to 50,000 years Time line for the periods covered by this book thought of as similar to the Ohmmeters used to old, although it is more accurate within the test electrical circuits. Archaeological features past 10,000 years. Even so, for the past 5000 can be mapped when they are of higher or years it is less accurate than other dating lower resistivity than the surrounding subsoil. methods like radiocarbon. OSL can be useful Late Upper Palaeolithic 12000 to 9000 BC For example, a stone foundation might impede for dating early sites and those that don't the flow of electricity, while the organic deposits contain material suitable for radiocarbon or within a buried ditch might conduct electricity other dating methods.