If you have any comments or new information about this record, please email us.

Summary

Sub-circular enclosure surrounding a central area, suggested to be a defensive settlement of possible Iron Age date.

Monument Type(s):

• ENCLOSED SETTLEMENT (Iron Age - 800 BC? to 42 AD?)
• HILLFORT (Iron Age - 800 BC to 42 AD)

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• EDR1160 - Ordnance Survey Field Report, 16-NOV-66

Full Description

SK 2207 6283. Castle Ring is an oval hill-fort of ¾ acre with a bank, ditch and a counterscarp bank except on the south-east where both banks and ditch have disappeared. Rooke (1), however, found the entrance "very visible on the south-east where part of the vallum has been levelled by the plough.". (2,9).

Castle Ring. CAMP. (3,9). It became a scheduled monument on 28th April 1949. (4).

A small defensive earthwork occupying the crest of a small hill, no entrance is now visible, but there is a probable outer defence work to the south. The work appears to be a hill top refuge rather than a fort proper. Published 25" survey revised. (5). Listed by Challis and Harding as an Iron Age hillfort, of ¾ acres with bank, ditch and counterscarp. (6,9).

Revised scheduling. 'Castle Ring is situated on Harthill Moor in the eastern gritstone moorlands of Derbyshire. The monument is a sub-circular enclosure comprising a bank, external ditch and counterscarp bank surrounding an area of c. ½ hectare. The internal bank or rampart appears to be of simple dump construction and varies between one metre and two metres high, while the counterscarp bank is between ½ metre and one metre high. The ditch is c.½ metre wide and is less distinct on the south side where there is no rampart visible. This is an indication that the original entrance lay in this region. The monument has not been excavated but it forms part of a rich Bronze Age landscape on Harthill Moor which also includes burial mounds, a second enclosure and Nine Stones Close stone circle'. (10).

<1> Rooke, H, 1779?, Archaeologia, p113 (Article in serial). SDR1499.

<2> Preston, F, 1954, 'The hill-forts of the Peak', Derbyshire Archaeological Journal, p12 (Article in serial). SDR13217.

<3> Ordnance Survey (OS), 1955, 6" (Map). SDR11765.

<3> Ministry of Works, 1961, Ancient Monuments of England and Wales (Scheduling record). SDR754.

<5> F1 FDC 16-NOV-66 (Personal Observation). SDR6252.

<6> Challis, A & Harding, W, 1975, 'Later Prehistory from the Trent to the Tyne', British Archaeological Report 20 (Monograph). SDR2441.

<7> Sheffield City Museum, 1978, Derbyshire Origins, pp 22-23 (Bibliographic reference). SDR13226.

<8> Hawke-Smith, C F, 1979, 'Man-Land Relations in British Prehistory: The Dove-Derwent Interfluve, Derbyshire', British Archaeological Report (Bibliographic reference). SDR7113.

<9> North Derbyshire Archaeological Trust (NDAT), North Derbyshire Archaeological Trust Index, 1044 (Index). SDR10000.

<10> English Heritage, 1994, Scheduling Notification: Castle Ring Defended Settlement (Scheduling record). SDR19337.

<11> Peak District National Park Authority (PDNPA), Slide Collection, 6717.1 (Photograph). SDR18971.

Sources and Further Reading

Search results generated by the HBSMR Gateway from exeGesIS SDM Ltd.