Monument Type(s):

• UNIVALLATE HILLFORT (Iron Age - 800 BC to 43 AD)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: Castle Ring is a good example of an Iron Age hillfort of a nationally rare type (large, and with a single defensive rampart), and has largely undisturbed entrance earthworks and interior. It is one of a group of such hillforts in South Shropshire.

Related records

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA1914 - 1971 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA5405 - 2003-2004 Stiperstones Hills Archaeological Survey by SCCAS
• ESA6904 - 2011-12 DBA and walkover survey of hillforts in Shropshire by Shropshire Council and Herefordshire Council
• ESA4785 - 1992-2000 Summary Condition Survey of SAMs in the Shropshire Hills Environmentally Sensitive Area by English Heritage

Description

A hillfort enclosing approximately 10 acres situated on a spur with ground falling steeply away on all sides but the south, where the defences comprise a single bank rising up to 3.5m above an outer ditch. In these defences is incorporated an off-set in-turned entrance. The natural defences on the west and north sides of the promontory are strengthened by the construction of a steep scarp slope 3m high and an outer berm 3m wide. OS FI 1971 <1>

Oak Hill Castle Ring, a promontory fortress on a north-facing spur of the Stiperstones, is defended on the west by a 7ft scarp above a narrow berm on the hill-side. On the north a rampart has been constructed at the top of the scarp and a ditch cut in the berm, while to the east the defence consists solely of the steep hill-side. The entrance to the camp is set obliquely in the northern defences, which consist of a bank and ditch across the narrowest part of the isthmus. The rampart rises 15ft from the bottom of the 5ft deep ditch and drops 3ft to the interior. <1a>

A hill-fort enclosing approximately 10 acres situated on a spur, with ground falling steeply away on all but the south side, where the defences comprise a single bank rising up to 3.5 metres above an outer ditch. In these defences is incorporated an off-set inturned entrance. The natural defences on the W and N sides of the promontory are strengthened by the construction of a scarp slope 3.0m high, and an outer berm 3.0m wide. Resurveyed at 1:2500. <1b>

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, Medium score as one of 13 Large Univallate hillforts <5>

Scheduled in 1995. Scheduling description: ->

-> The monument includes Castle Ring, a large univallate hillfort in a naturally strong defensive position on the summit of Oak Hill, a steep sided spur at the north end of Stiperstones. The enclosed area of the hillfort is roughly triangular in plan with maximum internal dimensions of 280m NNE to SSW by 190m transversely giving an internal area of approximately 3.8ha. The artificial defences are designed to enhance the natural strength of the site. The natural hillslopes fall precipitously on all sides except the south, the natural approach along the ridge top. Here the earthworks are at their most elaborate and include a strong cross-ridge rampart 8m wide and 3.5m high with an outer ditch on the south side 5m wide and 1.2m deep set across the narrow neck of the spur. The rampart is interrupted approximately midway along its length by a slightly offset, in-turned entrance 6m wide. Around the south east side of the hillfort the already steep natural hillslope has been cut back slightly to form a well defined scarp slope up to 4.8m high. This ends after 260m fading out on the natural slopes around the north eastern tip of the spur. Here the hillfort relies for defence solely on the precipitous nature of the hillslope. Around the west and north west sides the natural hillslope has been cut back to form a scarp slope, up to 4m high with an outer berm or silted ditch averaging 3m wide. There is no visible evidence of habitation in the interior of the hillfort, the surface of which follows the natural contours of the hill, but the buried remains of such features will survive beneath the surface <6>

The Stiperstones Survey included the Castle Ring hillfort. A length of ditch recorded by the survey just outside the entrance may be part of the defences. Though the Monuments Protection Programme suggested there is no visible evidence of habitation in the hillfort interior (<6>), the Stiperstones Survey recorded a number of probable building platforms or terraces inside the entrance of the fort. The survey also identified three low mounds in the centre of the hillfort and a short gully on its eastern side of unknown function. The hillfort was recorded as in good condition. <9>

Photographed during aerial photographic survey in 2007-2010, and again in 2012. <11>-<15>

This site was visited during a survey of major later prehistoric enclosures in the region, in 2011-2012. Management of the monument has been good for many decades. <16><16a>

Photographed by Chris Musson in 1996. <17>

Visited during a condition survey by the English Heritage Field Monument Warden, in 1997. Condition recorded as satisfactory. <18>

The hillfort is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs and has been mapped by RCHME's Marches Uplands Mapping Project. Aerial photographs showed evidence of disturbed ground within the area enclosed by the rampart, which was thought to represent small scale quarrying of unknown date. The areas of disturbance were not mapped. RAF 106G/UK/1698 2167-8 27-AIG-1946; NMR OS/71320 243-4 05-JUL-1971; NMR SJ3701/1. <19>

Sources

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