Monument Type(s):

• ENCLOSED SETTLEMENT (Iron Age - 800 BC to 43 AD)
• FARMSTEAD (Iron Age - 800 BC to 43 AD)
• POLYGONAL ENCLOSURE (Iron Age - 800 BC to 43 AD)
• RINGWORK? (Medieval - 1066 AD to 1540 AD)

Summary

Scheduled Monument: Well-preserved earthworks of a small Iron Age farmstead, a type of site which only infrequently survives with upstanding earthworks in this part of England.

Related records: None recorded

Associated Finds: None recorded

Associated Events

• ESA4458 - 1972 field observation by the Ordnance Survey
• ESA4459 - 1981 field observation by English Heritage
• ESA4460 - 1986 field observation by English Heritage
• ESA4785 - 1992-2000 Summary Condition Survey of SAMs in the Shropshire Hills Environmentally Sensitive Area by English Heritage

Description

Castle Ring, a small subtriangular earthwork of uncertain date, is reported to have been bulldozed away <1a>
A small sub-triangular earthwork measuring 70m NE/SW by 50m transversely. The W side is bounded by precipitous natural slopes and has no artificial defences. The NE side comprises a tree covered rampart, 11m wide, 1m high internally and 1.6m high externally. There are unsurveyable traces of an outer ditch. The SE side has been reduced and spread by the plough and is arable land. The rampart is up to 14m wide but no more than 0.4m high. A rounded termination suggests the original entrance would have been between it and the original slopes. OS FI 1972 <1>

..a small promontory fort. The NW angle of a high part of the ridge is enclosed by an angular bank, still up to 8ft high (NB 1908) although reduced by cultivation, with faint traces of a ditch. The entrance is to the south. <3a>

Evaluated for MPP in 1990-1, Medium score as one of 20 Ringworks; Medium score as one of 30 Upland Enclosures <6>

Scheduling revised in 1995. Interpreted as an Iron Age farmstead. Scheduling description: ->

->The monument includes the earthwork and buried remains of Castle Ring, a small Iron Age settlement enclosure with an internal area of c.0.3ha situated on the summit of Ridgeway Hill, a promontory above and south west of the River Onny. The enclosure is roughly triangular in plan with maximum dimensions of 74m north east to south west by 60m transversely. The earthworks were designed to make maximum defensive use of the natural strength of the promontory position with the minimum of artificial works. To the west and north west precipitous natural slopes fall towards the river, making any artificial defences unnecessary around this side of the enclosure. Around the north east and south east sides, where the ground falls less steeply, substantial earthwork ramparts have been constructed roughly at right-angles to each other. The northern is the better preserved; it lies orientated north west to south east, is 40m long, 10m wide and up to 2m high on its outer face, lm on its inner. The southern rampart is less well defined, having been reduced and spread by past ploughing. It remains visible as an earthwork orientated roughly north east to south west up to 18m wide and 0.5m high on its outer face, 0.2m on its inner. At its eastern end it is joined roughly at right angles to the northern rampart. The northern arm of the defences terminates some 6m short of the western slope edge, this gap may represent the position of an original entrance; entrances in such locations are frequently found in this class of monument. The southern rampart also terminates short of the natural slope edge at its south west end, though evidence for an entrance at this point is less easy to confirm. Although no longer visible as surface features, both ramparts will have outer defensive ditches from which material would have been quarried for the construction of the ramparts. These ditches will survive as buried features with an estimated width of 6m and are included in the scheduling. All fences within the protected area are excluded from the scheduling although the ground beneath is included <7>

Visited during a condition survey by the English Heritage Field Monument Warden, in 1996. Condition recorded as fair. Site has suffered previously from vehicle tracks, dumping and stock erosion. <8>

<00> Shropshire County Council SMR, Site and Monuments Record (SMR) cards, SMR Card for PRN SA 00173 (Card index). SSA20722.

<01a> Chitty Lily F, 1961/ 1967, Article in the Transactions of the Caradoc and Severn Valley Field Club, p66 (Article in serial). SSA403.

<01> Ordnance Survey, 1972, Ordnance Survey Record Card SO48NW8 (Card index). SSA886.

<02> Musson Chris R, 1988-Mar-04, CPAT 88/03/0004 (Oblique aerial photograph). SSA16214.

<03a> Victoria County History, 1908, Victoria County History 1, p355-356 inc plan (Volume). SSA178.

<03> Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission (HBMC), 1987-Feb-04, Scheduled Monument Report on SAM 30433 (04/02/1987) (Field Monument Warden Report). SSA890.

<04> English Heritage, Map of Scheduled area (Scheduled Monument notification). SSA888.

<05> English Heritage, 1990, Map of Scheduled area, 1990 (Scheduled Monument notification). SSA887.

<06> Horton Wendy B, 1990/ 1991, MPP Evaluation File (TEXT). SSA20084.

<07> English Heritage, 1995, Scheduling Papers (Revised Scheduling, 20/11/1995) (Scheduled Monument notification). SSA889.

<08> Leigh Judith, 2001, Scheduled Ancient Monuments in the Shropshire Hills ESA: Brief Condition Survey (Field survey report). SSA20802.

Sources

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