Hillfort: Contour hillfort. Defences consisted of a bank and ditch, with a counterscarp bank in places. <1>
Univallate hillfort on a prominent sandstone outcrop. Earth and stone rampart up to 15 metres wide, counterscarp on the north side where the slope lessens. Two original entrances in the east and west sides (the latter pronouncedly inturned). Water supply from strong spring flowing from within the eastern rampart. <2>
Multiple defensive phases:
Phase 1: A timber laced rampart with ditch and counterscarp. Not precisely dated by pottery suggests Early Iron Age.
Phase 2: Box rampart widened to take superimposed glacis bank (immediately following Phase 1).
Phase 3: Period of neglect and rampart collapse.
Phase 4: Hurried reconstruction with massive ramparts built and ditches recut. On the south side gaps in the Phase 2 ramparts were blocked with stone rubble.
Subsequent disuse. <3>
Artefact: One pottery rim sherd from the site, previously believed to be Prehistoric but now identified as early medieval. Possibly evidence for reuse of the site? <13>
More correctly a multivallate hillfort. <14>
Thought to be the site on which Richard Nevil, Earl of Salisbury was camped prior to the Battle of Blore Heath. (LH, 06-Sept-2007) <15>
Irregular contour fort enclosing 9 acres. Single main rampart with double and triple banks and ditches. Inturned entrance on west side with small entrance on the north east, both have been disfigured with modern cart tracks. Has a spring. Now covered with trees and bracken. Dated by Thomas 2nd, 1st century BC. (RH, 24-June-2016) <15>
"A trench was cut across the most westerly point of the upper rampart. Several stages of reconstrcution were seen, but not dating evidence obtained." (RH, 24-June-2016) <16>
| --- | SST3733 - Published Book: North West Wetlands Survey (Leah, Wells, Stamper, Huckerby & Welch). 1998. The Wetlands of Shropshire and Staffordshire. page 215. |
| --- | SST4356 - Other Report: Philip Waite. 1998. The History of Maer Hills. |
| <1> | SST3723 - Designation Record: Department for Culture Media and Sport / English Heritage. Ongoing-2016. Scheduled Monument Designation Documents, Scheduled Monument Consents and Section 17 Management Agreements. AM7 by O.E. Crastor (1971). |
| <2> | SST390 - Index: Ordnance Survey. See cards. Ordnance Survey Card Index. SJ 73 NE - 7 (ASP 27-Sept-1974). |
| <3> | SST390 - Index: Ordnance Survey. See cards. Ordnance Survey Card Index. SJ 73 NE - 7 (Keele Archaeology Group NL Number 6 (May 1966) page 1). |
| <4> | SST2033 - Serial: University of Keele. 1964. North Staffordshire Journal of Field Studies Volume 4 (1964). 'An Archaeological Gazetteer of Staffordshire: Part 1' by A.J.H. Gunstone, page 29 (Maer). |
| <5> | SST3723 - Designation Record: Department for Culture Media and Sport / English Heritage. Ongoing-2016. Scheduled Monument Designation Documents, Scheduled Monument Consents and Section 17 Management Agreements. A.M. 107 (C.A.Snowdon, 1982). |
| <6> | SST390 - Index: Ordnance Survey. See cards. Ordnance Survey Card Index. SJ 73 NE - 7 ('Later Prehistory from Trent to Tyne' by A. Challis & D. Harding, BAR 20 - Pt 2, p45). |
| <7> | SST390 - Index: Ordnance Survey. See cards. Ordnance Survey Card Index. SJ 73 NE - 7 (TNSFC Vol 66, 1931-2 'Recent Investigations of the Hillfort at Maer' B Simms, p91-100). |
| <8> | SST3636 - Published Book: The Victoria History of the Counties of England. 1908. (VCH volume 1) A History of the County of Stafford, Volume I. Page 340. |
| <9> | SST529 - Published Book: Robert Plot. 1686. The Natural History of Staffordshire. Page 408. |
| <10> | SST2445 - Serial: Council for British Archaeology. 1975. West Midlands Archaeological News Sheet Number 18 (1975). 'Berth Hill, Staffs' by G. Emery, pages 40-41. |
| <11> | SST390 - Index: Ordnance Survey. See cards. Ordnance Survey Card Index. SJ 73 NE - 7 (T.N.S.F.C. Volume 72 (1937-1938) page 116 (by G.J.V. Bemrose)). |
| <13> | SST3370 - Letter: Debbie Ford (Potteries Museum and Art Gallery). 1996. Letter about an Anglo-Saxon pottery sherd from Berth Hill, Maer (April 1996). |
| <14> | SST3364 - Survey Report: Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments of England. 1996. Staffordshire Hillfort Survey: Report. |
| <15> | SST3363 - Drawn: Royal Commission on the Historic Monuments of England. 1987 onwards. Staffordshire Hillfort Survey: Illustrations. Permatrace/Paper. 1:1000/1:500. Pages 18-21 (Exceprt from The Gentleman's Magazine 1790, Battle of Blore Heath, p.603-606). |
| <15> | SST3824 - Index: Keele University. Keele University Card Index. SJ 73/21 (Multiple sources, refer to index card). |
| <16> | SST3824 - Index: Keele University. Keele University Card Index. SJ 73/21. |