More information : SO 3100 7580: Caer Caradoc (NAT) Hill Fort (NR) (1)
Caer Caradoc Iron Age multivallate hillfort with entrances east and west, built on an isolated ridge. Both entrances were of the barbican type with deep inturnings of the ramparts, the western
entrance being the stronger. Within the north side of the fort were 5 hut circles and there is another hollow 7 feet deep in the central area, probably a grain storage pit. Plan. Also two hut circles in one of the northern ditches. (2)
Indications of a number of hut circles in the southwest corner of fort.(3)
Iron Age multivallate hillfort, Caer Caradoc, situated upon the
eastern end of a ridge, under rough pasture furze and gorse. The work measures, overall, 375 metres ENE-WSW, by 20 metres
transversely at the eastern end, widening to a maximum of 185 metres towards the western end and comprises a double rampart with medial ditch on the south east side. Here there are steep natural slopes and triple ramparts with two medial ditches, largely cut through rock along the weaker, more open northwest side and around the western end to either side of the principal entrance. The secondary entrance at the eastern end is more simply constructed and gives onto a narrow ridge with steep natural slopes to either side.
The inner rampart rises above the interior from 0.5 metres on the
southeast side to 2.8 metres on the northwet side and falls 7 metres to the ditch. The second rampart rises out of the ditch from 2 metres on the southeast side to 3.5 metres on the northwest side and falls 3.6 metres to 4 metres externally. The third, outer rampart on the northwest side is 1.8 metres high internally, 1 metres externally. The ramparts vary in width from 10 to 14 metres but around the entrance they broaden to from 15 metres at the eastern end to 20 metres or more at the western end, having broad, flat tops to them.
A break in the outer rampart on the north side 100 metres from the eastern entrance with a causeway across the outer ditch giving
onto the top of the central rampart which from here to the eastern entrance is widened out, may be a minor way in. The earthworks are offset from one another to either side of the break, so it is an original feature. south of the west entrance, within the enclosed area and against the inner rampart, are four round hut platforms, 7 metres in internal diameter, scooped and platformed out from a southeast facing slope. Other depressions and irregularities which extend the length of the northwest and southeast sides at the foot of the inner rampart appear to be small quarries (on the southeast side, for stone) probably contemporary with the construction of the inner rampart.
A small conical pit, 5 metres in diameter, 1.3 metres deep, near the centre of the enclosed area, suggested above to have been a grain storage pit,(2) is probably an old mineral trial shaft and from its sharp profile not more than a 100 years old. On display in Clun Museum, from Caer Caradoc, are a number of Neolithic/Bronze Age worked flakes, including scrapers. No further information.
Published 1:2500 survey revised. (4)
Caer Caradoc: Five alleged hut circles with openings towards the ramparts on the north side are formed by the scalloped edge of the inner quarry ditch. (5)
Field report of 19 10 73 still correct; 1:2500 MSD revised to incorporate interior quarry ditches. (6)
SO 3100 7580: Caer Caradoc (NR) (7)
Caer Caradoc. An Iron Age hillfort with inturned entrances to east and west . (8)
SO 310 757: Caer Caradoc (camp). Scheduled. (9)(11)
SO 310 758: Caer Caradoc, Clun. Listed in gazetteer as a multivallate hillfort covering 2.3 hectares. (10)
SO 3099 7579: Earthwork, standing structural and buried remains of a small multivallate hillfort known as Caer Caradoc situated at the east end of the summit of Garn Bank ridge. The name Caer Caradoc is associated with Caractacus or Caradoc, an Iron Age chieftain leader of the Welsh tribes who was engaged in a guerrilla war against invading Roman forces.
The hillfort is D-shaped in plan. Defences were built on a massive scale. The 2 entrances into the fort are diagonally opposed. The main entrance is from the west flanked by large earthworks. The approach to the eastern entrance is marked by a hollow way. Within the hillfort are a large number of building platforms, some partly cut into the bedrock. Also 70 metres east of the western entrance is a circular depression which is thought to mark the top of a well. Scheduled.(12)
The hillfort is visible as an earthwork on aerial photographs and has been mapped by RCHMEs Marches Uplands Mapping Project. (13-14) |