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Castle Old Fort

Hillfort

Miscellaneous

Details of hill-fort on Pastscape

[SK 0620 0330] FORT [OE] (Spearheads and Arrowheads found). (1)
Castle Old Fort, Shenstone is classified as a hill-fort. It is egg-shaped in plan; its extreme inner length c.171 yds. width, 138 yds. The inner rampart is fairly complete and there was apparently an outer bank and ditch. The north-west defences have been destroyed together with the entrance that was probably here. [See AO/55/111/1 for a photo-reproduction of the plan]. (2) Two entrances on the south-east and north-west. A barbed flint arrowhead, Roman pottery and coins of Otto, Domitian, and Nero have been found here. (3)
Castle Old Fort is an ovoid, univallate hill-fort occupying the south-eastern end of a ridge. The defences comprise a bank and ditch with counterscarp bank. They have been destroyed by quarrying at the north-western quadrant and mutilated elsewhere by carriage drives and ornamental gardening to the house which now occupies the interior. No trace of any entrances was seen. No further information on the 17th c. finds was gained. A 25" survey has been made. (4) No change - survey of 1958 correct. (5) No change since reports of 21.4.58 and 9.9.74. (6) Listed by Challis and Harding as a univallate hillfort, of 3.5 acres, now mutilated and destroyed. (7)
SK 062 033. Castle Ring Old Fort. Listed in gazetteer as a univallate hillfort covering 1.5ha. (8)
The hillfort, centred at SK 0620 0330, was surveyed at 1:1000 by RCHME in 1988. Much of the original defences of the hillfort of Castle Old Fort survive (as described by Authority 4), but are in poor condition. The main ditch is traceable around the entire circuit with the exception of the NW and SE corners of the fort where extensive quarrying has virtually destroyed the ramparts. An outer bank is visible in places, but this is quite diffuse - to the north it has clearly been over-ploughed with narrow ridge and furrow. It is possible that a broad external bank to the SW of the fort is not directly associated with the ramparts and may instead represent a cultivation headland. Narrow ridge and furrow also covers much of the fort interior on an east-west orientation, and this has affected the preservation of the inner rampart. Down the west side the ridge and furrow appear to overlie the inner rampart, whilst at the east the inner scarp has been sharpened by ploughing; a low bank toward the southern end is probably associated with later cultivation rather than with the original defences. The fort has internal measurements of 170m north to south and 130m transversely. The remains of a simple in-turned entrance are visible in the rampart in the SE of the fort. This entrance remained in use until the construction of The Castle Fort house, at which time the gap was closed. A second blocked gap is discernable in the SW rampart; this appears to have been in use until at least 1923 (9a). A former track way associated with the SE entrance is still discernable as a narrow terrace extending from the breach in the rampart in a NW direction for a distance of around 90m. No evidence of a former entrance in the NW of the fort was found, and a breach in the centre of the N rampart does not appear to be original. Numerous track ways now dissect the fort interior, principally a means of access to a reconstructed house within the fort (SK 00 SE 12). Full RCHME survey information, including a detailed report, is available in the NMR Archive. (9)
Chance Posted by Chance
21st July 2016ce

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