<< Our Photo Pages >> Hunsbury - Hillfort in England in Northamptonshire
Submitted by LizH on Friday, 08 September 2017 Page Views: 25262
Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Hunsbury Alternative Name: Danes CampCountry: England County: Northamptonshire Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Northampton
Map Ref: SP738584 Landranger Map Number: 152
Latitude: 52.218877N Longitude: 0.921148W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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It is of course a misnomer (as is the local name for parts of the area as ‘Danes camp’ because it is in fact an Iron age hillfort. Interest was regained in it when the area around it was used for ironstone mining in the nineteenth century. This certainly means that the internal floor of the camp has fallen considerably (by more than two metres) which makes the ramparts appear larger since then.
During the quarrying and in subsequent excavations, iron age pits containing tools, pottery and weapons were found. Hunsbury is surrounded by a ditch and a bank. Some ‘restoration’ was probably done when the ironstone mining was finished. The names of roads in the area reflect the names of the engines used for the ironstone tramway ‘Hunslet’ and ‘Sentinel’.
One mile north, towards the bottom of the hill and now completely covered by modern housing, a Neolithic causewayed camp was found. Nothing now remains of it except street names which reflect some of the findings such as ‘Axehead’, and ‘Arrowhead’, along with other names of camps ‘Cissbury’ and ‘Hembury’ and ‘Rainsborough’.
Hunsbury Hill is now in a country park. Inside the bank it is surprisingly peaceful, although the M1 can be heard at almost all times of day and night. There isn’t much of a sense of atmosphere however in my opinion, possibly because it is also used by teenaged bikers and other TWOCers (as I know to my cost) and the inside can be churned up and muddy.
From inside the country park it is relatively easy to find, if you are looking for ramparts, although all signage and information have been kindly removed – presumably by local youth who have nothing better to do. The country park car park is notorious for break ins – if you visit don’t leave anything of value in your car.
Note: Hunsbury Hill Fort Tours and Open Day, Sat/Sun 9/10th September
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