<< Our Photo Pages >> Castle Ditch Eddisbury - Hillfort in England in Cheshire
Submitted by widnes_archaeologist on Monday, 15 February 2021 Page Views: 26716
Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Castle Ditch Eddisbury Alternative Name: Eddisbury HillfortCountry: England County: Cheshire Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Northwich Nearest Village: Delamere
Map Ref: SJ553694 Landranger Map Number: 117
Latitude: 53.219760N Longitude: 2.670913W
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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Ownership is currently split between the Forestry Commission and a local farm. There is evidence of Bronze Age activity at Eddisbury. Before 250 BC, a palisade was erected on Eddisbury Hill. The first hill fort was built in 200–100 BC. Eddisbury hill fort has two main archaeological phases. In the first phase of activity, the site was defended by a single rampart and ditch; this type of hill fort is termed "univallate".
The settlement was concentrated on the eastern part of the fort's hill. During the second phase, the fort extended westwards, occupying the entire hill top, and the defences were enhanced through the addition of more ramparts and ditches. The enclosed area expanded from 5.5 acres to 7 acres and the defences covered 15.5 acres, 6 acres more than previously.
There are two theories about the expansion of the fort: either the growth westwards and the extended defences were completed at the same time or that they were separate events. If they happened at the same time it is likely to have been in the interest of making the site easier to defend. If they were separate, the ramparts may have been extended to incorporate an entrance at the western end of the site. The expansion phase dated to 1–50 AD.
Read more at Wikipedia
In the comments below: Publication of the excavations and investigations of the 'Hillforts of the Cheshire Ridge' project 2009-2012, more details on our page below
Note: Following the rediscovery of the excavator Bill Varley's archive, Rachel Pope and Richard Mason have worked out the functioning and development of the iron gate mechanisms at Eddisbury, Hembury, and South Cadbury hillforts. Eddisbury’s gate-mechanisms are revealed as the earliest in Europe, with Roman adoption of Iron Age technology. Details in the comments on our page.
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