<< Our Photo Pages >> Warden Hill Hillfort - Hillfort in England in Northumberland
Submitted by Anne T on Sunday, 05 May 2019 Page Views: 2902
Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Warden Hill HillfortCountry: England County: Northumberland Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Hexham Nearest Village: Warden
Map Ref: NY9042367863
Latitude: 55.005238N Longitude: 2.151263W
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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Anne T visited on 1st May 2019 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 4 Access: 4 Warden Hill Hillfort: Homer’s Lane is very narrow, so we struggled to park the car. We eventually ended up bumped up on the verge at the wide entrance to a farm house at NY 91187 67190, ensuring there was plenty of room for tractors, trailers and other traffic to get past.
Walking back to the start of the footpath at NY 91217 67247, we used the kissing gate and walked up hill, turning left onto the well-marked path, zig-zagging through what is virtually a small village at High Warden (there are so many signposts and ‘private’ signs’ people must have become fed up with walkers). We ended up on a small woodland path leading northwards along the edge of a field towards the telecoms mast just below the summit of Warden Hill. By the mast, the track dog-legs slightly westwards, with the path running north up-hill through the centre of a field of pasture.
Towards the top of the hill there is a trig point, immediately to the east of the gate into the next field. Going through the gate, there is an interesting series of low banks which are medieval/post medieval in date. Walking 10-15m further onto the hill, the outer banks of the hill fort become clear.
We spent ages walking around the outside and inside of the hillfort. We’d taken the printed HE and Pastscape records with us, determined to understand all the features. We particularly looked for the Roman signal station, and identified a small, square structure where the grid reference said it should have been. From here, running eastwards, a line of stones poked up intermittently out of the grass.
There are brilliant views in most directions, although the endless noise of the A69 became a little tedious.
Warden Hill Hillfort is scheduled as Historic England List ID 1011421 and recorded as Pastscape Monument No. 18338. This hillfort is roughly circular, measuring 85m east-west and 63m north-south, defined by up to three ramparts and ditch.
Classed as an Iron Age multivallate hillfort, it now only survives as an earthwork on the summit of Warden Hill. Parts of the hillfort have been destroyed by quarrying, and a possible Romano-British settlement overlies its north western corner. The original entrance to the west of the fort can still be clearly seen. Pastscape tells us: "The ramparts have become spread and give the impression of being terraced into the hillside; the two outer ramparts, which are 0.4m and 1.5m high, are only 1.5m apart and were originally separated by a ditch which has become obscured by the spreading ramparts. The more substantial inner rampart measures 6m across and has a maximum height of 2m. Where the matrix of the rampart is clear of turf, it is composed of large facing stones infilled with smaller stones and earth".
A small, sub-rectangular Roman signal station is known to have existed at NY 9036, 6788, at the north western end of the fort, although Pastscape Monument No. 18309 says that 'no surface traces at this, or any other, position on the hill', although the fort was only surveyed using aerial photographs in 2003.
Across the south western end of the fort are some possible Medieval/post-Medieval banks/earthworks, intersecting at NY 9052 6789. More information about these can be found on Pastscape Monument No. 1454154. There is also a relocated trig point which can be found to the east of the gateway into the field.
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