<< Our Photo Pages >> Shipman Head Down, Bryher - Hillfort in England in Isles of Scilly

Submitted by Thorgrim on Tuesday, 27 July 2004  Page Views: 27394

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 77.5 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Isles of Scilly Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Bryher Island
Map Ref: SV87601605
Latitude: 49.962677N  Longitude: 6.357609W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
 2 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
 5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
 3 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
 4

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Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Thorgrim : The extreme headland of Bryher is Shipman Head. It was fortified in the Iron Age and a tumbled rampart of stones remains - just by the small figure. The notorious Hell Bay is to the left where massive breakers crash in from the Atlantic. Many ships have been wrecked here. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Amongst all the cairns, there is an Iron Age cliff castle located on Shipman Head with a substantial rampart cutting off the storm battered headland

Two widely space ramparts 260m apart run transversley across the headland dividing the headland into two areas of a simular size. The south eastern rampart is made up of heaped rubble 6-10m across and up to 0.9m high, though this represents the spread of the collapsed wall which apears to have been about 4m wide. The north western rampart runs east north east-west south west across the south eastern tip of Shipman Head. This is now seperated from Badplace Hill by an intertidal channel but formerly linked by dry land. The rampart survives as a large bank of heaped rubble 30m long, 6m wide and 0,75m high. Scheduled.

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Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Down, The bank of the fort eluminated by the setting Sun (Vote or comment on this photo)

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Sunset from Shipman Head (Vote or comment on this photo)

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Down, The bank of the fort eluminated by the setting Sun (Vote or comment on this photo)

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Down, Sunset from near the bank of the fort (Vote or comment on this photo)

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, The remaining rampart at SV87601605 looking South West

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, Shipman Head itself

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, The forts rampart is visible in the distance, The lived on land with the huts (The grassy area in the photo) is strangely on the Landward side of the rampart (the other seaward side of the rampart doesn't have many places to even build a hut on), This clearly implies that they were defending themselves from attack from the sea, not from the land!

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, Approaching the remaining rampart at SV87601605 from the South East

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, The remaining rampart at SV87601605, Another Hut on the lived on part of the fort, It's strangely on the Landward side of the rampart (the other seaward side of the rampart doesn't have many places to even build a hut on), This clearly implies that they were defending themselves from attack from the sea, not from the land!

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, Looking inland at Shipman Down from Shipman Head

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, Natural steep defences to the North West of the rampart

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, The remaining rampart at SV87601605 looking South East at the higher ground of Shipman Down itself

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, The remaining rampart at SV87601605 is built not upto the outcrops at the top of the photo but into and around them, This photo is looking North East

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, The sites natural outcrops help make this a defensible site, This photo is taken near the man made defences

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, In the distance is Shipman Head itself, from an outcrop near the Rampart

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, One of the prehistoric huts, This lived on area is strangely on the Landward side of the rampart (the other seaward side of the rampart doesn't have many places to even build a hut on), This clearly implies that they were defending themselves from attack from the sea, not from the land!

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, The forts rampart is visible in the distance, The lived on land with the huts (The grassy area in the photo) is strangely on the Landward side of the rampart (the other seaward side of the rampart doesn't have many places to even build a hut on), This clearly implies that they were defending themselves from attack from the sea, not from the land!

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, Looking North West over the remaining rampart at SV87601605

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, The remaining rampart at SV87601605 is built into and around this large outcrop at the North Eastern end of the rampart

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Bladup : Shipman Head Fort, Bryher, The remaining rampart at SV87601605

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Thorgrim : Originally revetted on both sides, the rampart of the Iron Age cliff castle has been tumbled by the extreme weather that sweeps in from the Atlantic on this exposed headland. Hell Bay is beyond the strolling figures. Fairly placid on a summer's day, but a terrible place in a storm when waves crash in, smash the cliffs and sweep right over the neck of the headland.

Shipman Head Down, Bryher
Shipman Head Down, Bryher submitted by Thorgrim : 134 cairns are scattered over Shipman Head Down. They are small kerb revetted platforms linked by prehistoric field walls. Most are assumed to be burials but some may be the result of field clearance. Across the channel is Cromwell's Castle on the island of Tresco.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
 460m SSE 164° Shipman Head Down cairn cemetery* Cairn (SV877156)
 650m S 175° Shipman Head Chambered Cairn* Chambered Cairn (SV87621540)
 1.0km E 101° Castle Down, Tresco* Chambered Tomb (SV886158)
 1.1km ENE 75° Tregarthen Hill* Passage Grave (SV8865516272)
 1.1km ENE 65° Tregarthen Hill Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SV88631646)
 1.1km ESE 114° New Grimsby Cairn* Cairn (SV88601553)
 1.1km ENE 61° Piper's Hole* Cave or Rock Shelter (SV88621654)
 1.2km SSW 198° Gweal Hill, Bryher* Chambered Tomb (SV87151492)
 1.4km ESE 106° Dials Rocks Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SV88911559)
 1.4km SSE 163° Green Bay Prehistoric field system and Cist* Ancient Village or Settlement (SV87951465)
 1.6km S 169° Hillside Farm, Bryher* Chambered Tomb (SV878145)
 1.7km S 185° Heathy Hill Settlement* Ancient Village or Settlement (SV87361437)
 1.7km ESE 117° Vane Hill Cairns* Barrow Cemetery (SV89091519)
 1.8km S 170° Top Rock Entrance Grave and Cairn* Chambered Cairn (SV8779914266)
 1.8km SSE 166° Bonfire Carn, Bryher* Chambered Cairn (SV87931424)
 1.9km S 171° Samson Hill, Bryher* Chambered Tomb (SV878142)
 1.9km S 170° Works Carn, Bryher* Chambered Cairn (SV87821413)
 2.0km ESE 111° Middle Down Cairn* Cairn (SV89431524)
 2.3km SE 137° Abbey Hill Cairns* Barrow Cemetery (SV89051431)
 2.4km ESE 115° Borough Cairn* Cairn (SV89761491)
 2.4km SE 136° Roman Altar at Tresco Gardens* Sculptured Stone (SV892142)
 2.8km S 174° Ballard Point Entrance Grave* Chambered Cairn (SV87711324)
 2.9km E 81° Old Man Entrance Grave* Chambered Cairn (SV90471632)
 2.9km SE 145° Appletree Bay prehistoric field system* Ancient Village or Settlement (SV89101358)
 3.0km S 175° Samson, North Hill* Burial Chamber or Dolmen (SV87711305)
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"Shipman Head Down, Bryher" | Login/Create an Account | 4 News and Comments
  
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Re: Shipman Head Down, Bryher by Bladup on Tuesday, 31 May 2022
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The OS map ref is wrong, It should be SV87601605 for the rampart of the fort, The OS map ref it has is nowhere near any part of the fort
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Re: Shipman Head Down, Bryher by coldrum on Monday, 05 October 2009
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Pastscape:

http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=303354
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