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<< Our Photo Pages >> South Creake - Hillfort in England in Norfolk

Submitted by vicky on Wednesday, 17 October 2007  Page Views: 15676

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: South Creake Alternative Name: Burgh Dykes, Bloodgate Hill
Country: England
NOTE: This site is 2.569 km away from the location you searched for.
County: Norfolk Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Fakenham  Nearest Village: South Creake
Map Ref: TF848352  Landranger Map Number: 132
Latitude: 52.882505N  Longitude: 0.744983E
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.
 2 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.
 5 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
 3

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TipsyTwitcher visited on 30th Jun 2024 - their rating: Cond: 1 Amb: 3 Access: 3

South Creake
South Creake submitted by andy_h : The slight remains of South Creake Hillfort. Only the faintest of impressions of the ditches remain. Best seen from the parking place. (Vote or comment on this photo)
This hillfort in Norfolk is described by James Dyer as 'only for the most enthusiastic student of hillforts'. The site has recently been purchased by the Norfolk Archaeological Trust to prevent further damage from ploughing.

Human remains found during recent excavations - see comment below.

Note: Hillfort officially 'rescued' and opened last week, at a cost of over £100,000. Pity there's hardly anything left to show for it. South Creake and the Iron Age fort of Bloodgate Hill, walk, Norfolk, 20th October.See comment.
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South Creake
South Creake submitted by Bladup : As this lidar image shows South Creake Fort (center) was surrounded by a stunning amount of barrows (Now sadly ploughed) Source: www.lidarfinder.com (Vote or comment on this photo)

South Creake
South Creake submitted by bec-zog : South Creake : Iron Age "Fort" (Vote or comment on this photo)

South Creake
South Creake submitted by bec-zog (Vote or comment on this photo)

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Nearby Images from Geograph Britain and Ireland:
TF8435 : Bloodgate Hill Fort: aerial 2018 (1) by Chris
by Chris
©2018(licence)
TF8435 : Bloodgate Hill Fort by Nigel Jones
by Nigel Jones
©2007(licence)
TF8435 : Bloodgate Hill Iron Age Fort by Ashley Dace
by Ashley Dace
©2010(licence)
TF8435 : Bloodgate Hill Iron Age Fort by Ashley Dace
by Ashley Dace
©2010(licence)
TF8435 : Remains of Iron Age fort on Bloodgate Hill: aerial 2024 (5) by Simon Tomson
by Simon Tomson
©2024(licence)

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"South Creake" | Login/Create an Account | 11 News and Comments
  
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Re: South Creake Hill Fort by coldrum on Saturday, 10 April 2010
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Street View


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Re: South Creake Hill Fort by coldrum on Tuesday, 24 March 2009
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Link to information on this site:

http://www.norfarchtrust.org.uk/bloodgate/index.htm
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South Creake and the Iron Age fort of Bloodgate Hill, walk, Norfolk, 20th Oct by coldrum on Wednesday, 17 October 2007
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South Creake and the Iron Age fort of Bloodgate Hill, walk, Norfolk, 20th Oct

From South Creake village, Trevor Ashwin will lead us along ancient roads to visit the preserved Iron Age fort at Bloodgate Hill. This remarkable monument, recently opened to the public by the Norfolk Archaeological Trust, poses lots of interesting questions about prehistoric life in this beautiful part of North Norfolk! Meet at South Creake Church.

Booking essential, please tel. 01263 513543.

Saturday 20 October 2007

2 - 4pm
http://www.museums.norfolk.gov.uk/default.asp?Document=200.60.40.22.11
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Ancient fort gets new future by Anonymous on Saturday, 02 July 2005
After more than 1000 years of neglect the last remnants of an ancient fort are to be preserved for future generations. To the untrained eye the Bloodgate Hill Iron Age hill fort at South Creake, near Fakenham, is nothing more than a circular mound in a grassy field.

But with the aid of aerial photo-graphs, hi-tech surveying equipment and painstaking excavation work archaeologists have unearthed the fort's past and provided a glimpse at the turbulent early history of Norfolk.

The site is to be preserved thanks to the work of the Norfolk Archaeological Trust, a local charity which, two years ago, bought the field in which it sits.

Two information panels have been unveiled at the fort, explaining the ancient settlement's past and giving visitors an impression of what it once looked like. It is one of only six known pre-Roman hill forts in Norfolk.

Dr Peter Wade-Martins, director of the Norfolk Archaeological Trust, said the fort, probably built between two and three thousand years ago, was an important reminder of what life was like in pre-Roman Britain.

“The best way to think of Iron Age Britain is like Afghanistan today - there was little or no government control and local chieftains had a great deal of power in a society which could be very violent,” he explained.

The fort would originally have had a four-metre deep outer ditch surrounding a bank topped with a wooden palisade.

“We have little evidence of a substantial settlement inside - so its likely the fort was intended as a safe haven for local tribespeople and their livestock in times of war,” he said, adding that although the fort would clearly have been a massive defensive structure there was not enough evidence to show that it had been the scene of a pitched battle.

“A fragment of skull was found in the ditch, but we don't have enough evidence to know if the fort was ever attacked,” said Dr Wade-Martins.

He said despite the lack of recorded history the Iron Age tribes of Britain were quite advanced and the highly populous landscape of Norfolk would already have had much of the forests felled by the time the Romans arrived in the first century AD.

It is likely the increasing population fuelled intense competition for food, farmland and other resources with warfare between tribes possibly dominated by stock-raiding, ambushes and abductions rather than large-scale battles.

The fort would have served as a bolt-hole for local farmers threatened by raiders, but may also have been an assembly place, a religious centre or a market.

Another defensive ditch and mound once stood in the centre of the fort. These have not been excavated but Dr Wade-Martins said it was likely they surrounded the chief's house.

Measuring 210m across, the fort is one of the biggest in Norfolk and has some unusual features - the main entrance, to the east, is in line the entrance to the inner ditch and mound, which is rare in Iron Age forts.

There is also evidence of at least two smaller entrances to the west and other fences and gates within the fort.

Dr Wade-Martins said the fort could have been abandoned then re-inhabited throughout its history, but would heave been left for good when the Romans arrived.

Defensive forts would no longer have been needed once competition between tribes was stamped out by the occupying army.

“The Roman Army was in charge and people had to settle down,” he said. “A lot of forts were destroyed while others were simply abandoned.”

But despite the fort being abandoned for around 1600 years the ditch and mound stood largely undisturbed until they were partially flattened in a 19th century drive to develop agriculture.

In the 1930s, Bluestone Farm - which the area the fort sits in is now called - became famous as the Alley brothers became Norfolk's first farmers to embrace mechanisation, laying off many of their labourers and buying two caterpillar tractors and a combine harvester.

“It's ironic that a place which led the way to intensive farming is now being set aside to be preserved,” said Dr Wade-Martins.

With the remains of the fort being gradually levelled by continued ploughing the Norfolk Archaeological Trust bought the land in 2003 with grants from the Lottery Heritage Fund and West Norfolk Council among those awarding grants.

A geophysical survey followed by an excavation of a section of the outer ditch provided detailed information about the site. Graphic designer and interpreter Sue White used this knowledge to produce an artist's impression of what the fort once looked like.
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Norfolk Iron Age site open by Andy B on Sunday, 26 June 2005
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Light is being shed on the history of the remains of an ancient fort that has survived the ravages more than a millennium. Only scanty earthworks remain of Bloodgate Hill at South Creake near Fakenham, but the Iron Age monument has been preserved after being purchased by the Norfolk Archaeological Trust.

The public will be able to discover more about this previously hidden part of the county's history when the site is officially opened today (Friday).

Lord Lieutenant of Norfolk Richard Jewson will unveil two panels at the site explaining what life was like at the Iron Age fortification.

An impression of the monument has been achieved with the use of aerial photography, state of the art surveying equipment and extensive excavations.

The fort was probably built between two and three thousand years ago and would have been protected by a 4m deep external ditch.

According to Archaeological Trust director Peter Wade-Martins it would have provided a refuge for local...

Read the rest of this post...
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Re: South Creake Hillfort by andy_h on Tuesday, 30 March 2004
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The South Creake village sign, on one side is shown a battle between early Britons and Danes in front of a hill fort which was situated just outside the village.
Legend has it that the slaughter was so great that the blood from the wounded and dying flowed down the hill, which is still known as Bloodgate.
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    Re: South Creake Hillfort by Anonymous on Monday, 25 June 2007
    Correction- it was not the Britons who fought the Danes here, it was the Angles.
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Re: South Creake Hillfort by TimPrevett on Friday, 14 November 2003
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I did not know Norfolk had hills... I thought it was all flat... fascinating!
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Re: South Creake Hillfort by Vicky on Thursday, 13 November 2003
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From Norfolk Now 13/11/2003:

Fragments of human skull were found on the side of a ditch during an excavation of the site of an Iron Age hill fort in north-west Norfolk. In the summer, Norfolk Archaeological Trust announced it had bought a 17-acre site comprising the remains of the fort at Bloodgate Hill, South Creake, near Fakenham, to stop further ploughing.

A geophysical survey was carried out and this revealed the line of a defensive ditch and an internal circular enclosure. A complete section was dug up along the main ditch and bank to reveal that it was four metres deep, making a formidable defence.

Up to half a dozen Iron Age forts are known in Norfolk and two of them – at Thetford Castle and Warham Camp, near Wells – have revealed defences of a similar size in previous excavations.

The trust was looking for artefacts to help date the site, which is believed to have been constructed in the last few centuries before the Roman invasion.

Peter Wade-Martins, who runs...

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