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Art as Metaphor: The Prehistoric Rock-art of Britain

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<< Our Photo Pages >> Maiden Castle (Cheshire) - Hillfort in England in Cheshire

Submitted by vicky on Tuesday, 30 December 2003  Page Views: 24046

Iron Age and Later PrehistorySite Name: Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Country: England County: Cheshire Type: Hillfort
Nearest Town: Nantwich  Nearest Village: Bickerton
Map Ref: SJ49805286  Landranger Map Number: 117
Latitude: 53.070604N  Longitude: 2.75068W
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
3 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
3 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
5

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I have visited· I would like to visit

Modern-Neolithic would like to visit

Marko visited on 14th Jun 2014 - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 2 Access: 3 After a 1.5 hour drive to get here i must admit i was disapointed with this hillfort.Unless you knew it was there/what to look for it'd be very easy to just pass it by. A good site up on the promontory for a fort but now very liitle to see and virtualy no ambience whatsoever. One to 'tick off the list' but not one i want to return to.

swithunswift visited - their rating: Cond: 2 Amb: 5 Access: 4 This area is well worth a visit; the views as you ascend towards the fort are fabulous, wild ponies can often be seen, a cuckoo can be heard in spring and buzzards drift across the farmland below. The site is overgrown but it is relatively easy to pick your way through bracken. This is a kid-friendly site - plenty of space to charge about with those replica swords. Back on the A road, the Sandstone Ridge pub serves great ale, its beer garden has great views of Raw Head on the ridge and is kid-friendly.



Average ratings for this site from all visit loggers: Condition: 2 Ambience: 3.5 Access: 3.5

Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by vicky : The earthworks at Maiden Castle in Cheshire (in the summer!). We will go back again in the winter when the veg has died down. See main site entry for further details. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Hillfort in Cheshire

One of a number of hillforts along the Mid Cheshire Ridge, Maiden Castle has fantastic views over the Dee valley to the west. Now in the care of the National Trust, the fort lies at 211m above seal level and is defended on most sites by cliffs, apart from to the south and east where two ramparts protect the more gently sloping ground. The ramparts can be clearly seen but do become overgrown with bracken in the summer.

An entrance lies two thirds of the way along the ramparts and excavations in 1980 revealed two gateposts here. Excavations early in the century in the 1930s showed that the inner rampart was constructed during one phase and composed of sand and timber clad with dry-stone walling. The outer rampart, however, was more complex. It began life as a timber palisade, which was replaced by a ‘dump bank’ and eventually revetted with stone. Very few finds were produced during excavation apart from a small sherd from an Iron Age jar and a fragment of iron.

Access

The hillfort can be easily accessed by following the Sandstone Trail from the National Trust car park at GR: SJ494525 The walk is fairly easy apart from the last few hundred metres where the ground rises quite sharply. Well worth a visit.

References

D.M.Longley “Prehistory” in C.R.Elrington (ed) “The Victoria History of the County of Chester, volume 1, Oxford University Press (1987)

W.J.Varley “Maiden Castle, Bickerton”, Liverpool Annals Volume 22

W.J.Varley “Further excavations at Maiden Castle, Bickerton”, Liverpool Annals, Volume 23.

J.J. Taylor “Maiden Castle, Bickerton”, Cheshire Arch Bulletin Volume 7.
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Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by andcampbell : Maiden Castle from the air (looking north). (Vote or comment on this photo)

Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by w650marion : Ramparts are not needed on this side and you get great views of the Cheshire plain. (Vote or comment on this photo)

Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by Antonine : 2016 (Vote or comment on this photo)

Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by Antonine (Vote or comment on this photo)

Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by Antonine

Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by Antonine : view, 2016

Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by Antonine : 2016

Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by w650marion : Ramparts left and right, water filled ditch between. Does it ever stop raining nowadays?

Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by Postman : Maiden Castle, no not that one, this one.

Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by Postman : My name is Bickerton, the nearby village is Bickerton, the Hill is Bickerton hill, this is my hill fort, it isn't massive but its all mine.

Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by Postman : Looking south west

Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by Postman : The entrance to Maiden castle

Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by PaulM : One of the double rows of ramparts of the plateau fort of Maiden Castle which cuts off the sloping sandstone summit of Bickerton Hill, one of the highest points on the southern end of the Mid-Cheshire Ridge at 211m (692ft) above sea level.

Maiden Castle (Cheshire)
Maiden Castle (Cheshire) submitted by PaulM : Approximately two thirds of the way along the ramparts lies this inturned entrance, designed to protect the fort’s point of greatest weakness. The entrance narrows from circa 5 metres at the outer rampart to 2.5 metres at the end of the inner rampart and was protected by a gate about two thirds of the way down, the postholes of which were discovered during excavations in 1934 and 1935.

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Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
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"Maiden Castle (Cheshire)" | Login/Create an Account | 8 News and Comments
  
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Re: Maiden Castle (Cheshire) by Marko on Saturday, 14 June 2014
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Visited on 14 June 2014.

Have to say that having wanted to visit this site for some time - i was disapointed when i finaly got there.

A great site for a promontory hill fort but i found 'the remains' sadly lacking when compared to others i've visited.

Coupling the above with an almost complete lack of ambience means it's a site i won't be visiting again.
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Maiden Castle (Cheshire) by coldrum on Monday, 05 December 2011
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From Pastscape:

"An IA promontory fort of 1 1/2 acres defenced on the S and E by two lines of ramparts still surviving to a height of 7ft. An entrance occurs through both ramparts on the E side, the inner being inturned. Excavation has shown the site to have two structural phases. The earlier consists of the inner rampart, 20ft thick and probably originally 10ft or more in height, revetted with stone on both faces and timber laced internally; and an outer bank of sand revetted with stone externally. In the second phase this outer bank was remodelled and increased in width.

A grey flint blade, retouched along one edge was found by the father of Milton Trippier, Hesketh Bank, Lancashire, at Maiden Castle Bickerton in 1941-3. Now in private possession.

Excavation in 1980/1 necessitated by erosion of the outer rampart -this was subsequently found to be via an original, smaller, entrance to the fort. Samples were collected for C14 dating from the burnt interlacing of the rampart: tests on in situ timbers produced a thermoluminescence date oc c2000, firmly placing it in the Iron Age. Full report forthcoming."

http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=68844
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Maiden Castle (Cheshire) by TimPrevett on Friday, 26 February 2010
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A council website entry on this here:
http://www.cheshire.gov.uk/Archaeology/RCP/MaidenCastle.htm
[ Reply to This ]

Re: Maiden Castle (Cheshire) by Anonymous on Tuesday, 01 November 2005
hi my name is susan bickerton i live in hampshire, born and bred in irlam manchester where my folks live and some in tarporley iam desperately trying to find out any info about bickerton.

suebickerton@hotmail.co.uk
[ Reply to This ]
    Re: Maiden Castle (Cheshire) by Thorgrim on Tuesday, 01 November 2005
    (User Info | Send a Message)
    Hi Susan,
    Bickerton means the place (farmstead or village) of the beekeepers. Bickerton was recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 in Cheshire as Bicretone, in West Yorkshire as Bicretone and in Herefordshire as Bicretune. In Northumberland there was recorded a Bikertun in 1236 and there is a lost Bickerton in West Yorkshire near Otley that was recorded as Biceratun around 1030. Your ancestors could have come from any of them.
    The first element is from the Anglo-Saxon word "beocere" meaning a bee-keeper. The earliest written form - Bycera fald dates from 972.
    [ Reply to This ]
    Re: Maiden Castle (Cheshire) by Anonymous on Wednesday, 05 April 2006
    Susan, my name was Debra Bradshaw an I was also born and bred in Irlam and went to school with a girl called Susan Bickerton, it is you?

    The Susan Bickerton I knew would have been born in and around 1961 and lived at the end of Marlborough Road.

    my email address is debra.stuart@tesco.net

    [ Reply to This ]
    Re: Maiden Castle (Cheshire) by Anonymous on Thursday, 06 April 2006
    Hi Susan

    I sent you an email yesterday but forgot to put my email address.
    debra.stuart@fitnessindustryeducation.com

    Debra Bradshaw
    [ Reply to This ]
      Re: Maiden Castle (Cheshire) by Anonymous on Thursday, 18 May 2006
      hi debra,
      yes it is me i lived in mond road irlam , in fact my parents still live their.How are you are you still living in st.ives ?

      sue
      [ Reply to This ]

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