Wychbury Ring is an

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

located on

Wychbury Hill Wychbury Hill is a hill situated off the A456 Birmingham Road, at Hagley, Stourbridge, on the border of West Midlands and Worcestershire. It is divided between the parish of Hagley and former parish of Pedmore. It is one of the Clent Hills. ...

, near

Hagley Hagley is a large village and civil parish in Worcestershire, England. It is on the boundary of the West Midlands and Worcestershire counties between the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley and Kidderminster. Its estimated population was 7,162 in 20 ...

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 20 ...

, on the border of

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see His ...

in the

English Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

Description

The fort measures from east to west and from north to south, covering an area of . It has two sets of ramparts and ditches. The inner rampart is between and wide, rising up to in height, with the surrounding inner ditch wide and up to deep. The outer rampart is wide and up to in height, with the outer ditch being wide and up to deep. There are fortified entrances at the east and south west. Small bronze rings, including an Iron Age

terret A terret is a metal loop on a horse harness, guiding the lines and preventing them from becoming tangled or snagged on the harness. The lines run from the hands of the driver, through the terrets, and then attach to the horse's bit to guide the ...

, were found in the fort in 1884, and

Roman coins Roman currency for most of Roman history consisted of gold, silver, bronze, orichalcum and copper coinage. From its introduction to the Republic, during the third century BC, well into Imperial times, Roman currency saw many changes in form, denomi ...

and masonry have been found nearby, suggesting a possible site of a later

Roman Villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

. Investigations in 1924 reported a annexe to the south and a nearby Iron Age

field system The study of field systems (collections of fields) in landscape history is concerned with the size, shape and orientation of a number of fields. These are often adjacent, but may be separated by a later feature. Field systems by region Czech Republ ...

, but no trace of either remain.

Images

References

External links

* {{Iron Age hillforts in England Hill forts in the West Midlands (county) Hill forts in Worcestershire Iron Age sites in England