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Castercliff is an Lancashire County Council
The hillfort has been damaged by coal mining with old bell pits evident both inside and around the site.
File:Castercliff plan.png , Published in The Victoria History of the County of Lancaster Vol 2 (1906)
File:Castercliff Camp Hillfort - geograph.org.uk - 718864.jpg , One of the many bell pit circles on top of the fort
File:Castercliff - geograph.org.uk - 720940.jpg , The view from the summit toward Walton's Spire to the southeast
File:Castercliff hillfort 04.jpg , On the eastern slope looking southwest, showing a section of the ramparts
Aerial view and description
Hill forts in Lancashire Scheduled monuments in Lancashire Buildings and structures in the Borough of Pendle Nelson, Lancashire {{UK-archaeology-stub
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 mostl ...
multivallate hillfort
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 ...
situated close to the towns of Nelson
Nelson may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey
* ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers
* ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...
and Colne
Colne () is a market town and civil parish in the Borough of Pendle in Lancashire, England. Located northeast of Nelson, north-east of Burnley, east of Preston and west of Leeds.
The town should not be confused with the unrelated Colne Val ...
in Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...
, Northern England
Northern England, also known as the North of England, the North Country, or simply the North, is the northern area of England. It broadly corresponds to the former borders of Angle Northumbria, the Anglo-Scandinavian Kingdom of Jorvik, and the ...
.
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It is located on a hilltop overlooking the valley system of the River Calder and its tributaries, on the western edge of the South Pennines
The South Pennines is a region of moorland and hill country in northern England lying towards the southern end of the Pennines. In the west it includes the Rossendale Valley and the West Pennine Moors. It is bounded by the Greater Manchester ...
. On the upper part of the hill, triple rubble ramparts up to high, separated by ditches of similar depth, surround the site on all sides except the north. On this side the defences consist mainly of a single rampart and ditch, but some short lengths of triple rampart and ditch are also found here. The inner rampart may have been timber-laced and revetted
A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water a ...
with stone and enclosed an oval area measuring approximately .
The summit of the hill is above sea level and the surrounding ground falls rapidly on all sides except the south east. Here a neck of land, dropping from the summit, connects it to similarly high ground about away. Streams spring from either side of the ridge and the deep valleys which they have cut, especially on the south, offer additional defence.
Excavations during the 1970s appear to show that the site was not completed, and no evidence of occupation was unearthed. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.
The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and d ...
.
The hillfort has been damaged by coal mining with old bell pits evident both inside and around the site.
Media gallery
See also
*Scheduled monuments in Lancashire
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This is a list of scheduled monuments in the English county of Lancashire.
In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a "nationally important" archaeological site or historic building that has been given protection against unauth ...
References
External links
Aerial view and description
Hill forts in Lancashire Scheduled monuments in Lancashire Buildings and structures in the Borough of Pendle Nelson, Lancashire {{UK-archaeology-stub