Cherry Hill Camp

Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1001757
Date first listed:: 26-Nov-1928

The Missing Pieces Project

Share your view of unique places.

Add your contribution

Location

Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.

There is a problem

Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions.

This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.

What is the National Heritage List for England?

The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.

The list includes:

🏠 Buildings
🏰 Scheduled monuments
🌳 Parks and gardens
⚔️ Battlefields
⚓ Shipwrecks

Find out more about listing

Historic England Archive

Search over 1 million photographs and drawings from the 1850s to the present day using our images archive.

Find Photos

Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1001757
Date first listed:: 26-Nov-1928

Location

The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.

District:: County of Herefordshire (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Fownhope
National Grid Reference:: SO 57745 35213

Summary

Hillfort known as Cherry Hill Camp, 1150m north west of The Church of St. Cuthbert.

Reasons for Designation

Small multivallate hillforts are defined as fortified enclosures of varying shape, generally between 1 and 5ha in size and located on hilltops. They are defined by boundaries consisting of two or more lines of closely set earthworks spaced at intervals of up to 15m. These entirely surround the interior except on sites located on promontories, where cliffs may form one or more sides of the monument. They date to the Iron Age period, most having been constructed and occupied between the sixth century BC and the mid-first century AD. Small multivallate hillforts are generally regarded as settlements of high status, occupied on a permanent basis. Recent interpretations suggest that the construction of multiple earthworks may have had as much to do with display as with defence. Earthworks may consist of a rampart alone or of a rampart and ditch which, on many sites, are associated with counterscarp banks and internal quarry scoops. Access to the interior is generally provided by one or two entrances, which either appear as simple gaps in the earthwork or inturned passages, sometimes with guardrooms. The interior generally consists of settlement evidence including round houses, four and six post structures interpreted as raised granaries, roads, pits, gullies, hearths and a variety of scattered post and stake holes. Evidence from outside numerous examples of small multivallate hillforts suggests that extra-mural settlement was of a similar nature. Small multivallate hillforts are rare with around 100 examples recorded nationally. Most are located in the Welsh Marches and the south-west with a concentration of small monuments in the north-east. In view of the rarity of small multivallate hillforts and their importance in understanding the nature of settlement and social organisation within the Iron Age period, all examples with surviving archaeological remains are believed to be of national importance.

Despite excavation, partial afforestation and insertion of pathways, the hillfort known as Cherry Hill Camp survives comparatively well. The hillfort and mounds will contain important archaeological information relating to the use, construction and occupation of the monument in addition to providing environmental evidence.

History

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 18 May 2015. The record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

This monument includes the remains of a small multivallate hillfort situated on Cherry Hill in a commanding position overlooking the River Wye to its west. The monument survives as the visible earthworks and buried features of a small multivallate hillfort and two mounds.

The hillfort enclosure is sub oval in plan approximately 280m long and 170m wide with entrance gaps on the northern and north eastern sides and an inturned entrance gap in the southern corner. The hillfort is defined by a steep natural slope on the eastern side with a double rampart and ditches around the remainder of the hillfort. The inner rampart bank is about 3m high above the inner ditch and the outer bank is up to 6m high above the external ditch. Flanking the northern eastern entrance gap are earthwork mounds. A large amount of vitrified rock has been excavated from the quarry ditches.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:: HE 11
Legacy System:: RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:- 110096, Herefordshire SMR:- 909, NMR:- SO 53 NE 15, NMR Events:- 1409300 & 1452511

Legal

This monument is scheduled under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 as amended as it appears to the Secretary of State to be of national importance. This entry is a copy, the original is held by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.