Summary
Iron Age multivallate inland promontory hillfort with a medieval rectangular enclosure and embankment, located at Clifton Down on the east side of the Avon Gorge.
Reasons for Designation
Clifton Down Camp, Bristol, an Iron Age multivallate inland promontory hillfort, is scheduled for the following principal reasons:
* Period: although multivallate hillforts are not uncommon in the south-west, the inland location of Clifton Down Camp is of importance for understanding the nature of settlement and social organisation within the Iron Age period;
* Survival: the ramparts and general form of the hillfort survive well, despite some disturbance in the C19;
* Documentation: Clifton Down Camp was first recorded in the C15, and has been interpreted further in written sources into the present day;
* Potential: despite later interventions, there is the potential for the monument to retain evidence for the date and method of its construction, development, function, territorial, social and economic significance, agricultural practices and domestic arrangements as well as its overall landscape context;
* Group value: with the contemporaneous Stokeleigh hillfort on the west side of the Avon gorge, which is also a scheduled monument.
History
Clifton Down Camp is a multivallate inland promontory hillfort constructed during the Iron Age. Hillforts are amongst the most striking of all archaeological monuments in England. Their hilltop locations and often massive earthworks make a powerful statement to the modern observer about the organisation, manual skills, labour and beliefs of people over 2,000 years ago. Multivallate hillforts are defined as an enclosure of a large area of a hilltop, ridge, spur or promontory with multiple ramparts and ditches, dating to the Iron Age 900-100BC, but mainly around 400BC. Hillforts are typically positioned on the edge of high ground overlooking a plain or valley, and their shape conforms to their topography. Where they are located on an escarpment they are sometimes interpreted as part of a chain of forts controlling a particular valley or vale. Most hillforts have one or two entrances: one almost always faces east, and where there is a second it faces west. Some hillforts retain evidence of occupation in their interiors, often in the form of round houses. These ‘developed’ hillforts were abandoned around 100BC, but many were adapted for other uses, including as the location for Roman forts and temples, Saxon forts, medieval castles, medieval fairs and markets, and even whole towns or cities. Some were used for military installations in the C20. Hillforts were constructed as defended settlements hosting a variety of functions such as a food store, a meeting place and perhaps as a religious centre. There is little evidence of planned conflict within hillfort sites, and the ramparts and ditches would have provided a secure place from which to control and monitor the surrounding landscape. Artefacts suggest that industrial activity including bronze and iron working and pottery manufacture occurred on many sites. There are more than 3,000 hillforts across the British Isles, and large examples covering up to 85 hectares can be found in Wessex, along the Welsh Marches and in the south east. Smaller examples are found in Northumberland and the south west.
The landscape around the River Avon to the west of Bristol retains evidence of human activity which probably dates back to prehistory. The Iron Age hillforts at Stokeleigh Camp (a scheduled monument) and Burwalls Camp on the west side of the Avon Gorge and the hillfort on the east side at Clifton Down are thought to have controlled movement along and across the River Avon, although it has also been suggested that the three hillforts were the product of mutual competition between tribal units where their territories converged on the natural boundary of the gorge.
The boundaries of Clifton parish are described in a land charter of AD 883, and the name of Clifton, meaning ‘farmstead on or near to a cliff or bank’, appears in Domesday. The settlement would have been located to the south-east of Clifton Down, which was used for grazing. The downs were also subject to industrial activity, including mining for non-ferrous metals and stone quarrying between the late C16 and early C18. During the medieval period the estate at Clifton was split into discrete parts but was reunited in 1676 when the Society of Merchant Venturers purchased three-quarters of the Manor. Clifton was annexed to the City of Bristol in 1836. Clifton Down escaped the Enclosure Acts, and since the 1861 Downs Bill it has been a public open space. Clifton’s development as a fashionable suburb occurred mainly in the C18 and C19, with easy access across the gorge provided in 1864 with the completion of Clifton Suspension Bridge (listed Grade I). In 1828 William West built an observatory on the downs, which he extended in 1835, and in 1836-1837 excavated a 200m tunnel linking the buildings and the Giant’s Cave. The observatory and tunnel became an important attraction in the C19, drawing people to Clifton Down where they could enjoy its walks and views over the Avon Gorge (the observatory and its tunnel are Grade II*-listed). The downs also attracted artists, although their focus was largely on the observatory, and early photographers such as Fred Little who took a photograph between the ramparts of the ‘ancient British camp’ on Clifton Down in the early C20. A short silent film was also made in 1937 showing people walking between and over the ramparts; it fancifully promoted the site as where the ancient Britons defied the Roman invaders.
The earliest mention of an ancient defensive site at Clifton Down was made by the pioneering antiquary William Worcestre in around 1480, who observed a large circle of great piled-up stones. In the late C17, John Aubrey recorded a roundish fortification or camp in his ‘Monumenta Britannica’, noting that the ramparts were ‘not great’ due to the hardness of the natural rock, and that no works were needed to the west due to the cliffs above the gorge. Donne indicated the area of the earthworks of a ‘Roman Camp’ on his 1787 map. In 1810 John Corry reported that an excavation in 1808 was unproductive except for a part of a Roman or Danish dagger. John Lloyd Baker visited the fortification in around 1818 as part of his research into hillforts in south-west Gloucestershire. His observations were much like his predecessors and those who would follow, noting that there were three banks and ditches with an entrance at the south-east side. He gave the hillfort’s measurements as 100 yards east to west, and 170 yards north to south. He also observed burnt lime in the upper bank, suggesting it was once topped by a wall. In 1821 Samuel Seyer described the hillfort as having two ditches and three ramparts, the inner rampart being 203 yards long from the western end and being about three to five feet high. He noted that the ramparts were formed by digging out the natural stone and finishing them with earth or stones and provided a cross section of one of the ditches. Seyer also suggested that there was once a wall on top of the rampart and observed that in some places the ditches were filled up or disturbed by quarrying, which was continuing. The following year, the Society of Merchant Venturers recorded a request in their proceedings that the ‘depredations committing on the Roman Camp’ be stopped immediately as they wished to ‘preserve as far as possible that very interesting antiquity’. The construction and extension of the observatory would have incurred ground disruption at the hillfort, as would the construction of the Clifton Suspension Bridge from 1831. In 1845 a reservoir was constructed by Brunel next to the observatory which included a pipeline running north-west to south-east across the hillfort’s interior; the reservoir was part of an abortive water-works scheme for the Society of Merchant Venturers and was backfilled in 1848.
The nomenclature ‘Roman Camp’ continued on early C19 maps but was changed to ‘Camp’ on Observatory Hill by the Ordnance Survey (OS) in the later C19. The first edition OS map of 1882 clearly shows the hillfort’s northern earthworks curving around from west to east, with a quarry appearing to disrupt the ramparts to the south-east, and a linear embankment on the south-west side (also shown on all C19 maps). The mapping also shows footpaths around the edge of the hill and leading to the observatory, with seats at strategic resting places and viewpoints. Late-C19 excavations by the Clifton Antiquarian Club through the embankment and through the south-east bank of a rectangular earthwork in the north-west corner of the interior revealed no dating evidence: these earthworks have historically been ascribed to being Roman but recent interpretation suggests that they are medieval enclosures used for animal management (Russell, see Sources). In 1894 third-century Roman coins were exhibited to the Clifton Antiquarian Club on a visit to the hillfort. It is not known if they were found at the site and there is no further record. A barbed arrowhead, scraper and flake were also said to have been found at the hillfort.
Post-war RAF aerial photographs clearly show the outline of the C19 reservoir, the earthwork enclosure and embankment, an area of quarrying to the east, and the inner vallum of the hillfort. Round houses have also been recorded as being visible behind the inner rampart, which may have originated as quarry pits for the defences. A comprehensive history of Clifton parish by Russell was published in ‘Bristol and Avon Archaeology’ in 2000, including a chronology of investigations at the hillfort and a survey drawing. An earthwork survey was made by the University of Bristol in 2004 (no copy found), and a geophysical survey was undertaken within the interior of the ramparts in 2011. This identified a number of anomalies including the outline of the C19 reservoir and features probably associated with its construction and use. It was unclear whether other areas of high resistance are archaeological or related to the underlying geology. The hillfort’s ramparts, the medieval earthworks and the infilled reservoir are visible on LiDAR (2022).
Clifton Down Camp is public access space managed by Bristol City Council. The views over the Avon Gorge and Clifton Suspension Bridge bring heavy footfall to the site, particularly on the western side.
Details
SUMMARY OF ASSET
Iron Age multivallate inland promontory hillfort with a medieval rectangular enclosure and embankment, located at Clifton Down on the east side of the Avon Gorge.
PRINCIPAL ELEMENTS
Located in a prominent position 102m above sea level on a limestone outcrop above St Vincent’s Rocks and the Avon Gorge, are the earthwork remains of an Iron Age multivallate inland promontory hillfort. Within its interior are the earthwork banks of a medieval rectangular enclosure and embankment, and the below-ground remains of an infilled C19 reservoir.
DESCRIPTION
Clifton Down Camp is a multivallate hillfort dating to the Iron Age, built in a prominent position overlooking the Avon Gorge, to the west. Covering an area of approximately 6 acres, the hillfort is bounded to the west and south-west by naturally precipitous cliffs, and to the north and north-east by the remains of closely-set earthwork, or dry-stone, ramparts and ditches. The interior of the hillfort is approximately 170m by 120m and is mainly flat except where the land falls away to the east and south. The entrance to the hillfort is likely to be on the east side, accompanied by mutilated outworks, although this area has been disturbed by access points and quarrying. Although covered in vegetation, three ramparts and two ditches are particularly clear to the north and east. A modern pathway runs along the central ditch on the north side, with views north along the gorge, and emerging above the site of the outer ditch. The path continues around the north side of the ramparts which were probably partially landscaped in the C19 to allow for a promenade walk parallel to Clifton Road. The east side of the hillfort has been disturbed by quarrying although the inner rampart is clear; it is cut through by a modern path. The south and west sides of the fort have no ramparts, being protected by the natural cliff. From here there are extensive views south along the Avon Gorge, and west to Leigh Woods where Stokeleigh Camp is located.
In the north-west corner of the interior of the hillfort is a rectangular earthwork with low banks approximately 28m long on the south side and about 15m long on its east side, and an external ditch. On its west side is a further low bank, about 40cm high, running for approximately 100m north-west to south-east.
An infilled reservoir and associated pipeline are located within the interior of the hillfort; their outlines are sometimes visible as cropmarks.
EXTENT OF SCHEDULING
The hillfort is defined to the west and south by the natural cliffs to the Avon Gorge, and to the north-west, north and north-east by its outer defences (including a 5m buffer due north in the location of the outer ditch). The east and south-east sides of the scheduled area are largely defined by modern pathways and fencing to the former quarry. The former quarry and modern play-area lie outside of the scheduled area.
EXCLUSIONS
Clifton Down Observatory and the excavated tunnel to the Giant’s Cave (listed Grade II*), all modern surfaces and pathways and their substrate, fencing, benches and their hardstanding, rubbish bins, signage and interpretation boards are excluded from the scheduling, although the ground beneath them is included.
