Castle Hill

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

Overview

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007127
Date first listed:: 04-Dec-1924

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Official list entry

Heritage Category:: Scheduled Monument
List Entry Number:: 1007127
Date first listed:: 04-Dec-1924

Location

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

District:: Westmorland and Furness (Unitary Authority)
Parish:: Pennington
National Grid Reference:: SD 25772 77750

Summary

Castle Hill.

Reasons for Designation

Ringworks are medieval fortifications built and occupied from the late Anglo-Saxon period to the later 12th century. They comprised a small defended area containing buildings which was surrounded or partly surrounded by a substantial ditch and a bank surmounted by a timber palisade or, rarely, a stone wall. Occasionally a more lightly defended embanked enclosure, the bailey, adjoined the ringwork. Ringworks acted as strongholds for military operations and in some cases as defended aristocratic or manorial settlements. They are rare nationally with only 200 recorded examples and less than 60 with baileys. As such, and as one of a limited number and very restricted range of Anglo-Saxon and Norman fortifications, ringworks are of particular significance to our understanding of the period.

Castle Hill medieval ringwork is representative of its period and is reasonably well-preserved as an earthwork. The monument will contain archaeological deposits relating to its construction, use and abandonment and provides insight into the character of medieval fortifications.

History

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 24 March 2016. This 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.

The monument includes the remains of a medieval earthwork castle in the form of a ringwork, situated next to Pennington Beck with commanding views of the Pennington Beck valley. The ringwork enclosure is sub-rectangular and is protected by a semi-circular rampart, a partial ditch on the north east, east and south sides and a steep natural slope on its north west and south west sides. The earthworks measure nearly 40m east-west, the rampart is about 3m high at its north end and 1m at its south west end.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:: CU 362
Legacy System:: RSM - OCN

Sources

Other
PastScape Monument No:- 37766

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.