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.
Details
The monument is a medieval ringwork and comprises a roughly circular area with
a diameter of 60m, enclosed on the north and east sides by a substantial earth
rampart with a maximum internal height of c.2m and a 5m wide outer ditch with
a maximum depth of c.2m. On its south side, the ringwork is defined by a steep
scarp which drops into the ditch below. On the west side, the outer ditch is
partially overlain by the modern road between Eastwood House and St Michael's
Church. This area is not included in the scheduling as the extent and state of
survival of the remains is not sufficiently understood.
The interior of the ringwork is currently occupied by the 18th and 19th
century Eastwood House and Eastwood Cottage, which was originally a
barn. Documents indicate that a succession of farmhouses have occupied the
site since the later medieval period. The remains of these and earlier
buildings relating to the ringwork will survive as buried features within the
open areas of the monument. William Bray, writing in 1783, and Thomas Bateman,
writing in 1849, both describe the site as being fully enclosed by a rampart
and ditch broken by three entrances. From the descriptions, two of the
entrances appear to be those still in use at the north-east and south-east
corners of the site, while the third, on the west side, is believed to have
existed in roughly the area occupied by the driveway to Eastward House, north
of which the rampart levels out though the ditch continues southwards as a
partially visible feature along the western edge of the garden. In recent
times, a fourth entrance has been cut through the rampart on the east side of
the ringwork to allow access to the adjacent farmland.
Two small-scale excavations were carried out north of Eastwood House by
Richard Hodges in 1976 and 1977, the first immediately behind the house and
the second through the rampart and into the ditch. The first revealed only
that the archaeology in this area had been destroyed by the construction of a
late 19th century annexe to the present house. The second found that the
rampart was revetted on its inside by a wall and that the ditch originally had
a V-shaped profile but had been recut prior to its finally silting up. A sherd
of green-glazed Brackenfield pot in the upper ditch silts indicated that the
silting process was well advanced by the 14th century. Documentary
evidence for the ringwork is slight and relates more to the manor of
Hathersage and to the church rather than to the monument itself. The present
church dates to 1381 but was preceded by a smaller church built in the late
12th century. This was preceded by a Norman church which may have been the
foundation of Ralph fitzHubert who held the manor of Hathersage after the
Norman Conquest. It would have been fitzHubert or one of his immediate
successors who built the adjacent ringwork. Furthermore, it is likely that the
church occupied a bailey or outer enclosure which would have contained various
ancillary buildings in addition to stables and corrals for stock and horses.
Although the buried remains of these features will survive, they are not
included in the scheduling as both the church and churchyard are in current
ecclesiastical use.
A number of features within the area are excluded from the scheduling.
These are all modern boundary walls and fencing, all modern gates, the
surfaces of all tracks, paths, driveways, hardstands and yards, all
outbuildings and garages, and the buildings of Eastwood House, Eastwood
Cottage and the separate cottage in the ditch on the south side of the
monument but the ground beneath these excluded features is included with the
exception of the area underneath the 19th century part of Eastwood House,
which incorporates a cellar, and the area immediately to the rear which
includes a conservatory and a sunken fishpond and has been shown by excavation
to be archaeologically sterile.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
Legacy System number:
23292
Legacy System:
RSM
Sources
Books and journals Other
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.
End of official list entry
