Kinver Camp Iron Age promontory fort, Kinver Edge

Summary

Kinver camp is sub-rectangular in plan with external dimensions of approximately 210m NW-SE and up to 300m NE-SW. The defensive earthworks include a single bank and an external ditch along two of its four sidesThe monument is situated at the NW corner and highest point of the Kinver escarpment, on the SW outskirts of Kinver village. It includes the earthwork and buried remains of a univallate Iron Age fort.

Identification Images (0)

Monument Types

Description

Scheduled Ancient Monument (no 21634) description:

The monument is situated at the NW corner and highest point of the Kinver escarpment, on the SW outskirts of Kinver village. It includes the earthwork and buried remains of a univallate Iron Age fort.

Kinver camp is sub-rectangular in plan with external dimensions of approximately 210m NW-SE and up to 300m NE-SW. The defensive earthworks include a single bank and an external ditch along two of its four sides, whilst the naturally steep gradient of the escarpment is thought to have made the construction of a ditch along the hillfort's NW and SE sides unnecessary. The bank and ditch, therefore, define the SW and SE sides of the hillfort and terminate at, or close to, the edge of the escarpment at both ends. The ditch is approximately 24m wide and partly silted. its NE and NW terminals have later been modified by small-scale quarrying and there is no surface evidence for the ditch at these points. The internal bank runs parallel to the ditch and still stands to a height of 8m-9m above the base of the ditch and 2m-3m above the hillfort interior. Towards the NW end of the SW rampart is a small brick built structure which has been terraced into the outside of the bank. It is a former WWII shelter for the Home Guard and is included in the scheduling in order to secure the evidence for more recent defensive uses of the site.

Parallel with, and some 3m from the internal face of the bank, are the remains of a low, linear earthwork up to 0.8m high, whilst approximately 5m beyond the external ditch, there is a further low bank which also runs parallel with the defensive earthworks. These features, although giving the impression of an interior berm and an external counterscarp bank, are believed to be headlands resulting from 19th century ploughing around and within the hillfort following its incorporation into a rectilinear field system.

Surface evidence for defences along the NW and NE sides of the hillfort is much less clearly visible, although there is a low bank running along the former and a slight earthwork at the NE corner. The low bank is 0.7m high and can be traced intermittently for approximately 170m parallel to the edge of the scarp. It is believed to represent part of the defences along the NW side of the hillfort and is now surmounted by a discontinuous thorn hedge which has survived from its later use as a field boundary (which is marked on early OS maps). The slight earthwork at the NE corner of the site may represent an original defensive feature and is included in the scheduling.

The original access into the interior is thought to have been at the NE end of the SE defences. Although the quarrying and later access arrangement in this area have resulted in a section of the ditch becoming infilled, there is no evidence of the ditch re- emerging within the natural scarp edge immediately to the NE, indicating that there is an original terminus to the ditch beneath the modern path and suggesting an entrance which has been partly lost through erosion and partly buried.

The hillfort's earthworks enclose and area of approximately 3.75ha, the ground surface of which slopes considerably towards the SE and S. No internal earthworks associated with the occupation of the hillfort are visible within the interior, but the build-up of the ground surface, particularly along side the SE rampart, will preserve stratified occupation deposits.

File ref AA 91750/1

The hillfort was surveyed by the RCHM(E) in 1994.

References

Designations

Other Statuses and References

None Recorded

Associated Events

Associated Finds

None Recorded

Related Records

None Recorded