Herefordshire Beacon, Colwall (The Gatehouse Record)

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as;
The Citadel; British Camp

In the civil parish of Colwall.
In the historic county of Herefordshire.
Modern Authority of Herefordshire.
1974 county of Hereford and Worcester.
Medieval County of Herefordshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SO75984006
Latitude 52.05786° Longitude -2.35144°

Herefordshire Beacon, Colwall has been described as a certain Timber Castle, and also as a certain Masonry Castle.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

A well preserved and spectacular Iron Age hillfort of two or more phases with over 100 possible hut circles. The hillfort originally covered at area of approximately 8 acres. The site was apparently reused as the site of a medieval ringwork, possibly in a further two phases, and grew to an area of around 32 acres in size. The site is also known as British Camp. (PastScape)

A rock-cut ditch, ovoid plan surrounds a disturbed platform with a possible minute attenuated bailey to the east. Interior is a platforme which slopes markedly from SE to NW. Substantial rampart on E and S sides, slight to the N and on the W it is absent. Within the bailey are remains of a rectangular building 4m by 10m. Two mounds either side of the path nearby have no sign, possibly are natural but the E mound appears to be part of a bank across the ride that suggests they are artificial. There are two main theories – that the castle was built during the anarchy, when King Steven and the Angevins were fighting in Gloucestershire, and fortifications burnt at Tewkesbury and Winchcombe. The more plausible theory is that the castle could be classed with the other early Norman hill castles, or possibly be early pre Norman. (Herefordshire SMR ref. Bowden, 2000)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1001792, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number he3
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 113786.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 7155.

Websites (Gatehouse is not responsible for the content of external websites.)
- Paul Martin Remfry
  Charles Taylor's ecastles
Books
- Shoesmith, Ron, 2009 (Rev edn.), Castles and Moated Sites of Herefordshire (Logaston Press) p. 93-4
  Remfry, P.M., 2008, The Herefordshire Beacon and the families of King Harold II and the earls of Hereford and Worcester (Castle Studies Research & Publishing)
  Salter, Mike, 2000, Castles of Herefordshire and Worcestershire (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 40
  Remfry, Paul M., 1996, The Herefordshire Beacon, 1048 to 1154 (SCS Publishing: Worcestershire)
  Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge: Boydell Press) p. 99
  Higham, R. and Barker, P., 1992, Timber Castles (Batsford) p. 200, 239
  Stirling-Brown, R., 1989, Herefordshire Castles (privately published) p. 94
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 204
  1981, Herefordshire Countryside Treasures (Hereford and Worcester County Council) p. 70
  Stanhope, S., 1980, Archaeology of the Welsh Marches p. 94
  Renn, D.F., 1973 (2 edn.), Norman Castles of Britain (London: John Baker) p. 205
  Toy, Sidney, 1953, The Castles of Great Britain (Heinemann)
  RCHME, 1932, An inventory of the historical monuments in Herefordshire Vol. 2: east p. 55-7 no. 34 online transcription
  Burrow, Edward J., 1919, The Ancient Entrenchments and Camps of Gloucestershire (Cheltenham and London) p. 156, 158-60
  Gould, I. Chalkley, 1908, in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Herefordshire Vol. 1 p. 205-6
  Allcroft, A. Hadrian, 1908, Earthwork of England (London) p. 121-2 online copy
  McKay, 1875, The British Camp on the Herefordshire Beacon (Malvern: Folly Publications)
  Card, 1822, Dissertation on the subject of the Herefordshire Beacon (London)
  King, Edward, 1799, Munimenta antiqua or Observations on antient castles (W.Bulmer and Co) Vol. 1 p. 19-21 online copy
Periodical Articles
- 1998-99, 'Pre-Conquest Castles in Herefordshire' Castle Studies Group Newsletter No. 12 p. 33-4 online copy
  Sterling Brown, R., 1988, 'Preliminary Results of Castle Survey' Herefordshire Archaeological News Vol. 50 p. 41
  King, D.J.C. and Alcock, L., 1969, 'Ringworks in England and Wales' Château Gaillard Vol. 3 p. 90-127
  1965, Antiquity Vol. 39 pl. XLI
  1959, Antiquaries Journal Vol. 39 p. 241n1
  Wheeler, R.E.M., 1952, 'The Herefordshire Beacon Hill Fort' The Archaeological Journal Vol. 109 p. 146-8 online copy
  Hawkes, C.F., 1931, Antiquaries Journal Vol. 11 p. 83
  Price, F.G.H., 1881, Journal of the Anthropological Institute Vol. 10 p. 319-31
  Price, F.G.H., 1880, 'Herefordshire Beacon Camp' Transactions of the Woolhope Naturalists' Field Club p. 220-28
Antiquarian (Histories and accounts from late medieval and early modern writers)
- Camden, Wm, 1607, Britannia hypertext critical edition by Dana F. Sutton (2004)
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Bowden, M., 2000, British Camp or Herefordshire Beacon (English Heritage Investigation Report. English Heritage)

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from ANY site without proper recording and reporting.
Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.

The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of Historic England, County Historic Environment Records and other individuals and organisations. It may also contain information licensed under the Open Government Licence. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes.
The author and compiler of Gatehouse does not receive any income from the site and funds it himself. The information within this site is provided freely for educational purposes only.

The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.

Suggestions for finding online and/or hard copies of bibliographical sources can be seen at this link.
Minor archaeological investigations, such as watching brief reports, and some other 'grey' literature is most likely to be held by H.E.R.s but is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded here, or elsewhere, but some suggestions can be found here.

The possible site or monument is represented on maps as a point location. This is a guide only. It should be noted that OS grid references defines an area, not a point location. In practice this means the actual center of the site or monument may often, but not always, be to the North East of the point shown. Locations derived from OS grid references and from latitude longitiude may differ by a small distance.
Further information on mapping and location can be seen at this link.

Please help to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting Gatehouse if you see errors, can add information or have suggestions for improvements in functality and design.
Help is acknowledged.

Data >	PastScape	County HER	Scheduling
Maps >	Streetmap	NLS maps	Where's the path	Old-Maps
Data/Maps >	Magic	V. O. B.	Geology	LiDAR	Open Domesday
Air Photos >	Bing Maps	Google Maps	Getmapping	ZoomEarth
Photos >	CastleFacts	Geograph	Flickr	Panoramio