Eckington Castle Hill (The Gatehouse Record)

Description

"A square intrenchment" on the hill west of Eckington Church was described in 1829 as "perfect", and Haverfield describes it as earthworks of uncertain age. Field work by R.C.H.M. shows that the square entrenchment on Castle Hill, 600ft W of Eckington parish church, SK 430 797 visible as a soil mark, encloses a quarter of an acre, probably walled originally with an entrance at the SW corner, and is perhaps an Iron Age homestead (Ramm 1958).
A mound on Castle Hill, Eckington, listed under "Castles" is Scheduled (A.M's Eng. Wales, 1961, 32 (M.O.W.)).
Documentary evidence proves that the enclosure was a bowling green in 1796 but it may have an earlier origin and Mr Penny suggests it may have been the moat hall mentioned. I think it is older than 18th cent. although unlikely to be prehistoric as formerly suggested. The name Castle Hill does not appear until the 19th cent. (Letter 17.3.66 (H G Ramm, R.C.H.M.)).
The name is not shown on early O.S. plans.
This work is represented by a level platform - now under cereal. The only surveyable feature is a pronouned lynchet on the S.E. side, 22.0m in length with a maximum height of 1.1m. The bank to the east is the result of modern terracing above a refuse tip (still in use); there is no surface evidence of either walling or entrance. Classification. The documentary evidence for a Bowling Green is strong, the size is acceptable for a Md. green and the site is obviously the easiest spot for levelling hereabouts. I can offer no parallel to suggest the feature as historic or Roman. Lynchet surveyed at 1/1250 (Field Investigators Comments F1 FC 31-MAY-66).
SK 43007977. Castle Hill is listed as a small rectilinear stone- walled enclosure, about 1/4 acre in area, probably Iron Age (RCHM Mons. Threatened or Destroyed 1963 13). (PastScape)

An earthwork site labelled 'Roman Camp (remains of)' appears at this location on the 2nd edition 25" OS map of c. 1900 (OS map).
"A square intrenchment" on the hill west of Eckington Church was described in 1829 as "perfect", and Haverfield describes it as earthworks of uncertain age (Glover 1831; VCH 1905).
Field work by RCHM showed that the square entrenchment on Castle Hill, 600ft west of Eckington parish church, visible as a soil mark, enclosed a quarter of an acre. It was probably walled originally with an entrance at the south-west corner, and was perhaps an Iron Age homestead (Ramm 1958; RCHME 1963).
Documentary evidence proves that the enclosure was a bowling green in 1796 but it may have an earlier origin, possibly being the moat hall mentioned in the 1650 Parliamentary Survey of Eckington. It is probably older than 18th century although unlikely to be prehistoric as formerly suggested. The name Castle Hill does not appear until the later 19th century (Letter from H G Ramm (of RCHM) dated March 17 1966).
This work is represented by a level platform - now under cereal. The only surveyable feature is a pronounced lynchet on the south-east side, 22.0m in length with a maximum height of 1.1m. The bank to the east is the result of modern terracing above a refuse tip (still in use); there is no surface evidence of either walling or entrance. The documentary evidence for a Bowling Green is strong, the size is acceptable for a green and the site is obviously the easiest spot for levelling hereabouts. I can offer no parallel to suggest the feature as historic or Roman. Lynchet surveyed at 1/1250 (F1 FC 31-MAY-66).
There is no known dating evidence for this earthwork.
The monument was scheduled in 1961, but has since been descheduled under the Monuments Protection Programme. (Derbyshire HER)

Sources of information, references and further reading

Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 316164.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 4903.

Books
- Sneyd, Steve, 1995, The Devil's Logbook Castles and Fortified Sites around South Yorkshire (Hilltop Press) p. 11
  RCHME, 1963, Monuments threatened or destroyed: a select list: 1956-1962 (HMSO) p. 13
  Haverfield, F., 1905, 'Romano-British Derbyshire' in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Derbyshire Vol. 1 p. 257 (plan) online copy
  W. Askham in Glover, S., 1831, The History and Gazetteer of the County of Derby Vol. 1 p. 247 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Ramm, H.G., 1958, East Midland Archaeological Bulletin Vol. 1 p.1
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Letter from H G Ramm (of RCHM) dated March 17 1966

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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.

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