Harthill Moor Castle Ring (The Gatehouse Record)

In the civil parish of Harthill.
In the historic county of Derbyshire.
Modern Authority of Derbyshire.
1974 county of Derbyshire.
Medieval County of Derbyshire.

OS Map Grid Reference: SK22076283
Latitude 53.16215° Longitude -1.67134°

Harthill Moor Castle Ring has been described as a Timber Castle although is doubtful that it was such.

There are earthwork remains.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

Description

Castle Ring is an exceptionally well preserved example of a defended settlement. It lies within an area rich in prehistoric monuments, including a second defended settlement, and will contribute to the study of settlement and land-use in this area at this time.
Castle Ring is situated on Harthill Moor in the eastern gritstone moorlands of Derbyshire. The monument is a sub-circular enclosure comprising a bank, external ditch and counterscarp bank surrounding an area of c.0.5 hectares. The internal bank or rampart appears to be of simple dump construction and varies between 1m and 2m high while the counterscarp bank is between 0.5m and 1m high. The ditch is c.5m wide and is less distinct on the south side where there is no rampart visible. This is an indication that the original entrance lay in this region. The monument has not been excavated but it forms part of a rich Bronze Age landscape on Harthill Moor which also includes burial mounds, a second enclosure and Nine Stones Close stone circle. (Scheduling Report)

Sources of information, references and further reading

National Heritage List for England Scheduled Monument Number 1008005, Legacy Scheduled Monument Number 23242
Historic England (PastScape) Defra or Monument number(s) 311357.
County Historic Environment Record (or Sites and Monuments Record) number(s) 6717.

Books
- Salter, Mike, 2002, The Castles of the East Midlands (Malvern: Folly Publications) p. 29 (slight)
  King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol. 1 p. 111 (possible)
  Cox, J.C., 1905, 'Ancient Earthworks' in Page, Wm (ed), VCH Derbyshire Vol. 1 p. 371-2 online copy
Periodical Articles
- Hodges, R., 1980, 'Excavations at Camp Green, Hathersage (1976-77) - a Norman ringwork' Derbyshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 100 p. 32 online copy
  Preston, F.L., 1954, 'The Hillforts of the Peak' Derbyshire Archaeological Journal Vol. 74 p. 12 online copy
Other sources: Theses; 'grey' literature; in-house reports; unpublished works; etc.
- Creighton, O.H., 1998, Castles and Landscapes: An Archaeological Survey of Yorkshire and the East Midlands (PhD Thesis University of Leicester) p. 337 online copy

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.

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