Iron age fort - Weald Country Park Traditional Cache

This cache has been archived.

ruthless4: I'm not having much luck with this one the containers keep going missing

More
Hidden : 3/12/2010
Difficulty:
3 out of 5
Terrain:
2.5 out of 5

Size: Size: micro (micro)

Join now to view geocache location details. It's free!

Watch

How Geocaching Works
Looking for a different adventure?

Related Web Page

Please note Use of geocaching.com services is subject to the terms and conditions in our disclaimer.

Geocache Description:

This cache is set as part of the Essex Country Parks/Trailnet - Heritage Lottery Funded Geocaching project.



Iron-age Fort

The 'Iron Age' describes the period between the end of the Bronze Age and the start of the Roman period. 700BC - AD43.

Hillforts are the most well-known Iron Age monuments found in much of central and southern England. They are also amongst the most impressive. Many consist of a single bank and ditch encircling a hilltop. These are known as univallate (single walled) hillforts. More impressive are the bivallate (double walled) or multivallate (many walled) hillforts with their rings of ditches and banks, or ramparts. These prominent sites often had complicated entranceways, which suggest that there was a need to defend the interior of the enclosure.

Defence is an obvious function for these sites; however, the interior of hillforts seems to have varied a great deal. Some appear to have had many houses, storage pits and granaries, ritual structures and even a street plan. Others seem to have been empty. This suggests that hillforts were different in different regions.

It was once thought that all hillforts were the strongholds of local chieftains. However, most excavated hillforts have yielded few high status artefacts and it is now thought that they were created and maintained by a local community. They might have been centres for communal grain storage, villages, or places for religious ceremonies and celebrations. During the Roman period Iron Age forts fell out of use, with Romano-British people preferring to live in villas surrounded by their own farming estate.

On high ground partly within the eastern boundary of the park is evidence of an Iron Age fort. It is approximately circular, enclosing about 7 acres, with over half of the monument lying outside the park beneath the local cricket pitch. On the east side is a rampart and steep scarp. If there was an external ditch it has gone, the northern section of defences has almost disappeared and the site of the entrance is doubtful. There is a ditch on the north side, where the slope is more gentle, west of the modern road that cuts through the camp. Traces of this ditch, filled in, are visible in the grass field east of the road. This defensive ditch forming part of the late Iron Age hill-fort was re-cut in the medieval period.

This re-cut is most plausibly linked to the construction of the medieval deer park, into which the Iron Age earthwork was incorporated. Excavations and a contour survey date the beginning of the construction of the hillfort to the Late Iron Age. Dating is provided by small amounts of Late Iron Age pottery in the rampart make-up.

A herd of wild fallow deer are often spotted grazing near this sight so if you approach it quitely you might be lucky enough to grab a photo or two before they realise you are there.

Additional Hints (Decrypt)

va n fvyire ovepu fghzc

Decryption Key

A|B|C|D|E|F|G|H|I|J|K|L|M
-------------------------
N|O|P|Q|R|S|T|U|V|W|X|Y|Z

(letter above equals below, and vice versa)


Advertising with Us