Castle Ring Iron Age Hill Fort
Castle Ring is a large, roughly pentagonal, Iron Age Hill Fort around 2,500 years old. It is multivallate – that is it has several concentric banks and ditches, two on the North and West, and as many as four on the Southeast. It is one of at least seven large Multivallate Iron Age Hill Forts in Staffordshire and the most complete. It is situated on a sloping ridgeline forming the highest point within Cannock Chase, which would have given it commanding views over the surrounding landscape when it was occupied. Its extensive ramparts range from 1 to 5 metres high, surrounding a central enclosure of approx. 4Ha. The original access point would have been from the East; however present pedestrian access is via modern steps, both to the West and South from the car park.
Castle Ring is a scheduled Ancient Monument, and Site of Biological Importance. You can help us protect this very special place by:
- Staying on the main paths – walking or riding on the sides of the embankments leads to serious damage to the monument;
- Not riding bikes or horses on any part of the site.
Note that adders (Vipera berus) have been seen over the past few years (usually basking in the sun on a cold spring morning). Although venomous, they are not aggressive and will avoid people if possible. They only use their venom as a last resort – usually if caught or trodden on – and more people are injured through being hit by golf balls than by adder bites. However loose running dogs, particularly hunting breeds, risk being bitten if allowed to roam freely over the site. If you take your dog, please keep it close to you; and if an adder is seen, treat it with respect and leave it alone. They are a protected species.
Underlying Geology
The general area of Cannock Chase is underlain by materials from three geological eras; Carboniferous (363 Ma – 290 Ma), Triassic (245 Ma – 208 Ma) and Quaternary (2Ma – Present). (Ma is the scientific notation for Millions of Years.)
The rocks of the Carboniferous do not crop out and are buried to some depth underneath the Castle Ring site and therefore exert no influence on the soils and therefore habitats present.
The Triassic rocks underlying most of the site are a sequence of conglomerates (pebbles in a sandy matrix) sands and poorly consolidated sandstones. At the time these deposits were forming, a mountain chain was rising at a latitude similar to that of the present day Sahara, this environment was subject to flash floods and sands, large rocks and pebbles were washed northwards toward the English Midlands of today. Other deposits were formed in the surrounding deserts with Aeolian (wind blown) sands also found in these sequences.
There then exists an unconformity of rocks between these Triassic rocks and the much more recent deposits of the Quaternary, with any rock types laid down between the two being absent due to erosion during the last Ice Ages. During the Quaternary era boulder clay or till (geological terms for material left behind after the last Ice Age) deposits were laid down around the margins and underneath glaciers as they advanced and retreated, these movements and subsequent erosion have left patchy deposits, which contain all manner of materials such as sands, clays and solid clasts (stones) of all sizes. As already mentioned the carboniferous deposits have exerted little or no influence on the soils and drainage at Castle Ring. The Triassic sands, sandstones and conglomerates however have greatly influenced the site being naturally free draining, of low fertility and acidic in nature (these rock types generally form soils with a pH of around 3.5-6.0 elsewhere on Cannock Chase) and become even lower in nutrients by leaching so forming the free draining podsols (acidic soil type) with a shallow organic peaty topsoil and some evidence of an iron pan layer which can today be found beneath the site. Such a soil favours the development of dry acidic grasslands and heathland.
During the Ice Ages, the surrounding landscape was heavily eroded, however the site is situated at the end of a prominent ridge and is thus the highest point at 244 metres with views over a considerable area. Thus the Iron Age tribes would have seen the Castle Ring site as a notable hill surrounded by open and fertile heathlands, and they adapted it by creating a number (varying from 1 – 4) of irregular-pentagonal, concentric banks, which are elevated from the surrounding land by around 0.5 to 0.8 metres with accompanying ditches between these features. The area enclosed by the inner rampart slopes gently from North East to South West with an elevation of approximately 240 metres toward the North of the site to just below 235 metres in the South West of this inner area, this slope continues downward to the extreme South West of the site with the entrance to the car park being around 225 metres in altitude.
The landscape and use of the site has only changed dramatically in the last 100 or so years. Up to this period there would have been an open landscape, with small areas of woodland, which would generally have been farmed until the land became a Royal Hunting ground and eventually a Deer Park. The biggest change affecting the site and its setting was the planting of coniferous plantations around the site after the First World War. As this grew it altered the nature and character of the site, later the maturing pine trees provided a mass seed source leading to the near colonisation of the whole site with trees by the late 1990’s.
The nature of the site has lead to a wide variety of habitats, many reflective of those on Cannock Chase (itself designated as an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty) which have been greatly influenced by the site’s local conditions creating many small but distinct habitats from sphagnum bog, acidic grassland to heathland. This variety provides home to a range of birds, mammals, reptiles and invertebrates. Some species common others quite rare, adders and black darter (a dragonfly) are the most notable species that have recently been recorded. Because of this, the site is listed as a Site of Biological Importance (SBI).
These habitats are fragile and easily damaged through pressures for access and disturbance, so please keep to the main paths.
A Brief Site History
The site is believed to have been occupied between 500BC and 43 AD, and is one of the earliest pieces of evidence of settlement in the Cannock area. It was built by the resident Brythonic tribe of the area, the Cornovii. It was likely the site was a combination of defensive feature, ceremonial site, stockade, communication beacon and symbol of power to those who saw it. Their main residence was a hill fort on the Wrekin (near present day Telford) which stood near the centre of their tribal lands, while Castle Ring is near their borders with the neighbouring Coritani tribe (who occupied lands centred on present day Leicestershire).
Whilst the purpose of such structures is a matter of national archaeological debate, what is more certain is that the structure would have been very imposing in the landscape. Castle Ring occupies the highest point on Cannock Chase and the orange sandy banks when the structure was newly built would have been highly visible from a considerable distance, as the landscape would have been dominated by heath and small areas of farmland and woods. Indeed, it is probable that the name of Cannock town is a derivation of the Celtic word ‘C’noc’ translated as high place.
Artistic reconstruction of everyday Iron Age life
Little is known of the site’s use after this early period but it is thought that it was in the process of being modified when it was seemingly abandoned around the time the area was conquered by the Romans. It has indeed been suggested that the site was never completed, although it must be noted that these theories are speculative as very little in the way of archaeological surveying has been carried out on the site.
In the Mediaeval Era, Cannock Chase was in possession of the King and formed part of the Royal Hunting Ground, later passing to the Bishop of Coventry & Lichfield. This would have resulted in retention of a basic open landscape. The remnants of a Mediaeval hunting lodge can just be made out on the surface in the Northern quarter of the inner enclosure of the monument.
In the mid 16th Century, following the Dissolution of the Monasteries, Henry VIII confiscated the lands in the manor belonging to the Bishop of Coventry and Lichfield and gave then to Sir William Paget. Under his control, the Coal and Iron resources of Cannock Chase were exploited. The open wooded landscape of the hunting forest was utilised for charcoal making. And throughout the Agrian Revolution the estate prospered maintaining an open landscape through heavy grazing.
However the largest effect on Castle Ring came about between 1780-90 following development of a landscape park at Beaudesert. This involved levelling of the north and west side of the inner rampart as a walkway and for viewing the landscape, and creating two carriage drives on Castle Ring. One runs along the Northern boundary, the other running directly from the main entrance in the East, bisecting the inner enclosure and cutting through the Western embankments. Whether this route created this breach or merely used an existing Roman breach is not known.
The Cannock Chase forests that we see today were largely created after 1919 to provide a strategic reserve of timber following the First World War. And it is the establishment of forestry that has impacted most on Castle Ring.
Cache Access & Objectives
There is a free car park at N52° 42.674', W1° 56.103', off Holly Hill Road and opposite the Park Gate Inn. Note that the car park is closed overnight.
There is an Interpretation Board at N52° 42.700', W1° 56.135'. This is set within a stone-edged circle, which represents the size of a typical Iron Age round house. Imagine a family living in a space this size.
The path on the right then leads you up some steps (which follow a Victorian trackway which was cut into the embankment) and onto the main ramparts.
Follow these to N52° 42.812', W1° 56.259', where you will find modern steps taking you down to the left across the embankments and ditches. Go down the main embankment into the ditch, then climb the next smaller embankment and descend again to find a path on your right leading Northeast. Follow this until you reach a broad path, and then walk East below the Hill Fort to N52° 42.812', W1° 56.042' where you regain the ramparts through the original entrance. (Originally this would have been much more impressive, probably with a curved embankment and large wooden gates; however the evidence for this was largely destroyed when the 18th Century carriage drive was cut through the Hill Fort.)
Even now, the ramparts stand at up to 4 metres high, and it is likely that they were much more impressive 2,500 years ago, before the banks and ditches were eroded and when they were topped with a wooden palisades. Imagine the difficulty of attacking the Hill Fort with Iron Age weapons.
To log this cache, there are three tasks which you must complete by emailing the cache owner via www.geocaching.com. (Click on my name at the top of this webpage.)
- By walking around the ramparts, estimate how long it would take a watchman to complete a circuit. This task will help you appreciate the size of the structure and the difficulty intruders would face in approaching without being seen.
- Estimate how far you can see from the viewpoint on the Northern ramparts. When the surrounding landscape was heathland, you would be able to see for a similar distance in all directions!
- Optionally, take a photograph of yourself, or your GPS receiver, and post it with your log. (If you do not wish to do this, please tell me in your email how many steps there are between the car park and the ramparts.)
Acknowledgements & Further Information
I am grateful to Phil Armshaw, Countryside Officer – Accessibility, with Cannock Chase Council for his help in publishing this Earthcache. Much more information about the site, and the Council’s Management Plans, are available here
Congratulations to Andy for logging this cache first!!!