Sweetworthy
Enclosure at Sweetworthy
LocationPorlock, Somerset, England
Coordinates51°10′17″N 3°35′25″W / 51.17139°N 3.59028°W / 51.17139; -3.59028
Area0.25 hectares (0.62 acres)
BuiltIron Age
Official nameSweetworthy deserted medieval settlement
Designated13 July 1994
Reference no.1008469
Sweetworthy is located in Somerset
Sweetworthy
Location of Sweetworthy in Somerset

Sweetworthy is the site of two Iron Age hill forts or enclosures at Luccombe, 4 kilometres (2 mi) south of Porlock, Somerset, England.[1][2] They are on the north-facing slope of Dunkery Hill. One has a single rampart and external ditch, enclosing 0.25 hectares (0.62 acres).[3] The rampart is still visible and the ditch on the east side is used as a trackway.[4][5] There was a defended settlement above the main site.[6]

It is also the site of a deserted medieval settlement, which has been designated as a scheduled monument.[7] [8] It has been added to the Heritage at Risk Register because of the vulnerability to plant growth.[9]

Background

Hillforts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC.[10] The reason for their emergence in Britain, and their purpose, has been a subject of debate. It has been argued that they could have been military sites constructed in response to invasion from continental Europe, sites built by invaders, or a military reaction to social tensions caused by an increasing population and consequent pressure on agriculture. The dominant view since the 1960s has been that the increasing use of iron led to social changes in Britain. Deposits of iron ore were located in different places to the tin and copper ore necessary to make bronze, and as a result trading patterns shifted and the old elites lost their economic and social status. Power passed into the hands of a new group of people.[11] Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe believes that population increase still played a role and has stated "[the forts] provided defensive possibilities for the community at those times when the stress [of an increasing population] burst out into open warfare. But I wouldn't see them as having been built because there was a state of war. They would be functional as defensive strongholds when there were tensions and undoubtedly some of them were attacked and destroyed, but this was not the only, or even the most significant, factor in their construction".[12]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Historic England. "Iron Age defended settlement above Sweetworthy (western of two) (1008472)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  2. ↑ Historic England. "Iron Age defended settlement above Sweetworthy (eastern of two) (1008471)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  3. ↑ Adkins L and R, 1992. A Field Guide to Somerset Archaeology. page 108
  4. ↑ "Sweetworthy". Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record. English Heritage. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
  5. ↑ "Sweetworthy Enclosure". Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record. English Heritage. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
  6. ↑ "Defended Settlement Above Sweetworthy". Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record. English Heritage. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
  7. ↑ Historic England. "Sweetworthy deserted medieval settlement (1008469)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
  8. ↑ "Sweetworthy Deserted Medieval Settlement". Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record. English Heritage. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
  9. ↑ "Sweetworthy deserted Medieval settlement, Luccombe, West Somerset - Exmoor (NP)". Heritage at Risk. English Heritage. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  10. ↑ Payne, Andrew; Corney, Mark; Cunliffe, Barry (2007), The Wessex Hillforts Project: Extensive Survey of Hillfort Interiors in Central Southern England, English Heritage, p. 1, ISBN 978-1-873592-85-4
  11. ↑ Sharples, Niall M (1991), English Heritage Book of Maiden Castle, London: B. T. Batsford, pp. 71–72, ISBN 0-7134-6083-0
  12. ↑ Time Team: Swords, skulls and strongholds, Channel 4, 19 May 2008, retrieved 16 September 2009

Further reading

  • Burrow I, 1981. Hillforts and Hilltop Settlements in Somerset.
  • Grinsell L V, 1970. The Archaeology of Exmoor.
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