Topics > Northumberland > Kimmerston > Defended settlement on White Hill, SE of Kimmerston
Defended settlement on White Hill, SE of Kimmerston
Map showing Kimmerson with the Scheduled Monument area to the south east.
The cropmarked remains of a multivallate defended settlement are located 590m south-east of Kimmerston in Northumberland. Situated on a spur on the western flank of White Hill, are the remains of a circular enclosure, with 3 concentric ditches, possibly a lowland hillfort. The site is a Scheduled Monument (legally protected), listed as an Iron Age defended settlement.
Scheduled Monument (#1006408): Defended settlement on White Hill, 700m south east of Kimmerston
Click the headings below to expand (selected extracts from the Historic England scheduling)
Defended settlements are a rare monument type. They were an important element of the later prehistoric settlement pattern of the northern uplands and are important for any study of the developing use of fortified settlements during this period. All well-preserved examples are believed to be of national importance. Despite the fact that it has been subject to cultivation, the defended settlement on White Hill retains significant archaeological deposits within the buried features such as pits and ditches. This settlement will provide insight into the construction, use and abandonment of the monument and will add to our knowledge and understanding of settlement and subsistence during the Iron Age.
The monument includes the buried remains of an Iron Age multivallate defended settlement situated on a spur on the western flank of White Hill. The settlement, which is visible on aerial photographs as a cropmark, is perfectly circular in plan enclosing an area of 0.4ha. It is surrounded by three ditches which are spaced between 10m to 15m apart.
EN2045 White Hill, Northumberland
Click the headings below to expand (selected extracts from the Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland)
Lying at 84m OD on a sloping spur on the western flank of White Hill, to the SE of Kimmerston, the cropmarked remains of a circular enclosure, possibly a lowland hillfort. It comprises three concentric ditches set 10-15m apart which measure 120m in diameter enclosing 0.4ha. Scheduled as a defended settlement. Unrecorded on OS mapping, Minimal investigations, undated.
Source: Lock, Gary and Ralston, Ian. 2024. Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland. Available at: https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk (CC BY-SA 4.0)
