Eddisbury Hill Excavation
The prehistoric hilltop enclosure known as Eddisbury Hillfort, is a scheduled monument, SM 25692, and is therefore afforded statutory protection under the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979. Archaeological evaluation work was recently undertaken during late July, August and early September to provide additional data in order to inform a strategy for the long-term management of the scheduled monument. The site is currently at risk owing to inundation by gorse and bracken vegetation as well as footpath erosion and the regular ploughing of the interior.
The work was undertaken by a team of local volunteers under the supervision of professional archaeologists directed by Dan Garner (Habitats and Hillforts’ Archaeological Project Officer) in partnership with The Forestry Commission and local landowner Mr M Platt. The work served to provide a training opportunity in archaeological excavation techniques for in excess of 60 local volunteers.
During the excavations a number of brief site tours were organised for local primary school children from Delamere, Tarvin and Norley Primary Schools and for members of the Tarvin Local History Society.
The work mainly involved the re-excavation of previous archaeological trenches excavated by W J Varley between 1936 and 1938 and so the majority of the manual work was confined to the removal of 20th century backfill. A number of new trenches were also excavated within the ploughed field owned by Mr M Platt on the interior of the hillfort.
The interim results of the evaluation work are presented in the full document as a download. Integrated phasing of the site has not been attempted at present owing to the anticipated results of radiocarbon, OSL and archaeo-magnetic dating.
Reinstatement at Eddisbury Hill
Once our excavation and recording work had ceased at Eddisbury we were left with the task of backfilling and reinstating the hillfort earthworks to their former appearance. It was commented on by many of the local visitors to our excavations that ‘it was a shame to be covering up the spectacular remains of the east entrance’; particularly as the precise location had not been clearly marked in the past and its existence had been forgotten. Unfortunately, reburial is the most effective method of preserving the remains particularly with reference to the harm that extreme sub-zero temperatures can cause to exposed ancient stonework.
In the hope of achieving a satisfactory compromise we entered in to consultation with English Heritage and the Forestry Commission to devise a scheme to ensure that the archaeological remains were properly protected and a more visible marker could be left on the site of the entrance. To this end 60 tons of sand was donated by Tilcon from the local sand quarry in order to backfill the east entrance excavation and at the same time six large timbers were placed up-right into the front six postholes of the Iron Age entrance in such a way that their tops would still be visible after the backfilling was complete.
The intention is to use the surplus stone removed from the 1930’s backfill to build low dry stone walls between the extant timber posts in order to mimic the underlying archaeological remains. This installation work will then be accompanied by a new interpretation board with an artist reconstruction of how the hillfort entrance might have originally looked; this will be sited adjacent to the style on Eddisbury Hill lane for those who do not fancy the steep hill climb to the actual entrance.
