Bat's Castle

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Bat's Castle
Caesar's Camp
Bats Castle Somerset Map.jpg
Plan of earthworks at Bat's Castle
Somerset UK location map.svg
Archaeological site icon (red).svg
Shown within Somerset
Location Carhampton, Somerset, England
Coordinates 51°10′11″N3°26′59″W / 51.16972°N 3.44972°W / 51.16972; -3.44972
Altitude213 m (699 ft)
Type Hillfort
History
Periods Iron Age
Official nameBat's Castle: a small multivallate hillfort and associated outwork
Designated03 July 1964
Reference no.1007667
Identifiers
NHLE 1007667
Atlas of Hillforts 4060
Mound and ditch of Bats Castle Defensive mound and ditch, Bats Castle - geograph.org.uk - 2974566.jpg
Mound and ditch of Bats Castle

Bats Castle is an Iron Age hillfort at the top of a 213 metres (699 ft) high hill in the parish of Carhampton south south west of Dunster in Somerset, England.

Contents

Though clearly shown on the 1902 Ordnance Survey 25 inch map (Somerset XXXV.14, Revised: 1902, Published: 1904), the site was "identified" in 1983 after some schoolboys found eight silver-plated coins dating from 102BC to AD350. [1] [2]

It is on the highest point of Gallox Hill. Previously it was known as Caesar's Camp [3] and is possibly associated with Black Ball Camp. Bat's Castle has two stone ramparts and two ditches. The ramparts are damaged in places and the hill fort is partly covered in scrub.

Bat's Castle may once have been known as the legendary fortress Din Draithou, [4] a place also associated with a fortress built or used by the legendary Irish king and raider Crimthann mac Fidaig. [5]

The site is designated as a scheduled monument. [6]

Background

Hill forts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC. [7] 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. [8] 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". [9]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadbury Castle, Somerset</span> Hillfort in Somerset, England

Cadbury Castle is a Bronze and Iron Age hillfort in the civil parish of South Cadbury in the English county of Somerset. It is a scheduled monument and has been associated with King Arthur's legendary court at Camelot.

Cadbury Hill is a small hill, mostly in the civil parish of Congresbury, overlooking the village of Yatton in North Somerset. On its summit stands an Iron Age hill fort, which is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cadbury Camp</span> Iron Age hillfort in Somerset, England

Cadbury Camp is an Iron Age hill fort in Somerset, England, near the village of Tickenham. It is a scheduled monument. Although primarily known as a fort during the Iron Age it is likely, from artefacts, including a bronze spear or axe head, discovered at the site, that it was first used in the Bronze Age and still occupied through the Roman era into the sub-Roman period when the area became part of a Celtic kingdom. The name may mean "Fort of Cador" - Cado(r) being possibly the regional king or warlord controlling Somerset, Bristol, and South Gloucestershire, in the middle to late 5th century. Cador has been associated with Arthurian England, though the only evidence for this is the reference in the Life of St. Carantoc to Arthur and Cador ruling from Dindraithou and having the power over western Somerset to grant Carantoc's plea to build a church at Carhampton. Geoffrey of Monmouth invented the title 'Duke of Cornwall' for Cador in his misleading History of the Kings of Britain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burledge Hill</span> Iron Age hillfort in Somerset, England

Burledge Hill is on the southern edge of the village of Bishop Sutton, Somerset, England. It is the site of a Site of Special Scientific Interest and an univallate Iron Age hillfort.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plainsfield Camp</span> Iron Age earthwork in Somerset, England

Plainsfield Camp is a possible Iron Age earthwork on the Quantock Hills near Aisholt in Somerset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Castle Neroche</span> Norman castle in Somerset, England

Castle Neroche is a Norman motte-and-bailey castle on the site of an earlier hill fort in the parish of Curland, near Staple Fitzpaine, Somerset, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cleeve Toot</span> Iron Age hillfort in Somerset, England

Cleeve Toot is an Iron Age univallate hillfort above Goblin Combe, Cleeve, Somerset, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Norton Camp</span> Bronze Age hillfort in Somerset, England

Norton Camp is a Bronze Age hill fort at Norton Fitzwarren near Taunton in Somerset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Black Ball Camp</span> Iron Age hillfort in Somerset, England

Black Ball Camp is an Iron Age hillfort South West of Dunster, Somerset, England on the northern summit of Gallox Hill. It is a Scheduled Monument.

Blacker's Hill is an Iron Age hill fort at Chilcompton, 4.5 kilometres (3 mi) south west of Radstock, Somerset, England. It has been designated as a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Clatworthy Camp</span> Iron Age hillfort in Somerset, England

Clatworthy Camp is an Iron Age hill fort 3 miles (4.8 km) North West of Wiveliscombe, Somerset, England. It has been scheduled as an Ancient Monument. Due to the vulnerability to scrub and tree growth it has been added to the Heritage at Risk Register.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cow Castle</span> Iron Age hillfort in Somerset, England

Cow Castle is an Iron Age hillfort 5.75 kilometres (4 mi) West South West of Exford, Somerset, England within the Exmoor National Park. It is a Scheduled Monument. It has been added to the heritage at Risk register because of the risk from bracken.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kenwalch's Castle</span> Historic site in Somerset, England

Kenwalch's Castle is probably an Iron Age hill fort that may have been converted into a Roman fortress, near Penselwood, Somerset, England, 6.6 kilometres (4 mi) east south east of Bruton at grid reference ST747335. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. It is believed to be named after Cenwalh of Wessex.

Kingsdown Camp is an Iron Age hillfort at Buckland Dinham 4.5 kilometres (3 mi) South East of Radstock, Somerset, England. It is a Scheduled Monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sweetworthy</span> Site of two Iron Age hillforts in Somerset, England

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

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Battlesbury Camp</span> Iron Age hillfort in Wiltshire, England

Battlesbury Camp is the site of an Iron Age bivallate hill fort on Battlesbury Hill near the town of Warminster in Wiltshire, South West England. Excavations and surveys at the site have uncovered various finds and archaeological evidence.

Westbury Camp is a univallate Iron Age hill fort in the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England. The hill fort is situated in the parish of Rodney Stoke, approximately 1 mile (1.6 km) north-east of the village of Draycott and 1.5 miles (2.4 km) north-west of Westbury-sub-Mendip. The camp is largely situated in a hill slope. The north east defences have largely been destroyed by small quarries over the years. The narrow top of the hill bank suggests that it may have been surmounted by a dry stone wall. Along part of the east side of the camp there are traces of a berm between the bank and the outer ditch and at the western angle shallow quarry pits occur internally and externally set back from the 'rampart'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mounsey Castle</span> Iron Age hillfort in Somerset, England

Mounsey Castle is an Iron Age irregular triangular earthwork of 1.75 hectares north west of Dulverton, Somerset, England. It has been scheduled as an ancient monument. It has been added to the Heritage at Risk Register.

Berry Castle is an early Roman hillslope enclosure in the West Somerset district of Somerset, England. The hill fort is situated approximately 3.2 miles (5.1 km) west from the village of Luccombe. A series of earthworks survive in Berry Castle; it dates from the late Iron Age or early Romano British period. It has been protected as a scheduled monument.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Long Wood Enclosure</span> Historic site in Somerset, England

Long Wood Enclosure is an enclosure which may have been a univallate Iron Age hill fort, in the West Somerset district of Somerset, England. The hill fort is situated approximately 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) southwest of the village of Dunster. It has been scheduled as an ancient monument.

References

  1. "bats Castle". Crown Estates. Archived from the original on 3 March 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2010.
  2. "Bat's Castle, Gallox Hill, Carhampton". Exmoor Historic Environment Record. English Heritage . Retrieved 21 March 2011.
  3. Bush, Robin (1994). Somerset: The complete guide. Wimborne, Dorset: Dovecote Press. pp.  55. ISBN   1-874336-26-1.
  4. Bat's Castle at The Modern Antiquarian
  5. Chadwick, pp. 122-3
  6. "Bat's Castle: a small multivallate hillfort and associated outwork, Carhampton - 1007667 | Historic England". historicengland.org.uk. Retrieved 7 June 2022.
  7. 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
  8. Sharples, Niall M (1991), English Heritage Book of Maiden Castle, London: B. T. Batsford, pp. 71–72, ISBN   0-7134-6083-0
  9. Time Team: Swords, skulls and strongholds, Channel 4, 19 May 2008, retrieved 16 September 2009

Further reading