Stanwick Iron Age Fortifications (also known as 'Stanwick Camp'), a huge

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age ( Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly ap ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Rom ...

, sometimes but not always considered an

oppidum An ''oppidum'' (plural ''oppida'') is a large fortified Iron Age settlement or town. ''Oppida'' are primarily associated with the Celtic late La Tène culture, emerging during the 2nd and 1st centuries BC, spread across Europe, stretch ...

, comprising over of ditches and ramparts enclosing approximately of land, are situated in

Richmondshire {{Infobox settlement , name = Richmondshire District , type = District , image_skyline = , imagesize = , image_caption = , image_blank_emblem= Richmondshire arms.png , blank_emblem_type = Coat ...

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by national parks, including most of the Yorkshire Dales and the North York Moors. It is one of four cou ...

, England. Whether Stanwick was the stronghold of

Venutius Venutius was a 1st-century king of the Brigantes in northern Britain at the time of the Roman conquest. Some have suggested he may have belonged to the Carvetii, a tribe that probably formed part of the Brigantes confederation. History first b ...

Cartimandua Cartimandua or Cartismandua (reigned ) was a 1st-century queen of the Brigantes, a Celtic people living in what is now northern England. She came to power around the time of the Roman conquest of Britain, and formed a large tribal agglomeration ...

, or perhaps of them both for a brief time before their acrimonious split some time after 51 AD, it is certain that this settlement was one of the most important in Brigantia, the

Brigantes The Brigantes were Ancient Britons who in pre-Roman times controlled the largest section of what would become Northern England. Their territory, often referred to as Brigantia, was centred in what was later known as Yorkshire. The Greek geogr ...

kingdom during the early stages of the Roman occupation of Britain. The site is a scheduled monument.

Location and etymology

The fortifications are located north of the town of Richmond and south west of

Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwe ...

, close to

Scotch Corner Scotch Corner is a junction of the A1(M) and A66 trunk roads near Richmond in North Yorkshire, England. It has been described as "the modern gateway to Cumbria, the North East and Scotland", and is a primary destination signed from as fa ...

and the remains of the Roman fort and bridge at

Piercebridge Piercebridge is a village and civil parish in the borough of Darlington and the ceremonial county of Durham, England. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 113. It is situated a few miles west of the town of Darlington. ...

. Rising to a height of almost in places, the ramparts completely surround the village of Stanwick St John and form one of the largest Iron Age settlements in Britain, in extent if not necessarily in population. The name 'Stanwick' is thought to be derived from the

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlement ...

word 'steinvegges', meaning stone walls; although an

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...

etymology Etymology ()The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words an ...

, from ''stān'' "stone" and ''wic'' "settlement", is also plausible.

Stanwick Hoard

In 1845 a hoard of 140 metal artefacts known as the ''Stanwick Hoard'', which included four sets of horse harness for chariots and a bronze horse head 'bucket attachment', was found half a mile away at

Melsonby Melsonby is a village and civil parish in the Richmondshire district of North Yorkshire, England. It lies a west of the A1(M) motorway and north of the A66. Etymology The second element in the name ''Melsonby'' is the Old Norse suffix ''-by'' ...

. The hoard is now held by the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It documen ...

, which also has the

Meyrick Helmet The Meyrick Helmet is an Iron Age bronze peaked helmet, with La Tène style decoration, that is held at the British Museum in London. It is one of only four Iron Age helmets to have been discovered in Britain, the other three being the more famo ...

, which may have been part of the hoard or have been made at Stanwick.

Mortimer Wheeler excavations

Stanwick was the site of Sir

Mortimer Wheeler Sir Robert Eric Mortimer Wheeler CH CIE MC TD (10 September 1890 – 22 July 1976) was a British archaeologist and officer in the British Army. Over the course of his career, he served as Director of both the National Museum of Wales a ...

's last major archaeological excavation in Britain, which he carried out over the summers of 1951 and 1952. Wheeler argued that the vast site had been constructed in three separate 'phases' starting from a modest earthwork enclosure on a low hill known as 'The Tofts', dated to around 40 AD (Phase I) then extended around 50–60 AD with a new enclosure to the north of over 130 acres (Phase II), and then finally, around 72 AD, extended by a further to the south (Phase III). During the course of his excavations, Wheeler cleared a section of ditch that the

had cut from the underlying limestone rock. He partially reconstructed a length of dry-stone revetment wall from the fallen stones found in the ditch. This was constructed to an approximate height of above the existing rampart, although Wheeler estimated that the original height of the wall above the rampart was probably closer to . Known as 'Wheeler's Wall', this entire section remains preserved by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

and provides the visitor to Stanwick with a clear impression of how awe-inspiring the fortifications would have been in Iron Age times. Amongst Wheeler's most famous finds at Stanwick were an Iron Age sword, unusually still in its well-preserved ash wood scabbard, and the nearby skull of a severed head, showing considerable damage from wounds inflicted by an axe or a sword. These were found in an excavation of a ditch terminal next to the location of the main north western gate and Wheeler believed they may have been hanging from the gate structure itself as a trophy or warning to enemies. Wheeler concluded that Stanwick had been the rebel stronghold of

, who had been the husband of the pro-Roman Brigantian queen

, after he had split with her when she had taken his charioteer and armour-bearer

Vellocatus Vellocatus was a first-century king of the Brigantes tribe of northern Britain. He was originally armour-bearer to Venutius, husband of Cartimandua, the queen of the Brigantes and an ally of Rome. Some time after 51 AD Cartimandua split with Ve ...

as a lover and betrayed the rebel leader

Caractacus Caratacus ( Brythonic ''*Caratācos'', Middle Welsh ''Caratawc''; Welsh ''Caradog''; Breton ''Karadeg''; Greek ''Καράτακος''; variants Latin ''Caractacus'', Greek ''Καρτάκης'') was a 1st-century AD British chieftain of the ...

to the Romans. Wheeler argued that Stanwick was where

had rallied his anti-Roman tribesmen and allies for his revolt against the Roman invaders.

Durham University digs

The next series of major archaeological excavations at Stanwick were carried out from 1981 to 1986 by a team from

Durham University , mottoeng = Her foundations are upon the holy hills (Psalm 87:1) , established = (university status) , type = Public , academic_staff = 1,830 (2020) , administrative_staff = 2,640 (2018/19) , chancellor = Sir Thomas Allen , vice_chan ...

led by Percival Turnbull and Professor Colin Haselgrove. One of their most enigmatic finds was an adult male burial at the rear of a rampart in the fortifications where a horse's head had been carefully placed upon the body.Haselgrove, C. and Turnbull, P. with Fitts, M. and Van der Veen, M.: "Stanwick: Excavation and Research – Third Interim Report 1985-86", page 10, University of Durham, Department of Archaeology, Occasional Paper No.8, 1987 and Haselgrove, C: 'Stanwick' in "Current Archaeology" No. 119 (pp. 380–384), page 384 Turnbull and Haselgrove argued that Stanwick's huge outer circuit of ditches and banks had probably been built first, during the mid-first century AD, and then the inner area sub-divided. They maintained that the fortification was too long to be easily defended and that its enormous size was intended instead to emphasise the power, prestige and wealth of its owner. They concluded that Stanwick had not been the fortress stronghold of

but was rather the estate of his ex-wife, Queen

, and possibly even the original tribal capital of the

References

External links