Berry Ring (also known as Bury Ring) is an

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 appl ...

hillfort 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 ...

in Staffordshire, England, lying some two miles southwest of the county town of

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in ...

, a mile to the southwest of

Stafford Castle Stafford Castle is an ancient Grade II listed castle situated two miles west of the town of Stafford in Staffordshire, England. From the time of the Norman Conquest and as recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 it was the seat of the powerful An ...

and half a mile to the west of the

M6 motorway The M6 motorway is the longest motorway in the United Kingdom. It is located entirely within England, running for just over from the Midlands to the border with Scotland. It begins at Junction 19 of the M1 motorway, M1 and the western end of t ...

Description

It is a univallate hillfort, roughly oval in shape, on the northern part of elevated land north of the village of Billington. The defences, following the contours of the ground, enclose an area of about . The rampart is about high in the south-east, elsewhere about high. The outer ditch is up to wide and deep. A

counterscarp A scarp and a counterscarp are the inner and outer sides, respectively, of a ditch or moat used in fortifications. Attackers (if they have not bridged the ditch) must descend the counterscarp and ascend the scarp. In permanent fortifications t ...

bank can be seen in the north, west and south, most clearly in the north-west where it is high and wide. The original entrance is thought to be in the south; its features are unclear because of sand and gravel extraction in recent times. There are other later entrances. Berry Ring Digital Terrain Model

There is a spring-fed pond within the fort at the north-east side. There have been chance finds around the interior of flints, Iron Age pottery and medieval pottery.

References

External links

Berry Ring, Staffordshire

Berry Ring, Roman Britain

An image of Berry Ring from 1926

Images and a map of the area
{{Iron Age hillforts in England Hill forts in Staffordshire Iron Age sites in England Scheduled monuments in Staffordshire Borough of Stafford