Lordenshaws fort from the air
A couple of weeks back Val and I went to Northumberland with friends.
Whilst there my friend, Rich, and I ascended Lordenshaws, a hill outside
Rothbury in Coquetdale, to the Iron Age hill fort.
Rich on the banking with the western entrance
Google Earth clearly shows the plan of the fort with the
successive banks and ditches. The outermost defensive ditch has a diameter of
around 140m and is one of the best preserved features of the site. In the South
and South East this ditch has been disturbed by later development but to the
North the ditch has a very steep V shaped profile and is up to 2.5m deep and up
to 9m wide.
Looking out from the eastern entrance marked by the large stones
There are two gates or entrances aligned east and west. The western
entranceway is the least well preserved though there are still several larger
boulders marking it. The Eastern entrance is 3m wide and there are some facing
stones visible. Where this entrance cuts through the second defensive mound
there are some prominent stones still standing 0.8m high.
Stone lined hut depression outlined by heather
Inside the fort there are a series of stone lined
depressions which although rather small are the remains of dwellings.
Neolithic cup and ring marked stone
Outside the west gate and a short distance away is a rock
outcrop covered with cup and ring markings. They are significantly older than
the fort and date to the Neolithic period. Sadly the meaning of such engravings
has long been lost.
Hut depression adjacent the cup and ring stone with a track heading to the western entrance
Yet again, adjacent to the cup and ring stone, are the
remains of two dwelling depressions that again probably date from the Iron Age.
