British Camp

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The British Camp is an Iron Age hill fort located at the top of Herefordshire Beacon in the Malvern Hills. The site is thought to date back before the Common Era and has been extended subsequently by a medieval castle.

The extensive earthworks remain clearly visible today and determine the shape of the hill.

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The British Camp is composed of extensive earthworks that have been compared to a giant wedding cake. Midsummer Hillfort, only a mile south of the British Camp, was occupied permanently by up to 4,000 people for four to five hundred years. There are a number of generally round hut platforms on the British Camp, which may well suggest a permanent occupation. However it is unusual to have two major hillforts within such a short distance, when most are around ten miles apart.

British Camp

The ditch and counterscarp bank around the entire site covers three hills, although those to north and south are little more than spurs. The first earthworks were around the base of the central hill otherwise known as the citadel. At least four pre-historic phases of building have so far been identified. Original gates appear to have existed to east, west and north-east.

The Roman Era

There is no evidence about whether the coming of the Romans ended the prehistoric use of the British Camp, but folklore states that the ancient British chieftain Caractacus made his last stand here. This is unlikely, according to the description of the Roman historian Tacitus who implies a site closer to the river Severn. Excavation at Midsummer Hillfort, Bredon Hill and Croft Ambrey all show evidence of violent destruction around 48CE. This may suggest that the British Camp was abaondoned or destroyed around the same time.

The Castle

A motte and bailey fortress was built on top of the Iron Age camp, probably in the ten years immediately before 1066. Quite possibly the builder was Earl Harold Godwinson, the future King Harold II of England. Earl Harold is recorded as building another fortress in the county at Longtown Castle. The castle would appear to have been refortified during the anarchy of the reign of King Stephen. Before 1148 the fortress was held by Waleran de Beaumont, 1st Earl of Worcester. The castle appears to have changed hands again in 1151 and 1153 when attacked by royalists. At this time it was defended by the men of Earl Waleran's brother, Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester. The castle was finally destroyed by King Henry II in 1155 and mentioned in passing by William Langland before 1386.

The Shire Ditch

The Shire Ditch, traditionally dated to the 13th century, runs north and south of the British Camp along the ridge of the hills. Recent research has shown that the Shire Ditch might actually be much older. Indeed there is some evidence that it may have started life as a prehistoric trackway running from Midsummer Hillfort to the Worcestershire Beacon, the highest hill in the range over three miles to the north of the Camp.

References

Remfry, P.M., "The Herefordshire Beacon and the Families of King Harold II and the Earls of Hereford and Worcester" (ISBN 1-899376-73-5)

External links

* [http://www.castles99.ukprint.com/Essays/herebeac.html Anglo-Norman Castles essay]
* [http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.001002003005001009 Shire Ditch]
* [http://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/content/image_galleries/shepperd_photo_gallery.shtml Image of British Camp]