Rock plantation
What may be the remains, of a Dark Age Fort is situated on the rocky outcrop overlooking the top of Chesters Glen. This site has had a chequered history of recording, so much so, that there is some doubt as to what remains visible on the ground. Omitted from the RCAHMS County Inventory, it was first noted about 1958 and subsequently planned by RCAHMS investigators in 1961, apparently comprising traces of a heavily-robbed rampart extending along the edge of the crag and linking up outcrops. In 1967 the OS detected only vague traces of a rampart, which they regarded as too slight to appear on the 1:2500 scale map, and a subsequent visit in 1993 by RCAHMS investigators found the site under long grass and, while noting extensive evidence of quarrying on the outcrop, did not locate the rampart.
As planned in 1961 (RCAHMS RXD 315/1; DC31519-21), it comprises three contiguous enclosures occupying the rectilinear summit area of the outcrops and a slightly lower terrace on the NE and enclosing a total area measuring about 150m from NE to SW by 30m transversely, with traces of another enclosure taking in a patch of rough ground to the NW and others taking in a terrace on the slope below the summit area on the SE. These latter, which were examined by the OS, were dismissed by other RCAHMS investigators in 1993; they considered the principal feature crossing NE end of the terrace to be no more than the revetment of an old dyke. The seven platforms in the rough ground to the NW were thought to be surface quarries and fortuitous scarps.
Whether any of these features are the remains of fortifications can only be demonstrated by excavation, but cropmarks have revealed other features that suggest the presence of a much larger fort occupying the spur. Its defences comprise a ditch about 4m in breadth, which springs from the edge of the escarpment on the NE and extends westwards in a broad arc to peter out at the edge of the field on the NW. The area enclosed against the scarp edge is roughly D-shaped on plan and measures about 220m from NE to SW along the chord by at least 130m transversely, not only taking in the enclosures on the summit of the outcrops, but also the rough ground on the NW. Apart from the enclosures on the summit, the only features visible within the interior are an angle of ditch about 6m broad, which forms an enclosure in the angle between the rough ground and the outcrops and measures internally about 50m from NE to SW by 45m transversely; traces of other enclosure ditches lie immediately to its NW.
Information from An Atlas of Hillforts of Great Britain and Ireland – 09 August 2016. Atlas of Hillforts SC3318
