Mounsey Castle

Mounsey Castle

Plan of Mounsey Castle
Location Dulverton, Somerset, England
Coordinates 51°03′16″N 3°35′36″W / 51.05444°N 3.59333°W / 51.05444; -3.59333Coordinates: 51°03′16″N 3°35′36″W / 51.05444°N 3.59333°W / 51.05444; -3.59333
Area 1.75 hectares (4.3 acres)
Built Iron Age
Official name: Mounsey Castle and associated outwork 100m to the north
Reference no. 35638[1]
Location of Mounsey Castle in Somerset

Mounsey Castle is an Iron Age irregular triangular earthwork of 1.75 hectares (4.3 acres) north west of Dulverton, Somerset, England. It is a Scheduled Ancient Monument (No 35638).[1] It has been added to the Heritage at Risk register.[2]

It is surrounded by the remains of coursed stone walling, with an entrance to the west.[3][4]

It overlooks the River Barle.

Background

Further information: Hill fort

Hill forts developed in the Late Bronze and Early Iron Age, roughly the start of the first millennium BC.[5] The reason for their emergence in Britain, and their purpose, has been a subject of debate. It has been argued that they could have been military sites constructed in response to invasion from continental Europe, sites built by invaders, or a military reaction to social tensions caused by an increasing population and consequent pressure on agriculture. The dominant view since the 1960s has been that the increasing use of iron led to social changes in Britain. Deposits of iron ore were located in different places to the tin and copper ore necessary to make bronze, and as a result trading patterns shifted and the old elites lost their economic and social status. Power passed into the hands of a new group of people.[6] Archaeologist Barry Cunliffe believes that population increase still played a role and has stated "[the forts] provided defensive possibilities for the community at those times when the stress [of an increasing population] burst out into open warfare. But I wouldn't see them as having been built because there was a state of war. They would be functional as defensive strongholds when there were tensions and undoubtedly some of them were attacked and destroyed, but this was not the only, or even the most significant, factor in their construction".[7]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Mounsey Castle". National Mounments Record. English Heritage. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  2. ↑ "Mounsey Castle, Dulverton, West Somerset - Exmoor (NP)". Heritage at Risk. English Heritage. Retrieved 20 October 2013.
  3. ↑ "Mounsey Castle". Exmoor National Park Historic Environment Record. English Heritage. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
  4. ↑ "Mounsey Castle and associated outwork 100m to the north". Historic Environment Record. Somerset County Council. Retrieved 28 February 2011.
  5. ↑ Payne, Andrew; Corney, Mark; Cunliffe, Barry (2007), The Wessex Hillforts Project: Extensive Survey of Hillfort Interiors in Central Southern England, English Heritage, p. 1, ISBN 978-1-873592-85-4
  6. ↑ Sharples, Niall M (1991), English Heritage Book of Maiden Castle, London: B. T. Batsford, pp. 71–72, ISBN 0-7134-6083-0
  7. ↑ Time Team: Swords, skulls and strongholds, Channel 4, 2008-05-19, retrieved 16 September 2009
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