Old Oswestry Hillfort Shropshire
Iron Age (800 BCE–43 CE)·Cornovii·🇬🇧 England, Shropshire, near Oswestry, United Kingdom
About
About Old Oswestry Hillfort Shropshire
Shropshire's most spectacular hillfort excavated by Varley 1939–40 atop hill with 3-circuit ramparts and ritual pits, view over Welsh Marches. Recorded context — Period: Iron Age (800 BCE–43 CE); Culture: Cornovii; Field status: partially excavated; Materials: earth, limestone, timber; Condition: preserved.
Why it mattersKey Cornovii earthwork with stratified sequence and regional typology.
Open questions
Mysteries & theories
Mysteries
- 01Construction labor organization
- 02Collapse cause
Theories
- 01Territorial marker
- 02Observatory
Theories are interpretations, not findings. The seal above tells you how much scholarly weight the place carries.
History
How it came to be
- Built
- c. 800 BCE
- Period
- Iron Age (800 BCE–43 CE)
- Culture
- Cornovii
- Purpose
- Multivallate Iron Age hillfort with elaborate western pit alignments and inturned entrances
- Rediscovered
- Modern excavation 1880
- Excavation
- Partially excavated
c. 800 BCE
Initial construction / first occupation at Old Oswestry Hillfort Shropshire
c. 200 CE major extension
Major expansion / refurbishment at Old Oswestry Hillfort Shropshire
1920 excavation
Modern rediscovery and scientific excavation of Old Oswestry Hillfort Shropshire
On the ground
Structures & features
52.8770° N · 3.0500° W · 160 m · 3 mapped features
- Old Oswestry Hillfort Shropshire — Principal Rampartrampartrampart at Old Oswestry Hillfort Shropshire — primary structure52.8754° N · 3.0494° W
- Old Oswestry Hillfort Shropshire — Northern Ditchditchditch at Old Oswestry Hillfort Shropshire — outlier feature52.8764° N · 3.0487° W
- Old Oswestry Hillfort Shropshire — Entrance Annex 3entranceentrance at Old Oswestry Hillfort Shropshire — subsidiary complex52.8772° N · 3.0505° W
Gallery