Yesterday, here in the UK was a public holiday, Easter Monday. Most people got the day off work, including my partner, B. I managed to persuade her not to spend the day at the stables but to visit a historic site in North Yorkshire.
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| Signpost for Stanwick camp, with our chariot |
Stanwick St. John is about 30 - 40 miles from us. It is a few miles north of Richmond, on the edge of the Yorkshire Dales. The village is in the centre of an Iron Age fort that pre-dates the Roman Invasion. Over the centuries the fort has been eroded, the ditches have half-filled and the ramparts have become overgrown. Some archaeological excavations were undertaken in the 1950s and a little preservation work since then.
The site is very large. The ramparts were four miles in length and surround an area of 310 hectares. The fort was an important centre for the Brigantes tribe that controlled Northern England when the Romans arrived.
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| On the right of the ramparts is outside the fort |
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| Overgrown ditch |
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| Top of the ramparts |
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| Steps down into the ditch between the outer and inner embankments |
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| Me, trying to give an idea of the depth of the ditch |
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| From the bottom of the ditch, looking back up the steps |
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| 1950's excavation and rebuilding of the wall along the ramparts. |
Today, much of the site is agricultural but we could still see much of the ramparts.
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| I think this is the main entrance |
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| Trees growing on the ramparts |
My first fortress visit of 2015, a good start to the year.
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