Stanwick Iron Age Fortifications
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Stanwick Iron Age Fortifications (also known as 'Stanwick Camp'), a huge Iron Age hill fort comprising of six miles of ditches and ramparts enclosing over 700 acres of land, are situated in Richmondshire, North Yorkshire, England. They are eight miles north of the town of Richmond and ten miles west of Darlington, close to Scotch Corner and the remains of the Roman fort and bridge at Piercebridge. They completely surround the village of Stanwick St John.
In 1845 a hoard of 140 metal artefacts known as the 'Stanwick hoard', which included horse harness and a bronze horse's head, were found nearby at Melsonby. These are now on display at the British Museum.
Stanwick was the site of Sir Mortimer Wheeler's last major archaeological excavation in Britain, which he carried out from 1951-2. He argued that the vast site had been constructed in three separate 'phases' starting from a modest 17 acre fortified enclosure dated around 400BC (Phase I) then extended in around 50-60AD with a new enclosure to the north of over 130 acres (Phase II), and then finally, around 72AD, extended by a further 600 acres to the south (Phase III). Amongst Wheeler's most famous finds at Stanwick were an Iron Age sword, unusually still in its well-preserved wooden scabbard, and the nearby skull of a severed head, showing considerable damage from wounds inflicted by an axe or a sword. These were found in an excavation of a ditch terminal by the location of the main gate and Wheeler believed they may have been hanging from the gate structure itself as a trophy or warning to enemies. Wheeler concluded that Stanwick had been the rebel stronghold of Venutius, who had been the husband of the pro-Roman Brigantian queen Cartimandua, after he had split with her when she had taken his charioteer and armour-bearer Vellocatus as a lover and betrayed the rebel leader Caractacus to the Romans. Wheeler argued that Stanwick was the location where Venutius had rallied his anti-Roman tribesmen and allies for his revolt against the Roman invaders.
During the course of his excavations, Wheeler cleared a 50 foot section of ditch that the Brigantes had cut from the underlying limestone rock. He partially reconstructed a 10 foot length of dry-stone revetment wall from the fallen stones found in the ditch. This was constructed to an approximate height of 2 feet above the existing rampart, although Wheeler estimated that the original height of the wall above the rampart was probably closer to 15 feet. Known as 'Wheeler's Wall', this entire section remains preserved by English Heritage and provides the visitor to Stanwick with a clear impression of how awe-inspiring the fortifications would have been in Iron Age times. The name 'Stanwick' is thought to be derived from the Old Norse word 'steinvegges', meaning stone walls.
The next major archaeological excavation at Stanwick was carried out in 1981 by a team from Durham University led by Professor Colin Haselgrove. One of the Haselgrove team's most enigmatic finds was an adult burial near the boundary of the fortifications, where a horse's head had been carefully placed above the body. Haselgrove argued that Stanwick's huge outer circuit of ditches and banks had probably been built first, during the mid-first century AD, and then the inner area sub-divided. He maintained that the six mile fortification was too long to be easily defended and that its enormous size was to emphasise the power, prestige and wealth of its owner. Haselgrove concluded that Stanwick had not been the fortress stronghold of Venutius but was rather the estate of his ex-wife, Queen Cartimandua, and possibly even the original tribal capital of the Brigantes.
Whether Stanwick was the stronghold of Venutius or Cartimandua, or perhaps of them both for a brief time before their acrimonious split some time after 51AD, it is certain that this settlement was one of the most important in the kingdom of the Brigantes during the early stages of the Roman occupation of northern Britain.
