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Capler Camp, Herefordshire

A magnetic survey was commissioned to explore the interior of this Herefordshire hillfort, especially as none in the county have been surveyed in this way before. A total magnetic field survey was combined with a magnetic susceptibility appraisal (approx. 10m resolution) to examine whether any contemporary features survive.

The interior was once an orchard and there was potential for widespread disturbance but this does not seem to have happened. In addition, some trial trenches were dug across the monument in the 1920s but these found very little.

The surveys were successful in detecting a series of large pits in the interior & a single, well preserved hut. This is apparent as a ring of large post-pits enclosing an area with a central hearth & storage pit cut into a stony floor surface. The entrance faced east and is marked by two extremely large post pits that would once have supported a tall totem-pole like porch structure. The survival of this structure is quite impressive and hints at what may once have existed in the western half of the monument, now a plantation.

In addition, there are signs that the hillfort replaces an earlier enclosure though this is uncertain & it is hoped that further work can be carried out to examine this possibility.

Client

Archenfield Archaeology