Carl Wark

The date and purpose of the construction of the rampart at Carl Wark are uncertain. It has been described as being "unlike any other [structure] found in Northern England." It is widely postulated to be a hill fort of Iron Age origin, perhaps dating from the 8th to the 5th centuries BC, though a similar enclosure at Gardom's Edge has been dated to the late Bronze Age, between 1300 and 900 BC. There is no evidence of settlement within the enclosure so it is unlikely that the site was used for a continuously occupied fort; it may have been used as a place of refuge for a population living in the surrounding area or it may have had some ceremonial purpose. In 1861 historian John Gardner…

The promontory is approximately 230 m long and 60 m wide, oriented south-east to north-west. It gently slopes down to the west; at the peak of the promontory an area of 0.7 ha—180 m long, 60 m wide—is enclosed by natural cliffs enhanced with man-made fortifications. The eastern and north-eastern sides of this enclosure are faced with vertical cliffs of up to 10 m in height. The southern edge of the enclosure consists of large earth-fast boulders that have been reinforced with millstone grit blocks, forming a wall 2 – high. A rampart across the western end of the promontory completes the enclosure. The rampart is 40 m long and 8 m wide at its base, rising to a height of 3 m. It is…