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Portfield Hillfort

Buildings and structures in Ribble ValleyHill forts in LancashireScheduled monuments in LancashireUnited Kingdom archaeology stubs
Portfield hillfort 01
Portfield hillfort 01

Portfield also known as Planes Wood Camp is a late Bronze Age or Iron Age hillfort situated close to the town of Whalley in Lancashire, Northern England. It is thought to have originally been constructed as a univallate structure and then modified into a small multivallate one sometime after. It is located on a slight promontory overlooking the valley of the River Calder, with the ground falling particularly rapidly to the west. A flat, possibly artificially levelled area measuring approximately 165 by 110 metres (541 by 361 ft), appears to have originally enclosed by a single rampart, with a least one entrance on the northern side. The irregularly-shaped site, with an area a little over 1.4 hectares (3.5 acres), is 120 metres (400 ft) above sea level. The surrounding land slopes fairly steeply on the southeast, and little less so on the northwest sides, while to the northeast the drop is only slight. No evidence remains of a bank on the western side and it could be that the slope here, which is most extreme on the upper 15 metres (50 ft), may have been considered defence enough.Generally the defences have not survived well, but at the northwest corner where they are best preserved, there is a section of triple bank and ditch up to 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) high, thought to represent later modifications.Today the site is protected as a Scheduled Ancient Monument, but it was not until 1981. Starting in the 1950s, the Haweswater Aqueduct was constructed through the site. As part of the work, limited archaeological excavation undertaken in 1957, discovered a section of cobbled pavement at the entrance and pottery dated to the second century AD. In 1966, workmen laying an additional pipeline across the hillfort, discovered a hoard of nine Bronze Age artefacts including a gold bracelet and lock ring. Additional small digs in the 1960s and 70s recovered finds dating from the Neolithic period through to Middle Ages.Planes Wood is an area of woodland on the steep slope to the west. Since at least the 16th century, the name Portfield has been attached to a farm at the northeast edge of the site. The English word 'port' may have been borrowed from the Latin portus, a possible meaning of which is haven or refuge.Historic England consider Portfield to be a rare example in north west England of a univallate hillfort subsequently modified to become multivallate.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Portfield Hillfort (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Portfield Hillfort
Portfield Lane, Ribble Valley

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N 53.8151 ° E -2.3875 °
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Portfield Lane

Portfield Lane
BB7 9DP Ribble Valley
England, United Kingdom
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Portfield hillfort 01
Portfield hillfort 01
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Hyndburn Brook
Hyndburn Brook

Hyndburn Brook is a minor river in eastern Lancashire. It is approximately 4.5 miles (7.3 km) long, and has the catchment area (not including the River Hyndburn) of 13.61 square miles (35.243 km2).Thought to begin at the confluence of Tinker Brook and White Ash Brook, to the west of Church, the river runs north. It collects the River Hyndburn just before the bridge of the M65 Motorway and Bottom Syke (from Dunkenhalgh) just afterward, meeting Shaw Brook and Spaw Brook to the east of Rishton. Turning to the northeast between Great Harwood and the Oakenshaw side of Clayton-le-Moors, it is joined by Norden Brook and then Harwood Brook. After passing under the A680 Hyndburn Bridge, the brook eventually joins the River Calder, next to the district's waste water treatment works, at Martholme. Both Tinker and White Ash Brooks drain the north side of Oswaldwistle Moor.Tinker Brook originates as Jackhouse Brook at the confluence of Cocker Brook and Cocker Lumb near Jackhouse, the former having passed through the old reservoirs of Warmwithens and Jackhouse. It becomes Tinker Brook as it enters the south of town of Oswaldtwistle before it collects Whams Brook. While White Ash Brook begins as Lottice Brook, northeast of Belthorn, and flows in a northerly direction until it turns back east, at the bridge of Haslingden Old Road near the motorway. It becomes White Ash Brook as flows under the Smithes Bridge in Western Oswaldwistle.The name possibly originates from the Old English words hind (female deer) and burna (stream). Brook (OE broc) is a common name for a stream, which is most often found in Southern and Central England.An ongoing river improvement scheme aimed to allow migrating salmon, trout, and eels access to the River Hyndburn saw the construction of a fish bypass during 2017, at the 4-metre (13 ft 1 in) high nineteenth century Oakenshaw Print Works Weir. This was officially opened in October 2017. Work started on a similar project in June 2019, this being upstream at the Dunkenhalgh Weir near Rishton.United Utilities had put the two hundred metre stretch of Hyndburn Brook up for sale in February 2009, and it was being auctioned with no reserve price. Environment Agency officials praised Blythe’s Chemical Works for reducing pollution in the stretch of the brook in January 2000.