Chester Crane Camp, Ord, near Berwick-upon-Tweed, Northumberland: Archaeological Field Survey of a Promontory Fort
Author(s): David Went, Rebecca Pullen
Chester Crane Camp, also known by a variety of alternative names including Canny Burn, Canny Bank and Canny Shiel, is a prehistoric bivallate promontory fort on the south bank of the River Tweed, 3.5km west of Berwick. It occupies a tongue of land defined to the north by the steep river cliff of the Tweed and to the west and south-west by the deeply downcut valley of the Canny Burn, a minor tributary of the Tweed; a double arc of banks and ditches cut off the neck of the promontory, protecting against approach across level ground from the east and south. Medieval/early post-medieval ridge-and-furrow ploughing, that covers every part of the monument’s interior and also extends between the ramparts, has led some previous authorities to speculate that the enclosure’s origin lies in the medieval period; others have interpreted the site as of Roman date. New earthwork and geophysical surveys, undertaken by volunteers working with Historic England and Wessex Archaeology during winter 2021-22, have now provided more compelling evidence for the site’s interpretation as a late prehistoric promontory fort, modified – probably on several occasions – by its prehistoric builders, and certainly much altered by the activities of medieval and later farmers.
- Report Number:
- 94/2022
- Series:
- Research Report
- Pages:
- 67
- Keywords:
- Geophysical Survey Gradiometer Iron Age Prehistoric Analytical Landscape Survey Lidar Survey Enclosure Ridge and Furrow Earthwork Hillfort Drone Digital Surface Model (DSM) Promontory Fort Volunteers Fishing Shiel
