What is recorded here
Fortwilliam holds a faded fairy fort where cattle still grind the ancient bank into powder. The southern gap may have been the true entrance, but modern paths have pierced the ring elsewhere. Inside the degraded circle, a hidden passage waits beneath the pasture, preserving breath from a time before rubble buried the fosse.
On a gentle NE-facing slope in pasture. A raised subcircular area (62.2m E-W; 55.7m N-S) enclosed by a substantial bank of earth and stone (Wth 5.5m; H 1m max.) with a shallow external fosse (Wth 3.8m; D 0.35m). Both the bank and fosse are very degraded due to cattle-trampling. In addition, from W-N-NNE the fosse has been filled up with rubble in recent years. A break (Wth 2.8m) in the bank at S with an accompanying causeway may mark the original entrance. There are also modern entrances at NNE and WSW. Within the interior is a Man-made underground passage (LF021-027002-). A report in 1975 (SMR file) recorded a series of low banks, of uncertain significance, outside the fosse which are no longer visible at ground level.
Compiled by: Patrick F. O'Donovan
Date of upload: 26 August 2011
The monument record does not grant public access. Check the route and ask the landowner before entering private land.
- What survives
- Recorded monument
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