Humbleton Hill | |
Map Type: | Northumberland |
Map Size: | 200 |
Altitude M: | 298 |
Coordinates: | 55.5481°N -2.0539°W |
Gbgridref: | NT 967 283 |
Designation1: | Scheduled monument |
Designation1 Number: | 1016714 |
Designation1 Date: | 24 September 1934 |
Humbleton Hill is a hill in Northumberland, England, about 1.5miles west of Wooler.
It is the location of the Battle of Homildon Hill of 1402, between English and Scottish armies.[1] There is an archaeological site on the summit, with remains of an enclosed settlement of the Neolithic Age and a later Iron Age hillfort. It is a scheduled monument.
The hill is part of the Cheviot Hills. Its height is, with a prominence of .[2]
There are remains of a hillfort of the Iron Age, within an earlier enclosure thought to be of the Neolithic or Bronze Age. The earlier enclosure has an irregular shape and measures up to west to east and north to south. It is defined by a low bank of earth and stone; on the south side a steep ravine adds to the defence. At the south-west corner, large stones set on edge probably mark the original entrance, wide.
The more massive inner enclosure, dating from the Iron Age, measures both north to south and west to east. A stone bank about wide is the remains of the rampart; there is a second rampart on the east side, now a bank of loose stones wide. On the south side the edge of the ravine provides the defence, and there is no rampart. The entrance is on the south-east, wide, marked by boulders.
There are traces of 20 roundhouses, diameter 4to, within the inner rampart, and about 8 roundhouses between the ramparts. There are remains of some small enclosures, thought to be medieval shielings or livestock pens, set against the hillfort enclosure and the outer bank.