Prehistoric flint scatter.
A single worked prehistoric flint was recovered from Sour Close Stream by CH Cowley, from the 'Field a little below Patrick Bridge'.
No further details concerning the circumstances of the discovery were recorded and the grid reference relates to a point part-way along the course of the stream for indicative purposes only.
The antiquary Charles Harry Cowley was an avid collector of worked flint and coarse stone artefacts revealed by agricultural activity, mainly on farms located around Peel, and occasionally from further afield. He was active from 1900 until 1943. His entire collection of artefacts, together with a daybook cataloguing his discoveries, was later donated to Manx National Heritage.
Prehistoric flint scatter.
A single worked prehistoric flint was recovered from Sour Close Stream by CH Cowley, from the 'Field opposite Raggart'.
This relates to OS Field no. 0106. The grid reference relates to a point midway along the course of the stream through the field and is provided for indicative purposes only.
The antiquary Charles Harry Cowley was an avid collector of worked flint and coarse stone artefacts revealed by agricultural activity, mainly on farms located around Peel, and occasionally from further afield. He was active from 1900 until 1943. His entire collection of artefacts, together with a daybook cataloguing his discoveries, was later donated to Manx National Heritage.
The findspot of a Mesolithic flint scatter which includes a Heavy Blade spearhead and scattered 'Bann' type flints collected from along Sour Close stream.
Iron Age hillfort.
The inner rampart is enclosed by an almost concentric outer defence lying 20-30m distant. This outer rampart is the more substantial and obvious of the two because of its exposed stonework, and the excavator suggested that the inner rampart was partially dismantled to provide material.
The outer rampart was revetted on the inside by a turf bank, and on the outside by an almost vertical stone wall. Today the wall stands to a height of almost 2m, but the amount of fallen material suggests that it would originally have been significantly higher.
Recent survey and geophysical prospecting suggests that the most likely entrance through the outer defences lay on the western side, where two lengths of the rampart overlap, creating a defensible passageway.
Medieval shieling.
A number of shelters have been constructed within, and using, the collapsed stonework from the outer rampart, particularly on the north-east, east and south-east side of the hill (and thus protected from the prevailing wind).
They appear to be evidence for later seasonal use of the site as a shieling in the medieval period.
Bronze Age hillfort.
The summit is crowned by an irregular oval enclosure measuring approximately 130m E-W and 100m N-S. Excavations have shown that the enclosure was defined by a rampart of earth and turf faced on the exterior by a wall with a shallow ditch outside. A series of postholes set at irregular angles in front of the ditch may have contained sharpened timber stakes inclined outwards forming a defensive work known as a 'chevaux de frise'.
The inner rampart encloses an oval space a maximum of 130m across. Within it are the remains of more than 70 roundhouses, from which Bronze Age pottery and radiocarbon dates have been gained. All of the buildings appear to respect the rampart, implying that this was built first.
Bronze Age defended settlement.
The summit is crowned by an irregular oval enclosure measuring approximately 130m E-W and 100m N-S, defined by an inner rampart of earth, turf and stone.
Within the rampart are the remains of more than 70 roundhouses. It is not clear if all were contemporary. Some share walls with their neighbours, suggesting the grouping together of the dwellings, stores, workshops and animal houses of family or kin.
Excavation of three roundhouses showed that the walls were constructed from turf and stone. Doorways faced east, the sunken floors were roughly paved using local slate, and a central hearth in one provided a radiocarbon date of around 500 BC. Pottery from the roundhouses has also been dated to the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age.
All of the buildings appear to respect the rampart, implying that this was built first.
Iron Age hill fort on the summit of South Barrule, Manannan's seat. The place where rushes were carried at midsummer to pay rent to the old god. The archaeological remains of the fort are overlaid with centuries of ritual significance. The hill connects the pre-Christian, the Norse, and the constitutional traditions of the Island in a single landscape feature.
Bronze Age - Iron Age hillfort. The highest summit in the south of the Island is crowned by a hillfort consisting of a pair of roughly concentric earthworks, 20-30m apart. They are least impressive on the western side of the hill where the steep slope and rock outcrops provide a measure of natural defensibility.
Excavations have shown that the inner rampart was an earth and turf bank faced on the exterior by a wall with a shallow ditch outside. A series of postholes set at irregular angles in front of the ditch may have contained sharpened timber stakes inclined outwards forming a defensive work known as a 'chevaux de frise'.
The inner rampart encloses an oval space a maximum of 130m across. Within it are the remains of more than 70 roundhouses. It is not clear if all were contemporary. Some share walls with their neighbours, suggesting the grouping together of the dwellings, stores, workshops and animal houses of family or kin.
Excavation of three roundhouses showed that the walls were constructed from turf and stone. Doorways faced east, the sunken floors were roughly paved using local slate, and central hearths provided a radiocarbon date of around 500 BC. Pottery from the roundhouses has also been dated to the late Bronze Age/early Iron Age. All of the buildings appear to respect the rampart, implying that this was built first.
The outer rampart is the more substantial and obvious of the two because of its exposed stonework. The excavator suggested that the inner rampart was partially dismantled to provide material. The outer rampart was revetted on the inside by a turf bank, and on the outside by an almost vertical stone wall. Today the wall stands to a height of almost 2m, but the amount of fallen material suggests that it would originally have been significantly higher.
Recent survey and geophysical prospecting suggests that the most likely entrance through the outer defences lay on the western side, where two lengths of the rampart overlap, creating a defensible passageway.
A Neolithic roughened-butt axehead of Ronaldsway type and 'of exceptional size' was found and donated to the Manx Museum in 1923 by Canon Quine (Accession No. 1954-0581). Worked flints were also found by Cowley ' some inches under the scraggy heather' at an altitude of about 244 metres. Above this level no worked flints were discovered. It is believed that these finds are evidence of a Neolithic settlment in the vicinty.
