Castle Steads - Coverham, North Yorkshire
Click HERE for an aerial view plus map overlay of the area.
Castle Steads Hill fort and the nearby Iron Age Fort at Braithwaite Hall near
Coverham in the Yorkshire Dales are two interesting Brigantian Hill Forts. They
are important in that they are both hill-slope forts - in the case of Braithwaite
Hall very little advantage is gained out of the forts position, despite more
advantageous locations being closely to hand. Castle Steads uses the steep escarpment
on one side to good advantage, but the escarpment on the other side works against
it and renders it useless to attack from this side. The reason for the poor
location of the forts lies in their need to be in very close proximity to the
lead mining areas of Coverham. The location and planning of the forts indicates
that their makers did not expect the forts themselves to come under attack from
certain directions, perhaps suggesting a security system which operated over
the wider territory, based on collective defence between these two and possibly
other hill forts in the region.
© Brigantes Nation 2002