Ancient Monuments

History on the Ground


Promontory fort at Roulston Scar

A Scheduled Monument in Kilburn High and Low, North Yorkshire


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Latitude: 54.2268 / 54°13'36"N

Longitude: -1.2116 / 1°12'41"W

OS Eastings: 451494.968597

OS Northings: 481512.534722

OS Grid: SE514815

Mapcode National: GBR MMZK.HL

Mapcode Global: WHD8R.C181

Entry Name: Promontory fort at Roulston Scar

Scheduled Date: 3 July 1997

Source: Historic England

Source ID: 1015502

English Heritage Legacy ID: 28298

County: North Yorkshire

Civil Parish: Kilburn High and Low

Traditional County: Yorkshire

Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): North Yorkshire


The monument includes a prehistoric promontory fort with partly upstanding
ramparts at Roulston Scar. The monument occupies a natural promontory at the
south west of the Hambleton Hills.
The fort lies on a projecting tongue of land, the west side of which is
defined by a sheer cliff face and the south side by a steep slope. At the east
side is a gill in a steep valley but the fort was defined on this side by a
rampart extending along the top of the slope and crossing the neck of the
The rampart along the north eastern side of the fort survives as a single
earthen bank and ditch up to 15m wide.
At the east side the rampart consists of a double bank and central ditch
extending along the contour with the inner bank being some 2.5m above the
outer bank. At the northern end the rampart has been levelled although remains
of the ditch and flattened bank survive below the ground and are visible on
aerial photographs. Excavations in 1969, prior to the rampart being levelled
revealed a flat bottomed ditch 6m to 7m wide and evidence of timber box
defences built into the bank to the south. At the south eastern end the
rampart has been altered by afforestation but is still identifiable as a
slight earthwork. To the south of the fort, and the west of the road, are a
series of hollow ways leading into the fort interior. These are old access
routes up onto the plateau, one of which became consolidated as the current
Work undertaken at similar monuments elsewhere in the country has shown that
the interior of such forts contained domestic and agricultural features, such
as round houses, granaries, and stock enclosures. Remains of these features
will be preserved as buried archaeological remains.
The fort is associated with a prehistoric boundary system on the Hambleton
Hills known as the Cleave Dyke. It is thought that the northern rampart of the
fort also functioned as part of this boundary system.
All the buildings and structures associated with the gliding club including
signs and hard standings and the surface of the road are excluded from the
scheduling although the ground beneath these features is included.
The fuel tanks to the north west of the club house lie outside the area of

It includes a 2 metre boundary around the archaeological features,
considered to be essential for the monument's support and preservation.

Source: Historic England

Reasons for Scheduling

Promontory forts are a type of hillfort in which conspicuous naturally
from the surrounding land. Coastal situations, using headlands defined by
steep natural cliffs, are common while inland similar topographic settings
used for storage and enclosures for animals. Promontory forts are generally
probably occupied on a permanent basis, and recent interpretations suggest
the nature of social organisation in the later prehistoric period, all
examples with surviving archaeological remains are considered nationally

Roulston Scar is the largest of a series of promontory forts located along the
west and north edges of the Hambleton Hills. They were local foci and provide
evidence of the consolidation of settlement and social organisation in the
late prehistoric period. As such they can be contrasted with the more
dispersed hut circle settlements also found on the North York Moors and which
are of a broadly contemporary date. This fort along with one other at Bolton
Scar 4km to the north are also associated with an Iron Age boundary system
known as the Cleave Dyke which divided the landscape into discrete blocks of
land. It is thought that the northern rampart of Roulston fort may also have
functioned as such a boundary division as it is on a similar alignment to an
earthwork of the Cleave Dyke extending to the east.
Roulston Scar promontory fort survives reasonably well and significant
archaeological remains will be preserved both within the surviving ramparts
and the interior of the fort. Together with its relationship to the Cleave
Dyke the fort offers important scope for understanding the social and economic
use of the landscape and its development through the prehistoric period.

Source: Historic England


Books and journals
'Prehistoric Research Section Bulletinl; Yorkshire Hillforts' in Hillforts in Yorkshire, , Vol. No 27, (1990), 3
Spratt, D A, 'The Yorkshire Archaeological Journal' in The Cleave Dyke System, , Vol. VOL 54, (1992), 33-52
Meridian Films 61 72 154, (1972)

Source: Historic England
