Duncorn Hill

Duncorn Hill is an English, landmark, rounded hill with a flat top close to the Fosse Way. It is located on a limestone plateau south of Bath in Somerset and summits at 585 feet (178 m) above sea level.[1] The hill's name derives from Celtic din for fort and corn meaning horn shaped.[2]

Duncorn Hill is located in Somerset
Duncorn Hill
Duncorn Hil within Somerset

Geology
The northern slopes of Duncorn Hill, as seen from SE of Wilmington

The hill's bedrock is limestone of the Great Oolite Group[3] with deposits of fuller's earth[4] containing fossil shellfish.[5] This is typically covered with a free draining soil layer of 5–6 inches (13–15 cm), mostly brown or greyish brown but with some yellow patches.[6]

History

It has been speculated Duncorn Hill had been the site of a Bronze or Iron Age hill fort.[7][8] Field investigations were undertaken in 1966, but no evidence of a fort was found.[9] The scarps previously thought to be part of a man-made structure were shown to be natural geological formations. Investigators found no evidence of the cairns described in 18th century descriptions.[10] Nevertheless in 1975, Ralph Whitlock wrote of Iron Age, occupied, hilltop earthworks.[11]

References
  1. Appendix 8 Rural Landscapes of Bath and North East Somerset (PDF). 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 January 2011. ...and Duncorn Hill. These are important landmarks within the area. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
  2. Higgins, David (2006), The Bristol region in the sub-Roman and early Anglo-Saxon periods, Historical Association
  3. Fox-Strangways, Charles; Woodward, Horace Bolingbroke (1894). The Jurassic rocks of Britain. Vol. 4. Geological Survey of Great Britain. p. 97. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023 – via Google Books.
  4. Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Great Britain and the Museum of Economic Geology in London. Geological Survey of Great Britain. 1876. pp. 126, 131.
  5. Mckerrow, William Stuart (February 1953). "Variation in the Terebratulacea of the Fuller's Earth Rock". Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. 109 (1–4): 97–124. doi:10.1144/GSL.JGS.1953.109.01-04.06. S2CID 129156166.
  6. Low, A James (1938). "Bath, Somerset". Journal of the South Eastern Agricultural College (41): 189–195.
  7. "Monument NO. 204516". Pastscape. Historic England. Retrieved 12 February 2017.
  8. Woodward, Horace Bolingbroke; Rutley, Frank; Etheridge, Robert (1876). Geology of East Somerset and the Bristol coal-fields. pp. 126, 131, 261. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 5 February 2023 – via Google Books.
  9. "Duncorn Hill". Fortified England. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 16 January 2011.
  10. "Pastscape Monument No. 204516". English Heritage. Retrieved 24 January 2011.
  11. Whitlock, Ralph (1975). Somerset. Batsford. p. 55.

51.3529°N 2.4056°W / 51.3529; -2.4056


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