The Brigantes Hillfort That Never Was: Almondbury/Castle Hill, Huddersfield

Did the Romans destroy this hillfort? Or is the truth far stranger? How do we even do history anyway?
Sources
Cunliffe, Barry (1975). Iron Age Communities in Britain, Book Club Associates: London.
Veraley, W. J. (1939). Report of the First Year’s Excavations 1939, Castle Hill, Almondbury, Excavation Committee.
huddersfield.e...
Varley, W. (1973). Castle Hill Almondbury: A brief guide to the excavations 1939-1972
Journey in the New World by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence. creativecommon...
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[@Davlavi]

Very interesting would like to see more vids on Bronze and Iron Age. Would like to know more about York in those periods.

[@85waspnest]

I lived in Almondbury for 10 years, visited Castle Hill and the pub that once stood there many times, completely unaware of it's history. What an interesting, well presented video. Thank you for posting.

[@UAPfun]

You, young lady are an inspiration to the youth of today. I expect to see you in the future leading from the front in archaeological assessment. I’d like to know your historical drives and reasons behind your chosen subject-studies. I have an 11 year old daughter. we live by castle hill and she is fascinated by art and history.

[@james-lloydkincade5718]

I like your work Catherine keep it up!

[@paulnicholson474]

That was highly informative and highly enjoyable.Thank you for posting ❤

[@peterb3772]

Just found your channel and so glad I did. Love the way you explains things to make it easily understood. Take care. Greetings from Australia🦘

[@AndrewRobinsonDirtDiggers]

Fascinating video about one of my favourite historic sites. Some good myth-busting too. Thank you for sharing. Andrew

[@raycollishaw673]

Good explanation. I never really understood how fizzy drinks worked before. Subscribed.

[@DeanPorterEsq]

Just listening to you on Times Radio.

[@CurtisPvP]

A very interesting video. I grew up in Huddersfield and have a high % of celtic DNA.

[@froobyrides6705]

Wonderfully researched and presented as always.

[@sashablue1971]

What a fascinating video, thank you

[@lovelyenglishnature3277]

Hi Catherine, I’ve just moved to Yorkshire, have been researching Castle Hill and came across the name William Varley. I used to spend a lot of time at Wandlebury, which is the site of an Iron Age hill fort. The field next to ‘Wandlebury ring’ is called Varley’s field and the remains of several buildings were found there. It seems likely that the field was named after William Varley but I can’t find any information on it. I don’t suppose you happen to know? Thanks!

[@michaelhalsall5684]

I love the way you set out to bebunk historical myths. Archeology is an ongoing science and as new discoveries are found and new technology gets involved we learn more and more about things.

[@jerrycruitt5375]

Very interesting, and thank you.

[@samhaine6804]

YES finally. great video as always, but you will never convince me that king arthur did not hold court atop that hill

[@samhaine6804]

7:08 dragons. simple.

[@2WHEELSor2WINGS]

Dear Catherine, Thank you for your videos, I find them most interesting and entertaining too. I have recommended my daughter to watch too, she has just started a ancient history degree at Liverpool University. Ref Castle Hill, along Hay Lane, due south of Castle Hill (broker.frozen.actual [what three words ref] ) are some world war 2 remains? I had been told this is a anti aircraft battery, a Italian prisoner of war camp and that it is both. Both seems unlikely as guns and prisoners would not be advised. It does resemble a gun battery? There was a csmp as I do know some Italian prisoners volunteered to workm on local farms in Honley/Almondbury. Where was the prison camp exsactly? I do not know if you do requests? But I would love to know more about these points. Please keep up your great work, perhaps with even more detailed videos. Graham Chadwick.

[@2WHEELSor2WINGS]

@@CatherineWarr . The gun battery? Is very visible with many building remaining. I have visited it, and it is very visible on Google maps/earth. My ex wife's mother lived on a chicken farm at the top of Northgate, Honley (battery very near the junction of Hay Lane and Northgate). As a child she remember a very pleasant Italian prisoner working on the family farm. Wish I could send you the satellite view on here. Graham.

[@solsquirrel21]

I heard of the 1939 report and the discoveries but shame local education isn't taught in local schools which is a shame

[@TheHistoryHikers]

Spontaneous combustion? Goes to show history sometimes is more incredible than the stories we can imagine about it. I really loved your video, it's like a masters' thesis in film format. New fan here!

[@michaelhalsall5684]

Spontaneous combustion or perhaps a cooking fire getting out of control. A fire in a wooden building with a thatched roof would have been a disaster!

[@yorkshirelass8786]

I walk my dogs here, it's a beautiful setting.

[@MisterWondrous]

Love to learn more about the Brigantes, the Parisi, Elmet and environs, but also, north of there, the tromping grounds from Downton Abbey. Ripon, Thirsk, Masham, Harewood and points in between. Harrogate and Knaresborough would be cool. Same for the Harry Potter franchise, which features Alnwick, Raby, and scores of other history-laden haunts. Even the characters names are associated with the castles. Percy, Neville, Longbottom...who was, astonishingly, Hugh Hulton, from All Creatures. I ramble. Great show!

[@nodarkthings]

Excellent work, I didn't realise the fort was destroyed so early. I love these places. There is a great and timeless feel there. The Brigantes are really mysterious. It's amazing that their territory stretched right across to here in East Yorkshire. I remember reading that they were probably a very loose federation of tribes and these tribes were largely of pre-Celtic stock with a Celtic aristocracy governing them. Wild northern buggers, that's for sure.

[@MisterWondrous]

@@CatherineWarr I was going to ask you about that. Do you and/or your contemporaries near you see themselves as this or that ancient incarnation, or is it pretty much English or British?

[@MisterWondrous]

@@CatherineWarr When I was but a wee lad, everyone I knew was an American, or, in some cases they may have said "a merkin", but let us assume, for now, that that is not, indeed, the case. In time, I learned of hyphenates, and full fledged foreigners...who eat much better than hungry fledged foreigners. Genealogy, rather than pinpointing one specific identity, has delightfully found footprint on foreign foil, I mean soil. So now I feel American, British, English, Irish, Scottish, Welch, French, Norwegian, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese...and that's just in the vicinity, and more recently, relatively speaking, no pun intended. We are all indeed vast, and we do contain multitudes. Americans, I mean. Y'all too probably. :) Monoculture breeds disease.

[@saraclayton-smithson5083]

Great video, love how you educate us on your interest with great passion

[@havingalook2]

Well researched, well presented, - well done. The drawings and illustrations were excellent. Thank you - I most certainly did learn a great deal.

[@alun7006]

Another fascinating story. Great stuff!

[@arthurerickson5162]

Super job, as with all of your postings. It’s important that people understand that theories have to be updated to reflect new information as it becomes available. Loved your explanation of carbon dating without using the word “isotope” even once!! Coming over the pond and will be visiting Yorkshire in late Sept!

[@broke_runner6953]

I remember reading something about the reports of a fire on the hill that could be seen as far as york. Celts were quite widespread throughout Europe even going back to roman times. I suppose the British have a bit of alsorts in us.

[@melizen2]

Thank you as always! I learned much, am intrigued by the ‘stories’ - and aren’t the Celts still fighting each other? Well done!

[@thatguyinelnorte]

Another great place for a day trip/picnic/etc. Thanks for the update!!

[@theinquisitiveginger5864]

Great vid. First time watching! :)

[@damo8.lufc.england.152]

I was looking forward to visiting Huddersfield again this year, unfortunately, for them anyway, they didn't get promoted and we stayed in the Premier League, hehe. Whenever I was working in Hudds, or going to an away match there, I was always interested as to what that tower was, I went up to take a look one day, a few years back, I ended up staying in the pub that was up there, is it still? Interesting and informative video, as always, Y.H.H, love your work.

[@damo8.lufc.england.152]

@@johannesq6500 Well done, it only took you a month or so to do a Google search...... I'd hazard a guess that the pub wasn't the original feature to have ever aaachtuuually appeared on that site though. Did you aaachtuuually watch this particular video?

[@damo8.lufc.england.152]

@@johannesq6500 And yet it only took, with your slow Internet, obviously, 45 minutes to reply to my previous comment? Hmmmm, interesting.

[@damo8.lufc.england.152]

@@johannesq6500 Me neither, but I'd go contract, rather than pay as you go, if I were you, the benefits are quite amazing, if you're willing to negotiate, rather than being told what you're going to receive, and be grateful for it. You're welcome and goodnight, work in the a.m.

[@CivilWarWeekByWeek]

Love your stuff

[@syzygysyzygy8332]

No worries about the reupload, it gives me yet another opportunity to thumbs up your work.

[@markberry3136]

As a local and visit often to admire the fantastic panoramic views it’s fascinating to watch your excellent video , laying to rest some of the myths about the place. Keep up the good work 👍

[@stepthroughhistory]

Great video thanks. I get jealous as there is little visual evidence of hill forts my way 😂

[@alun7006]

A *powerful* look in this video, by the way - where on earth did you find that excellent shirt!?

[@krishanu-d1k]

To know the unknown, to explore the unexplored has always been the aim of mankind --- my sixth grade history book.

[@londondestruction5730]

Excellent stuff. Good compostion. And your pieces to camera are rather splendidly authoritative. Maybe you should put your name down to be the new Prime Minister, I'd vote for you.

[@stevep888]

thank you for helping my join a brigante dot , werneth low very close to were i lived , was a winter summer solstice point , thin sliver of land help to the south , , have been to castle hill , not knowing of the brigante connection so thank you , had a Ankh disappear on me there lol , of for the equinox to brignate country in ireland , they held land in both Briton and ireland near wexford and waterford , do you think the bride stones have a brigante connection on the staffs cheshire border ? and did they originate in uk and go to ireland or vice versa , feeling they have connection to tribe of dan too

[@PicRic]

The best explanation of carbon dating ... To date!

[@chrisjohnson3590]

A belting video, Catherine. It must take ages to produce quality content like this. Also, the illustrations are amazing. Thanks for this, always appreciated.

[@PatGilliland]

It's the headshot blouse!

[@ftumschk]

So, Almondbury burned from the interior to the exterior. Inside job? If so, perhaps they should look for the remains of a wooden horse... or wooden rabbit, as the case may be ;)

[@therealunclevanya]

I too thought it was part of a chain of forts down to Wincobank in Sheffield that formed the front line against Roman Britain for about 70 years. Given the much earlier date, I wonder if the fort was already in decline when it accidentally burnt down and the cost was simply to great for the locals to bother rebuilding. A more suitable site down near the river might have been more tempting as more and more land was deforested and perhaps being part of a confederation of tribal hillmen had reduced the reeving. I wish I had a time machine...and you really deserve more subscribers.

[@richbrown8174]

Maybe someone should show this video to Kirklees Council who don't appear to know the history of cattle hill 🤔

[@disdroid]

Dragons were commonplace in those days, and later at Lindisfarne. There's always a rational explanation.

[@MarcusAgrippa390]

Bias of many kinds are ubiquitous and by their very nature are difficult to guard against. We all fall prey to bias at some point, whether we pursue history or some other scientific endeavor. I'm speaking of the source you spoke of (can't remember the gentleman's name) In the beginning of the video. Excellent video as always!

[@harryspeakup8452]

Excellent!

[@authunhx3129]

On examining the vitrified rock discovered in the 1969 - 1971 excavactions, the coal board remarked that they looked remarkablly like those found in underground coal seam fires. These can start spontaneously and smoulder for many years. There are five coal seams that lie within the shales of the lower slopes of Castle Hill.

Thank you for the video!🌹🌹🌹

[@ianshaw6922]

Thought this was a Monument built for Queen Victoria.... The Victoria Tower

[@keithagn]

Thank you! Very interesting, and well presented. Regards from Canada 🇨🇦

[@thatguyinelnorte]

BTW, it might have been sabotage (intentional or just a clumsy mix of cooking oils and fire) and the place deemed "haunted" by the pre-Roman inhabitants. "Bad Press" by the competing fort/truck stop one hill over...

[@gavlosmedia6323]

Used to be a great pub there......I think it was bought by someone who illegally pulled it down

[@keith-nb8ps]

That's correct they did

[@gav1nwood]

Is ‘spontaneous combustion’ really a more likely explanation than, say, a breach of external defences (by violence or treachery) followed by deliberate arson of the settlement?

[@davepattern830]

Spontaneous combustion might help explain the myths that either a dragon or the devil resided under Castle Hill (I think it was George Redmonds who pointed out that the hill was also known as "Wormcliffe", where a wyrm is a flightless dragon or serpent). You can imagine if the ramparts began to burn or smoulder from within, perhaps with smoke rising from the ground, people might ascribe that to a dragon inside the hill.

[@davepattern830]

I've tracked down the George Redmonds bit to his book "Almondbury: Places and Place-Names" (1983), quoted below: Many of the more romantic ideas associated with Castle Hill have had to be discarded in recent years, but the truth itself is no less fascinating. It was here that men settled some 4,000 years ago and it was here that a catastrophic fire destroyed the great iron-age fort c.431 B.C. After that over 1,500 years were to elapse before men once again sought to live on the summit. It is possible for modern man, with science at his command, to explain that the disaster of c.431 B.C. was really an accident, that the defences were fired, not by an enemy, but by heat generated in timbers at the core of the ramparts. It is unlikely, however, that the survivors, or their descendants, would be able to rationalise what had taken place in this way. To them it must have seemed like the work of evil spirits and it is hardly surprising that the hill was totally abandoned. We have no way of knowing whether superstitions associated with the hill could have survived the successive waves of colonisation which later affected the district, even if there was continuity of settlement, but it does seem likely that the hill retained a sinister reputation among the English, who called it Wormeclyff. This was first recorded in the rental of 1425 as the name of certain demesne lands on the “hill where the castle used to stand”; later, in the Minister’s Accounts of 1487, it was more precisely identified as “the castle of Wornecliff”. The word ‘cliff’ was formerly used for any steep bank, not just a precipice, and it clearly refers here to Castle Hill itself, or some portion of it. More significant is the word ‘worm’ which for the English meant a serpent or even a dragon, a fearful creature haunting old ruins or guarding lost treasure. Ancient burial mounds, for example, were given names such as ‘Wormlaw’, and the inference is that Castle Hill, with its mined earthworks, was a place of dread. The name survived long after the superstition and even as late as 1584, the preamble to the manorial survey referred to the “three acres of demesne called the Wormcliffe” and added “it is never known to any person within the memory of man where the same do lie.” The same document makes it clear that memory, in this sense, could go back over two hundred years to the time when the castle was the chief manor house, and we are left to wonder just how old the story of a resident serpent was.

[@The_Laughing_Cavalier]

"Why don't you back it up with a source?" "My source is that I made it the f**k up!" - William Camden, 1584 (probably)

[@sykeskyable]

666 ......ooooooh

[@ajrwilde14]

perhaps there was an outbreak of disease so they decided to burn everything and resettle somewhere else?

[@romeisfallingagain]

catherine, where is a good place to get medieval costumes for ladies?

[@ash36230]

Nice comment