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The first excavations at Wall Camp in more than 40 years have revealed new evidence for how Iron Age communities built and used one of Britain’s most unusual wetland enclosures.
Archaeologists and students from the University of Birmingham have completed the first season of investigations at the scheduled Shropshire site as part of a new field school in order to explore both the monument and the changing wetland landscape in which it was built.
Directed by Dr Theo Reeves, Professor Henry Chapman, and Dr David Smith, the project focuses on Wall Camp, a large, multivallate Iron Age enclosure built on a gravel island within the former peatlands of the Weald Moors. The site is one of a small number of Iron Age wetland enclosures, often referred to as ‘marsh-forts’.
Previous excavations on the site identified roundhouses and pottery linked to the Cheshire salt trade, while radiocarbon dating indicated occupation during the middle to late Iron Age. Many questions remained, however, about the fort’s construction, function, and relationship with its environment.
This year’s work concentrated on the monument’s entrances and earthworks. The most significant discoveries came from a trench positioned across the north-east entrance facing the former wetland. Excavation confirmed that the raised causeway leading into the enclosure formed part of the original design and was constructed either shortly before, or contemporary with, the outer earthworks. The finding resolves a longstanding question over whether the feature represented a later addition.
Excavation also revealed that the outer earthworks appear to have been built directly on to peaty soil along the wetland margin. Environmental samples are now awaiting analysis, but the sediment sequence raises the possibility that shifts in local wetland conditions influenced where and how the enclosure was constructed.
Geoarchaeological investigations have transformed our understanding of how the site was accessed, too. Augering south of the enclosure identified a previously unknown natural causeway buried beneath later peat deposits. This route appears to have provided a practical approach on to the island and may represent the main route of access. The discovery has prompted a reassessment of the monument’s entrances. While the southern route seems practical, the north-east causeway is aligned towards the deepest part of the wetland and framed by additional ramparts.
‘Our new excavations are beginning to unpick how the architecture of the site engages with the surrounding landscape,’ said Dr Theo Reeves. ‘The north-east entrance appears to have been deliberately monumentalised, suggesting the marsh played an important role in how people experienced the enclosure.’
The team now suggests the two entrances may have served different functions, with the north-east entrance potentially acting as a symbolic threshold between the enclosure and surrounding wetlands.
While post-excavation analysis is only beginning and further seasons are planned, the first year of fieldwork has already raised new questions about how Iron Age communities understood, used, and engaged with the wetlands of the Weald Moors. Future environmental analysis and radiocarbon dating will help reveal how Wall Camp developed and how its inhabitants interacted with this distinctive landscape.
Text: Theo Reeves Photo: University of Birmingham
