Mellor hill fort

Mellor hill fort
Location within Greater Manchester
General information
Architectural style	Iron Age
Town or city	Mellor, Greater Manchester
Country	England
Coordinates	53°23′49″N 2°01′37″W / 53.396926°N 2.027073°W / 53.396926; -2.027073
Technical details
Size	c. 1 ha (2.5 acres) (inner enclosure)

Mellor hill fort is a prehistoric site in North West England, that dates from the British Iron Age—about 800 BC to 100 AD. Situated on a hill in Mellor, Greater Manchester, on the western edge of the Peak District, the hill fort overlooks the Cheshire Plain. Although the settlement was founded during the Iron Age, evidence exists of activity on the site as far back as 8,000 BC; during the Bronze Age the hill may have been an area where funerary practices were performed. Artefacts such as a Bronze Age amber necklace indicate the site was high status and that its residents took part in long-distance trade. The settlement was occupied into the Roman period. After the site was abandoned, probably in the 4th century, it was forgotten until its rediscovery in the 1990s.

Mellor lies on the western edge of the Peak District in the . At grid reference SJ9820088929, the known site of the Iron Age settlement in Mellor is partially under St Thomas Church and extends into the gardens of several nearby houses. It is on a spur about 220 metres (720 ft) above sea level, between two valleys which drop steeply away and run west where the two small streams in the valleys meet the River Goyt, approximately 100 metres (330 ft) above sea level. The site commands views of the Cheshire Plain and Alderley Edge to the south and the range of hills to the north. Although there are higher points locally, the site has access to a water supply and the river valleys, and there is flat land to the west which could have been used agriculturally.

Until the 19th century little was known about hill forts; none had been excavated and their original purpose had long been forgotten. In the medieval period their origin was ascribed to various iconic figures such as Julius Caesar, King Arthur, King Alfred, the Danes, and even giants. By the 18th century it was thought that hill forts were Roman in origin. Opinion changed again in the 19th century following a large scale investigation by Augustus Pitt-Rivers, who concluded that hill forts were built during the Iron Age.