Monument record 9/1 - Promontory fort on Burton Point 550m SW of Burton Point Farm

<1> Ordnance Survey, 1870-1982, Ordnance Survey Archaeological Record Card, SJ37SW5 (Index). SCH2487.

Burton Point today stands as a cliff overlooking salt marshes, but was a headland in the Dee Estuary at the time before the 18th century New Cut brought the river further to the SW.

The remains of an earthwork encircle the tip of the Point forming roughly a 60 degree arch of a circle. There is a single rampart, standing 15 feet high at its highest point, with a ditch outside, which at its lowest point is 6 feet below the ground level of the field beyond. The length of ditch remaining is 210feet between the cliff-face to the west and that the south-east. A path leads through the rampart for the NE and this may well be the original entrance.

The earthwork was undoubtedly larger than at present; it has been reduced by erosion and quarrying.
Originally it may well have been an Iron Age Promontory Fort, having a single rampart and ditch with a simple entrance and no outlying defences

It may however be a Dark Age Celtic Fort as no other prehistoric fortification is know in Wirral and the parish name Burton may be derived from "Burhtun"

<2> Longley D, 1977-1978, Longley Archive, Longley Archive Field Visit Record, Site no.400, 22/05/1978 (Paper Archive). SCH2005.

Site survey & assessment of its status as Iron Age promontory fort.

Land Use: Most of monument is in scheduled area consisting of a small wood with bluebells and rabbit burrows. SE part of ditch has probably been ploughed away in the adjacent field. A track traverses the southern part of the monument and intersects the southern extremity of the bank.

Description: Situated on the coast of the Dee Estuary, on the cliff edge of Burton. The ground slopes steeply uphill immediately to the NNW of the fort. The area is bounded on the north and north-east by a substantial internal rampart with external ditch, and on the west and south by cliffs which formerly coincided with the English coast of the Dee Estuary. The bank and ditch extend in an arc c.60m in length, enclosing a very small area which has been eroded away, completely on the west side, and into a lower shelf on the south west.

Maximum height of bank above ground level: c.2.5m
Minimum height of bank above ground level: c.0.5m
Minimum area inside rampart: c.120m square
Maximum area inside rampart: c.150m square

The 'minimum area' of the fort interior consists of ground which gradually slopes away from the cliffs on the south-east, to the very steep ground above the shallow cliffs on the west, and to the steep ground a little removed from the cliffs on the south-west. The 'maximum area' further includes the shelf of land between the steep ground and cliffs at the south-west. This slopes down from east to west to the old coast line.

The promontary fort could comfortably have contained a single homestead. There is a gap in the rampart neat its eastern extremity and some good stone masonry defines the eastern side of a recess in the cliffs at the south west. The ground to the north-west rises steeply to a knoll at a greater altitude than any part of the fort. The knoll commands views of almost the entire Dee Estuary and the area immediately inland of Burton Point, while the fort itself affords long views to the north and north-west.

Sketch plan and profile of the ditch and bank included with report.

<3> Longley D, 1977-1978, Longley Archive, Longley Archive Card Index, Site no.400 (Paper Archive). SCH2005.

<4> Longley D, 1979, Prehistoric Sites in Cheshire, p.41-2 (Report). SCH2719.

<5> Harris, B.E. (ed), 1987, Victoria County History - A History of the County of Chester: Volume I, Vol 1, p.109-10 Longley D 1987 (Book). SCH3556.

The enclosure is sites on a low, but rocky, south-facing promontory of Keuper sandstone above and over looking the eastern shore of the Dee Estuary. The Dee at one point would have reached to foot of the cliffs but has receded leaving marsh and mudflats to the west has reclaimed pasture land to the south. A single bank and ditch describe an arc c60m in length enclosing an area between the bank on the north and the cliff edge on the South. No evidence of archaeological examination.

<6> Bu'lock, J D, 1972, Pre-Conquest Cheshire 383 - 1066 (Monograph). SCH2685.

Others suggest it’s a Dark Age fort or, from place name evidence, a Saxon burh

<7> English Heritage, Various, Schedule Entry (Scheduled Ancient Monuments Amendment) (Scheduling Record). SCH2950.

The monument includes a promontory fort formed by a single bank and external ditch which cuts off a small promontory known as Burton Point overlooking the estuary of the River Dee on the south west coast of the Wirral. Presently the settlement looks out over marshland and a crossing of the estuary to Basingwerk on the opposite bank of the estuary. Before the 18th century the east bank of the tidal estuary came up to the Point, and the rocks below the fort show signs of the erosion by wave action that resulted. To the north of the enclosure the rock has been extensively quarried for the hard sandstone underneath. This may have happened on the south side also resulting in the destruction of part of the enclosed area in this sector.
The single rampart stands up to 5m high and is 12m wide at the base. It curves around to form a 50 degree angle for 68m and encloses a triangular tip of the promontory. The external ditch is 2m deep. Both ends of the defences have been truncated by erosion and quarrying. A trackway has been pushed through the defences on the south east side leading down to the present quarry floor below the fort. This is 6m wide and has further degraded the earthworks. The area enclosed by the rampart is 0.9ha in extent and is sufficient for a single farmstead.

The fort seems at first sight to be one of a number of promontory forts in the county dating to the Iron Age. However the small size of this monument and the coastal situation seem more akin to the cliff forts of the coast of Wales and the Isle of Man. Some of the latter were the farmsteads of Scandanavian local 'dignitaries, although the type dates from the Iron Age through to the early medieval period.

Close to the fort a cemetery including the remains of 50 or 60 burials of an unknown date was excavated in 1878. These were without grave goods and might have been of an early Christian date. They may also have been the remains of the boat crew of 41 drowned in 1637 and recorded in the parish register. At present there is no evidence that they were associated with the occupation of the fort.

<8> Laing L & J, 1985, The Dark Ages of West Cheshire (Monograph). SCH3115.

It has been suggested that it maybe the military base of the Dane, Hingamund

<9> Chester Courant, 1878-1990, The Cheshire Sheaf, 3rd series, Vol 55 (1960), K.E.Jeremy, The Earthwork at Burton Point, p30-1 (Newspaper-Magazine). SCH3105.

Burton Point stands an a cliff overlooking salt marshes, but was a headland of the Dee estuary at the time before the eighteenth century.The tip of the point has been reduced in area and hence the earthwork was originally larger than its current extent. The southern face of the point shows marks of erosion by water and wind blown sand while the western face shows evidence of quarrying. This hillfort is of interest in connection to the name of Burton Village and it seem highly probable that an earthwork already existed here in Saxon times giving name to the name 'Burn-tun'.

<10> Crawford-Coupe, Gary, 2014, The Promontory Fort at Burton Point (Article in Journal). SCH8405.

Summary of Burton Point Iron Age fort and Burton Point in the Iron Age

<11> David Randall, 1984, The Search for Old Wirral, p.97, 116 (Monograph). SCH3860.

Randall describes the remains of an earthwork at Burton Point - a single rampart with a ditch outside, which could be an Iron Age hillfort or perhaps a Celtic fortification protecting a sheltered anchorage. The earthwork may have given rise to the place name 'burh-tun', the farmstead by a fortified place. In 1875, some twenty nine skeletons were found near to the spot but it is not known whether these were the remains of a ship-wrecked crew, or a battle. (See CHER 9/2). He also describes the Dee estuary as a once a busy thoroughfare for vessels to and from Chester. In the Middle Ages the main sea trade of Chester port was with Iceland, with the main import items grain and fish and, until the mid-fifteenth century, the main exports being salt and cloth.