Source/Archive record SCH4891 - A Rapid Survey and Archaeological Assessment of the Hillfort on Woodhouse Hill, Frodsham, Cheshire

In late 2005, Jennie Stopford, one of the English Heritage (EH) Ancients Monuments Inspectors in the North-West Region, approached Archaeological Survey & Investigation (AS&I) colleagues for assistance and advice on land management and public access issues at Woodhouse Hill (above Frodsham in Cheshire) which is the site of a small univallate hillfort, scheduled monument number RSM 25694. The hill is currenliy covered by unmanaged scrub woodland, but the owners, the Woodland Trust, are proposing to thin the tree cover and implement a programme of land management aimed at encouraging ecological diversity, and have accordingly sought advice from EH on how [his might impact on the archaeology. The Sandstone Trail - a long-distance footpath which runs the length of the Mid-Cheshire Sandstone Ridge - passes dose to the monument, and the Woodland Trust are also keen to liaise on issues of facilitating public awareness of, and access to, the monument. AS&I agreed to conduct a rapid assessment of the site and to provide an annotated plan and short report on the visible archaeology. Stewart Ainsworth (AS&I, York) has already presented informal observations to both Jennie Stopford and Tim Kirwin, the Woodland Trust's Woodland Officer for the area, but a rapid survey was carried out over two days on 2-3 February 2006 by Marcus Jecock (also AS&I, York) in order to provide an updated plan and interpretation of the earthworks. The survey was a sketch exercise only, accepting and building on the best aspects of three existing plans of the site, and involved no taped measurement. The present report outlines the findings of that survey, and also contains formal recommendations on how the site may best be managed and displayed; archaeological findings and management recommendations are also both summarised in diagrammatic form.