Vitrified forts are stone enclosures whose walls have been subjected to vitrification through heat. It was long thought that these structures were unique to Scotland, but they have since been identified in several other parts of western and northern Europe.
15-496: Dunagoil is a vitrified fort or dun on the Isle of Bute – an Iron Age hill fort whose ramparts have been melted by intense heat. It stands on a volcanic headland and gives its name to the bay that it overlooks. Like other places, such as Donegal , its name is from the Gaelic dún na gall – fort of the foreigners. This article about a Scottish building or structure
30-404: A glassy enamel-like coating which binds them into a uniform whole; and at times, though rarely, the entire length of the wall presents one solid mass of vitreous substance. It is not clear why or how the walls were subjected to vitrification. Some antiquarians have argued that it was done to strengthen the wall, but the heating actually weakens the structure. Battle damage is also unlikely to be
45-471: A massive bonfire, repeating the work of V. Gordon Childe and Wallace Thorneycroft in the 1930s. The experiment produced a few partially vitrified stones, but it was asserted that no answers were gleaned as to how large-scale forts could have been crafted with the approach tried in the programme. Almondbury Almondbury ( English: / ˈ ɑː m ə n d b ər ɪ / ) is a village 2 miles (3.2 km) south-east of Huddersfield town centre in
60-417: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Vitrified fort Vitrified forts are generally situated on hills offering strong defensive positions. Their form seems to have been determined by the contour of the flat summits which they enclose. The walls vary in size, a few being upwards of 12 feet (3.7 m) high, and are so broad that they present the appearance of embankments . Weak parts of
75-604: Is found during both Iron Age and early medieval forts in Scotland. Since John Williams , one of the earliest of British geologists , and author of The Natural History of the Mineral Kingdom , first described these singular ruins in 1777, over 70 examples have been discovered in Scotland . The most remarkable are: For a long time it was supposed that these forts were peculiar to Scotland; but they are found also in
90-586: Is mainly Perpendicular in style but the chancel is earlier. The roofs have a long inscription dated 1522 on the cornice. Other wooden furniture of interest includes a Georgian lectern, a pew of 1605 and a late Perpendicular font cover. Almondbury appears in the Domesday Book as "Almondeberie". After the Norman Conquest , the land around the village was held by the powerful De Lacy family, who gave their name to De Lacy Avenue. For 300 years until
105-882: The Isle of Man ( Cronk Sumark ); County Londonderry and County Cavan , Ireland; in Upper Lusatia , Bohemia , Silesia , Saxony , and Thuringia ; in the provinces on the Rhine , especially in the neighbourhood of the Nahe ; in the Ucker Lake ; in Brandenburg, where the walls are formed of burnt and smelted bricks ; in Hungary; in several places in France, such as Châteauvieux (near Pionnat ), Péran, La Courbe , Sainte-Suzanne , Puy de Gaudy , and Thauron ; also rarely in
120-513: The Kirklees district, of West Yorkshire , England. The population of Almondbury in 2001 was 7,368 increasing to 18,346 at the 2011 census. The village is close to Castle Hill , Huddersfield's most prominent landmark. Almondbury has several notable buildings, including the 16th-century Wormald's Hall, now the village Conservative club , and the Grade I listed All Hallows Church . The church
135-463: The 17th century, the village's Monday Market was the most important in the area. Almondbury was the hub of parish activity and in its early history was a more important centre than the town of Huddersfield. The villages of Linthwaite , Lockwood , Honley , Holmfirth and Meltham were all part of the Almondbury parish area. In 1921 the civil parish had a population of 15,637. On 1 April 1924
150-432: The cause, as the walls are thought to have been subjected to carefully maintained fires to ensure they were hot enough for vitrification to take place. The expert consensus explains vitrified forts as the product of deliberate destruction either following the capture of the site by an enemy force or by the occupants at the end of its active life as an act of ritual closure. The process has no chronological significance and
165-410: The defence are strengthened by double or triple walls, and occasionally vast lines of ramparts , composed of large blocks of unhewn and unvitrified stones, envelop the vitrified centre at some distance from it. The walls themselves are termed vitrified ramparts. No lime or cement has been found in any of these structures, all of them presenting the peculiarity of being more or less consolidated by
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#1732782921863180-406: The fusion of the rocks of which they are built. This fusion, which has been caused by the application of intense heat, is not equally complete in the various forts, or even in the walls of the same fort. In some cases the stones are only partially melted and calcined ; in others their adjoining edges are fused so that they are firmly cemented together; in many instances pieces of rock are enveloped in
195-546: The north of England. Castle Hill , Almondbury in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire. Broborg [ sv ] is a vitrified hill-fort in Uppland , Sweden. The 16 September 1980 episode of Arthur C. Clarke's Mysterious World features a segment in which the archaeologist Ian Ralston examines the mystery of the vitrified fort Tap o' Noth and tries to recreate how it might be accomplished by piling stones and setting
210-496: The parish was abolished and merged with Huddersfield. In 1547 the people of Almondbury were faced with the possible dissolution of its Chantry Chapel. By "concent of the parishe", Arthur Kay of Woodsome Hall and his son John "dyd shifte yt" stone by stone, along St Helen's Gate, to be reconstructed as a school house. A royal charter , formally called the Letters Patent, was granted by James I on 24 November 1608 and
225-607: The school became a grammar school . The school has had various names (Almondbury Grammar School, King James's Grammar School) and today is called King James's School . The Harry Taylor Trust was established in 1987 in memory of Harry Taylor, former headmaster of King James's Grammar School (1952-1973), to benefit pupils at the school and young people in the village of Almondbury. There is also Hill View Academy on Fernside Avenue and Almond House Nursery on Forest Road. Almondbury Community School made headlines in November 2018 when
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