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Time Team spotlight falls on Herefordshire iron age hill fort
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Time Team presenter Phil Harding spent a day filming at an Iron Age hill fort in Herefordshire as part of a planned documentary which will be screened on Channel 4 next spring.
Herefordshire Council’s county archaeologist, Dr Keith Ray MBE, showed the Time Team presenter and his team of researchers around Credenhill hill fort, which is the largest one in the Welsh Marches.
Footage from Credenhill will be part of a special Time Team documentary about hill forts throughout the United Kingdom.
Phil, wearing his trademark hat, said: “There are more hill forts in Herefordshire than any other county in the country.
"The fact the one at Credenhill is being excavated provided a perfect opportunity to explore hill forts further as part of our documentary."
Excavation work, carried out throughout September under the direction of Peter Dorling of Herefordshire Archaeology and with the help of students from Cardiff University, is part of a longer-term project being carried out in partnership with the Woodland Trust.
The Trust has been awarded a Heritage Lottery Fund grant to conserve and study Credenhill Park Wood which the fort stands within.
Excavations, the first being carried out on a hill fort in Herefordshire for 40 years, are being carried out to establish if there was an earlier enclosure on the hill.
Dr Niall Sharples, senior lecturer in Prehistory at Cardiff University, said: “The six trenches we have unearthed have already raised some interesting issues which will need to be answered in future digs.
"Interestingly, one trench at the top of the hill was found to be empty, suggesting the site was used as an open area for some form of gatherings.”
The Woodland Trust project will involve the removal of conifer trees (planted in the 1960s) from much of the fort, and restoration of the surrounding woodland to mixed deciduous cover.
As part of the filming, Time Team members also visited the new Museum Store and Resource Centre in Hereford’s Friar Street and were shown around the collection of Iron Age items which have been unearthed from the hill fort at Credenhill.
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