NGR: SD 7967 1298. An ancient fort that has perhaps been somewhat overlooked by archaeologists and historians, especially Roman historians, in more recent times. Castlesteads Iron Age promontory hillfort is situated above the Eastern bank of the River Irwell (making it a naturally formed defended site) and Burrs Country Park, near Walmersley, in the district of Bury, Greater Manchester. The hillfort is situated about 580m southeast of Banks Farm near Burrs and roughly ½ south of Walmersley. It seems to have flourished in the Late Iron Age and Romano-British periods of pre-history, at which time it was known to have been a high-status Brigantean settlement. However, it has been called by some a Romano-British settlement and perhaps “wrongly, a Roman camp! It was probably inhabited from the mid-5th century BC up until the mid-2nd century AD. The nearest Roman fort was at Coccium, which today we call Wigan, while the Roman road from Manchester to Ribchester can still be seen at Radcliffe, Affetside, and near Tottington, a few miles from Bury town centre. Castlesteads hillfort is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.

It was in the 19th century that antiquarians began to excavate and document the Castlesteads site, while further excavations were carried out in the 1960s by The Bury Archaeological Group and yet more excavations were undertaken by GMAU in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Late Iron Age pottery was found, confirming the earthwork’s actual age. Triangular in shape, the earthwork covers 1 hectare (2.4 acres). In the Civil War, part of the hillfort was taken over by Parliamentary forces, and an entrenchment was built by them. Today, the steep slopes of the hillfort are tree-clad on all sides, except the N., and because of that, it is difficult to make out the defences of the ancient hill settlement.

The Lancashire Past website tells us more about Castlesteads. It says: “The fort dates from the late Iron Age.  It was occupied from the 5th Century BC and continued in use into the first and second centuries after the Roman invasion. Such places were constructed as defensive sites, but they were also status pieces, radiating power out to the surrounding countryside. In the early days following the Roman invasion, Cartimandua, queen of the local tribe, the Brigantes, was a client ruler of the Romans, so it may well be that this was the reason it was not slighted (attacked) by them. Presumably, the occupants continued to live in some kind of harmony with their Roman rulers thereafter.

The fort was constructed on a natural promontory, which has steep slopes on the north, west and south sides. Anyone attacking it from these sides would have to clamber up some 15 – 20 metres from the Irwell below. The river would have given protection to the north side (as it still does now), and the south side too. The Irwell has since shifted, but the ancient southern course of the river has been found at the base of the southern slope. The eastern approach is only a gentle slope, and so the Iron Age people dug a substantial ditch to protect this approach. The ditch was 6 metres wide and ran for 120 metres.”

Red Rose Magazine (1989) says of the area around Castlesteads that: “The Burrs area contains a wealth of historical features and industrial remains with the potential to give a fascinating insight into the life and development of settlements in the Irwell Valley. The Greater Manchester Archaeological Unit are currently engaged in the detailed investigation and recording of the area’s historical features and remains. A detailed research and social history investigation is also being carried out. As work progresses the emphasis will move on to the presentation and interpretation of the sites for visitors.”

Sources / References and Related Websites:-

Lancashire Past website: https://lancashirepast.com/2021/01/09/castlesteads-iron-age-fort-bury/

Red Rose Magazine: an article in the Red Rose magazine called ‘The Birrs Mill Site’ , August/September 1989. Millgate Publishing Ltd., Rossendale, Lancashire.

https://www.megalithic.co.uk/article.php?sid=7601

https://hillforts.arch.ox.ac.uk/records/EN3201.html

More info here:- https://diggreatermanchester.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/gmpr02_buryrocks.pdf

Copyright © Ray Spencer, 2026.