Fin Cop – The Old Roads of Derbyshire

*Aerial view of the site of Fin Cop: Curve of ramparts visible top left*

Fin Cop lies on the route of the Portway, about two kilometres north of Ashford in the Water. It is perched on a headland high above the sharp curve in the River Wye in Monsal Dale, and consists of a ditch and incomplete ramparts enclosing an area of about ten acres. Pennyunk Lane, which is believed to be a Celtic name, passes nearby, and is a section of the Portway whose route been somewhat modified by field enclosures. The question is – what was the purpose of the site?

*Monsal Dale viaduct with Fin Cop in distance*

The OS map marks the site as ‘settlement’, although it is often labelled ‘hillfort’. In fact it may have had several functions, as revealed by the extensive excavations which were carried out in 2009 and 2010 by the local history group supported by Archaeological Research Services. These reveal activity on the site going back to the Mesolithic – the time of hunter gatherers, when local chert was worked into tools. During the Bronze Age there were a number of barrow burials on site, and some kind of enclosure, possibly for corralling livestock. However, the idea of a permanent settlement seems unlikely, at nearly a thousand feet and far above a water source – much more probable that this was a ‘caravanserai’ on the Portway, being about ten miles from the next at Mam Tor, enclosing enough pasture for travellers’ animals to graze on.

*Remains of a woman in her 20s, found at Fin Cop in 2010*

There seems to have been a change, possibly climatic, in the Peak District in the Iron Age, indicated by a reduced population. This theory is supported by the dramatic finds made by the excavation of 2010, which show that about 400 BCE the ramparts were hurriedly raised to a height of about three metres and a ditch dug alongside. In the excavated sections the skeletons of nine women and children were found, whose bodies appear to have been hurriedly thrown into the ditch before the walls were broken down. Given that only a fraction of the site was excavated, this suggests a massacre of possibly over a hundred people, and warfare on a serious scale. We will never know the full story of this fascinating place, but these recent finds give us a taste of one chapter in its long history.

Source: https://www.archaeologicalresearchservices.com/projects/site/index.html

There are several ‘portways’ in England, such as the route over the Long Mynd in Shropshire, but the Derbyshire Portway seems to be the longest and the best-researched. The route in Derbyshire was first suggested by Cockerton, an historian from Bakewell in the 1930s, who based his idea of a long-distance route on a string of ‘port’ place names such as Alport and Alport Height, which can be linked together in a roughly north-south alignment by existing tracks and paths. These place names are reinforced by references to a ‘Portwaye’ in some medieval documents and two Portway lead mines. Cockerton discussed the origin of the name ‘Portway’ at length, without coming to a definite conclusion. But it seems clear that the word is Anglo-Saxon, and was applied by them to pre-existing, non-Roman routes. Some have suggested an origin linked to ‘porter’, that is someone who carries, but then all roads are for carrying goods. The common Anglo-Saxon word for road was ‘way’, except for the old Roman roads which were ‘streets’. So a ‘portway’ was something special.

*The line of the Portway running south from Cratcliffe Rocks, turnpike road to left*

A ‘port’ suggests a place of safety and shelter, so I think a portway was a a long-distance route which had ‘ports’ for travellers at intervals of roughly ten miles. These might have been similar to the caravanserai found in the Middle East – defensive sites where wayfarers could sleep, cook and graze their animals overnight. In Derbyshire these are likely to have been on high ground for defence, and a string of probable sites can be identified, from north to south: Mam Tor, Fin Cop, Cratcliff Rocks, Harborough Rocks, Alport Height, Arbour Hill at Dale and Arbour Hill in Wollaton Park. It is noteworthy that three of these have a similar ‘arbour’ component, and a harbour of course is similar to a port.

*Harborough Rocks, between Wirksworth and Brassington*

Several of these sites, including Mam Tor, Fin Cop and Harborough, have been excavated and evidence of occupation, such as pottery, has been found. But permanent settlement in such high and waterless places seems unlikely, while the designation ‘hill fort’ is too vague. Far more likely that they served to protect tired travellers, and thus answered a question too rarely asked by pre-historians – how did merchants, drovers, priests, soldiers and pilgrims make lengthy journeys before the arrival of inns?

The Old Roads of Derbyshire

Tag: Fin Cop

The mystery of Fin Cop

What’s in a name?