The Iron Age
This site provided a home for people for thousands of years, and is an outstanding example of a defended settlement. Built at a key vantage point in Leigh Woods overlooking the Avon Gorge, the location was ideal for the families who lived here.
A home
Archaeological excavations in the 1960s revealed that people first lived in Stokeleigh Camp more than 2,300 years ago (late 3rd century BC) and remained for 400 years. It provided a home for people again in the 3rd and 4th centuries AD.
Discoveries in artefacts
The excavations found a variety of Iron Age and Romano-British objects including pottery, tools and animal bones. The remains of hearths and post-holes from round houses tell us how people lived in the hillfort.
A defensive fortress
Stokeleigh Camp is the largest of three Iron Age hillforts built to guard the approach to the River Avon. The two massive banks and ditches which can be seen here were built to protect people. These ramparts linked the steep slope of the Avon Gorge with Nightingale Valley and meant that the hillfort was defended on all sides.
This project is a partnership with a local farmer and Natural England, which supports the work through a Higher Level Stewardship agreement. This scheme will help to protect the National Nature Reserve (NNR).
The Industrial Past of Leigh Woods
In the 19th century celestine was discovered in Leigh Court estate in Leigh Woods and the Miles family authorised quarrying. Between 1880 and 1920 Bristol was producing 90 percent of the world's celestine, but the enterprise did not last long into the 20th century.
Bristol diamonds
Brilliant quartz crystals found in geodes in dolomitic conglomerate in the gorge, were popular souvenirs for visitors to the Hotwells spa in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Two railways run through the gorge
On the east side of the gorge the Severn Beach Line (to Avonmouth and Severn Beach), uses the remaining part of the Bristol Port Railway through the gorge, and then a tunnel under Clifton and Durdham Downs. On the west side the Portishead Railway was closed by the Beeching Axe in the 1960s, but has now been reopened for freight traffic as far as Royal Portbury Dock.
Our work today
Staff, volunteers and contractors are clearing young trees and scrub to prevent tree roots damaging the archaeology and to restore wood pasture. We're helped by a small herd of Red Devon cattle which graze the area.