Bronze Age and Iron Age

Raiding the Bank and prehistory

The Raiding the Bank trail explores stories of people who lived and worked in the area during the Bronze Age and Iron Age. Discover more in this film.

Information from trail posts 3 and 8

Hillfort and Home

The dramatic escarpment beside the Yorkshire Gliding Club, was once home to a large Iron Age hill fort. Its imposing, elevated position offered sweeping views and natural defence, ideal for protecting the local community and their livestock. This led early archaeologists to focus on the military role of Roulston Scar, often overlooking their broader social functions. The people in the area (labelled the Brigantes by the Romans) most likely lived in extended family settlements across the landscape, with forts such as this serving as hubs for trade, marriage alliances, dispute resolution, and seasonal gatherings as much as for military purposes.

Boundaries and Burials

A section of earthwork marks the line of Casten Dyke, an Iron Age boundary dating to around 400–100 BC. Likely used to mark tribal land or control movement across the landscape, the dyke once stretched for miles.

Nearby stands a Bronze Age burial mound, or barrow, built over a thousand years earlier probably to commemorate an important individual. The Iron Age builders chose to construct Casten Dyke around the existing Bronze Age barrow rather than cutting through it. This respect for the ancient burial site suggests the barrow held significant cultural or spiritual importance, possibly serving as a landmark or a symbol of connection to their ancestors and the landscape.