Berth Hill

Berth Hill is an Iron Age hillfort in Staffordshire, England, about 5 miles south-west of Newcastle-under-Lyme, and near the village of Maer [1]. The fort is on a sandstone outcrop at the south-east edge of Maer Hills [1]. The defences, following the contours of the hill, have an irregular shape [1]. Their length is 320 metres north-west to south-east, and the width is 150 metres, enclosing an area of about 3.75 hectares [1]. The rampart, of earth and stone, is up to 15 metres wide and 0.8 metres above the interior [1]. In the north, the slope is less steep than elsewhere, and there is a second rampart outside this [1]. There are two original entrances: an inturned entrance in the south-west, and an entrance at the north end of the east defences [1]. Results of excavations in 1966 and 1975 have been interpreted as showing an early period of occupation, followed by a long interval of disuse (suggested by ditches containing silt and parts of collapsed rampart), and later a hurried reconstruction of the defences [1].