Pennington Castle Hill

In the civil parish of Pennington. In the historic county of Lancashire North of the Sands (Modern Authority of Cumbria, 1974 county of Cumbria).

Earthwork remains of a Medieval ringwork, comprising a rampart and outer ditch on the slopes of Pennington Beck. The defended quadrant-shaped enclosure measures 156ft by 132ft. (PastScape)
Pennington Castle Hill is an interesting little earthwork about two miles west of Ulverston, and situated just about the place where the Fumess Fells drop down to meet Low or Plain Furness. It is therefore fairly close to the ancient road which came oversands from Cartniel to Sandside, and crossed through Low Fumess into South Cumberland. The situation is rather striking, being on the edge of Pennington Beck, which here runs in a deep ravine ; and the makers of the Castle Hill have chosen a sharp elbow of cliff on the east bank, isolating it for defensive purposes by a semi-circular ditch and rampart, which thus took in a quadrant shaped area. The ward thus formed measures 156 feet by 132 feet, and the ditch is about 45 feet wide measured from the rampart top to the outer edge. As the site slopes to the south, and the ditch is about the same depth all round, its level at the south is lower than at the north, and it has, of course, never been meant to hold water. The rampart on the north is now perhaps twelve feet above the ward level, and there is only one entrance through it, that on the south-east, which is probably ancient. (Cowper)
Supposed precursor to Muncaster. Held by Penningtons as late as 1318, though they moved to Muncaster c. 1242.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law.

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is SD25777774

Air Photo from Air Photo and general mapping	1st edition OS Map from Mid to late 19th century maps
Modern Map from Landscape form and features	Modern Map from General location and route planning
Geograph British Isles occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 37766
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is 2215 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

• Web site links
  • http://www.ecastles.co.uk/pennington.html
    http://www.matthewpemmott.co.uk/2008/08/pennington-castle-hill-pennington.html
• Books
  • Perriam, Denis and Robinson, John, 1998, The Medieval Fortified Buildings of Cumbria (CWAAS)
    Salter, Mike, 1998, The Castles and Tower Houses of Cumbria (Malvern) p99 [slight]
    Pettifer, A., 1995, English Castles, A guide by counties (Woodbridge) p274 [slight]
    Jackson, M.J.,1990, Castles of Cumbria (Carel Press) p79
    King, D.J.C., 1983, Castellarium Anglicanum (London: Kraus) Vol1 p246
    Gibson, Leslie Irving, 1977, Lancashire Castles and Towers (Dalesman Books)
    Curwen, J.F., 1913, Castles and Fortified Towers of Cumberland, Westmorland and Lancashire North of the Sands (Kendal) p37
    Cowper, 1908, in Farrer, Wm and Brownbill, J.(eds), VCH Lancaster Vol2 p555-6
    Barber, H., 1894, Furness and Cartmel Notes p224
    West, T., 1805, Antiquites of Furness p407-9
• Journal Articles
  • Higham, Mary, 1991, 'The Mottes of North Lancashire, Lonsdale and South Cumbria' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol91 p79-90 [reprinted in Crosby, A.G. (ed), 2007, Of names and places: selected writings of Mary Higham (Nottingham: English Place-Name Society and the Society for Name Studies) p81-91]
    King, D.J.C. and Alcock, L., 1969, 'Ringworks in England and Wales' Château Gaillard Vol3 p90-127
    Forde-Johnston, J., 1962, Transactions of the Lancashire and Cheshire Antiquarian Society Vol72 p12
    Cowper, H. Swainson, 1906, 'Pennington Castle Hill' Transactions of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society Vol6 p316-17 http://www.archive.org/stream/transactionscum06collgoog#page/n370/mode/1up
    Cowper, H. Swainson, 1893, 'The ancient settlements, cemeteries, and earthworks of Furness' Archaeologia Vol53 p424-6