1. THE KNAVE. The site is a blunt headland about 2-5 km S.E. of Rhosili, with a sheer cliff 60 m high on the S., and more broken cliffs on the S.W. and S.E. It has a very wide base in relation to its length, so that although the inner defended area of about o-i ha is only about 45 m by 30 m, the outer defences are 130 m long.

The defences form two more or less concentric arcs:

The outer or landward defence consists of a grass- and gorse-grown bank, 3 to 5 m wide, about 0-6 m high internally and mostly nearly 1 m externally, though the portion S.W. of the entrance is 1.5 m high externally. Outside the bank is a ditch 3 to 4 m wide, for the most part densely overgrown with gorse. Towards the W. end is an entrance 4-5 m wide; on its E. side the bank terminates in a high mound with a hollow centre, which looks like a guard-chamber but which excavation (see below) proved to be an old lime kiln.
(ii) The inner line of defence, separated from the outer by a space of from 14 m to 20 m, consists for the E. two-thirds of its length of a grass-grown bank of limestone rubble, 5-5 to 7-5 m wide, nearly 1 m high internally and mostly 2 m externally, though reaching nearly 3 m at the E. end. The inner scarp has a stepped appearance, but this is probably due to stone robbery. Outside the bank is a ditch 1-5 to 2-5 m wide and up to about 1 m deep. Entrance arrangements, now obscured, were exposed by excavation (see below). After a gap of about 15 m, a straight length of bank with no ditch links a rock outcrop to the cliff. Very faint surface traces suggest a continuation of the rampart and ditch turning sharply to the S.W. from the entrance, but no ditch was found in excavation, and the features are probably natural, perhaps enhanced by quarrying. No hut platforms are visible in the interior. The faint footings of an old enclosure wall, probably for a sheepfold, are traceable in the inner enclosure, partly blocking the entrance. A modern stone wall crosses the E. part of the fort from N.E. to S. W.

The site was excavated by Audrey Williams (Mrs. W. F. Grimes) in 1938. The inner rampart was shown to be 4-9 m wide, revetted internally (and perhaps also externally) with at least two courses of limestone blocks. The ditch was 4-3 m wide and I-I m deep, with very gently sloping sides and a slight counterscarp bank. The bank near the cliff on the W. was only 3-7 m wide with no ditch, but with a substantial outer revetment, to accommodate which the rock had been scarped. The entrance was approached obliquely along a ridge of outcrop. On the S. it was protected by a natural scarp with no additions. The bank and ditch terminated on the N., the bank being slightly inturned. No post-holes for the gate were found.

The outer rampart was shown to be 3 to 4 m wide, with an inner kerb of boulders; the ditch was 3-7 to 4-3 m wide and 1-4111 deep, of blunt V-section. At the entrance, the roadway was 3 m wide between the squared ends of the rampart; a line of three post-holes across the middle of the gap indicated a pair of gates closing on a central upright.

Within the enclosure, an occupation layer was found within the inturn of the rampart at the entrance; all the pottery came from this. A natural hollow near the cliff edge on the S. had a hearth and a central post-hole suggesting a round hut 3-7 m in diameter. Small finds from various parts of the site included slingstones, pot-boilers, hammer-stones, part of a stone mace, pieces of clay daub, and sixteen sherds of Early Iron Age B pottery of Glastonbury type dated to the period 50 B.c - A.D. 50. S 13c (Deborah's Hole). B.B.C.S., VIII, iv (May 1937), p. 365; Rutter, P. Gower, p. 66; Arch. Camb., XCIV (1939), pp. 210-19 excavation report).

Source: RCAHMW 1976: An Inventory of the Ancient Monuments in Glamorgan. Volume I: Pre-Norman. Part II. The Iron Age and The Roman Occupation. No 699, Rhosili. P. 66-67

2. Driver. T. 2023. The Hillforts of Iron Age Wales. Logaston Press. p 24-25 & Fig. 1.19

2. Visited by T. Driver and L. Barker, 10th April 2024. The site was stable, but the defences on the north and east sides are very overgrown with gorse and scrub.

Site Record

The Knave Promontory Fort; scheduled as: Deborah's Hole Camp