Westnewton : Iron Age (700 BC – AD 70)

On the basis of the evidence discussed above, it is likely that there was some Bronze Age settlement around Westnewton, though this remains unproven. Iron Age sites are better represented, though very few are securely dated. Hillforts and defended settlements such as Mid Hill and Staw Hill are likely to have been constructed during the mid to late first millennium BC. The settlement at Mid Hill is not ideally situated, though the strength of the ramparts, particularly on the northwest side suggests that it was built with defensive considerations in mind.

Substantial ramparts likewise protect Staw Hill. However, as noted above, recent survey work undertaken by English Heritage at West Hill and St Gregory's Hill, near Kirknewton, suggests that defensive criteria may sometimes have been secondary to considerations of status and prestige (Oswald and McOmish 2002, 30). Some hillforts, of which Staw Hill is a good example, may be little more than defended farmsteads established by autonomous small groups (Oswald et al. 2000).

In fact, there is probably no single explanation for all so-called hillforts in the Cheviots. They may have served as animal enclosures, market places or trading stations, defensive enclosures, community centres and places of worship.