Hartlebury Castle crop marks show potential civil war bastion

The crop marks resemble a triangle and point east

Crop marks at a 13th century castle show the site of a potential civil war bastion, archaeologists say.

Worcestershire Archive and Archaeology Service flew a drone over Kidderminster's Hartlebury Castle during the hot weather of July 2022.

Tim Cornah from the service said he was "surprised and delighted" when he saw aerial footage that suggested a find.

The service is pushing for funding to start a dig.

The castle was home to various Bishops of Worcester

Mr Cornah said crop marks could occur where past features had been dug into the ground and backfilled with material that retained moisture better than the surrounding geology, resulting in comparatively lush grass.

The crop marks at the castle resembled a triangle and were at least 197ft (60 metres) across east to west, and 164ft (50 metres) north to south, he said.

He added that nothing like this had been found at the castle previously and before the discovery, no one knew of any civil war defences at the site.