The village name, the hillfort, Chapel Hill and a possible fortification
At this point we should look at four enigmas from Tasburgh's past. First, the origin of the name of the village. There is no dispute over the last part of the name which is accepted as arising from the Old English word 'burh', meaning a defended place. As to the prefix'Tas', two opposing theories have been put forward. One is that 'Tas' derives from a rare and ancient personal name, These, the river then taking its name from that of the village. The second theory is that the river name came first, 'tas' or 'taes' being held to be an ancient word for water in general which also appears, for example, in the name of the River Tees.
The second mystery is the origin of the hillfort from which Tasburgh takes part of its name. The fort stands on a spur overlooking the valleys of the Tas and the tributary stream from Hempnall. It occupies most of the large field at the top of Grove Lane, the area between Grove Lane and Old Hall Farm, the churchyard, the old and new rectory grounds and those of the old school. The most visible feature today is the high, tree covered bank leading away from Grove Lane at the top of the rise from the village hall. The distinct drop in Grove Lane not far from this bank and the sharp rise in Church Hill by the old school both show where today's roads cross the line of the fort rampart. In the vicinity of Old Hall Farm and the churchyard quarrying has removed most of the defences, while those on the western side of the field have been ploughed out.
The circumference of the defences is about 1150 yards enclosing an area of 15.3 acres. A section dug through the defences in the west of the field in 1948 revealed that the ditch was probably ten feet deep and thirty-five feet wide. The rampart was about forty feet wide and has been estimated at nine feet high thus presenting attackers with a climb of nineteen feet from the bottom of the ditch. The rear of the rampart appeared to have been revetted with rammed chalk behind which a 'paved pathway' was reported.
It is uncertain who built the fort, similar earth-walled forts were erected in the Bronze Age, the Iron Age by marauding Danes and by the Saxons. Other earth forts in Norfolk at Warham, Holkham, South Creake, Narborough and Thetford have been ascribed, with varying degrees of certainty, to the Iron Age but the Tasburgh fort shows little sign of Iron Age activity. Furthermore it differs from the other forts in being the only one in the east of the county and in being distinctly larger than the others.
There is some evidence from the churchyard excavations of occupation of the fort at the time of the Danish invasion of AD865. Of this year the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle says that the Danes, "... came into the English land and they took winter quarters in East Anglia; there they were horsed and the East Anglians made peace with them". Referring to the invading Danes in his standard work Anglo-Saxon England, F. M. Stenton says, "...their method of operation was to seize a defensible position, fortify it, and ravage the surrounding countryside systematically until its inhabitants bought peace from them". It is possible that in those days Tasburgh lay at the head of navigation along the Tas. If this was not so the Roman road linked Tasburgh directly with the Roman town and port at Caistor St Edmund. One way or another Tasburgh was easily accessible to the invading Danes.
The next year the Danes left East Anglia on their looted horses to attack York, such a short stay at the fort could well explain the present negligible evidence of occupation, but until more clues are discovered the builders of the fort must remain a mystery.
Two further historical mysteries, lying just over the parish boundary, seem to be linked to the history of Tasburgh. Both could be natural features, both could be man made.
The hillock known as Chapel Hill lies immediately over the boundary with Tharston, facing the River Tas and flanked by the tributary streams from Tharston and Hempnall. We have already noted the possible burial of a Celtic chieftan nearby. A monument on the hill is inscribed, 'AD1897 in this jubileeYear of HM Queen Victoria about a hundred skeletons were found on this hill together with some Roman pottery ... P. BERNEY FICKLIN'. It has been recorded elsewhere that skulls were found here in heaps on gravel, together with pottery sherds, worked flints, traces of burning and an ornamental bronze brooch. By AD 1289 the chapel of St Michael is recorded in the vicinity and may well have stood on the hillock, hence its name, Chapel Hill. Is this knoll by the marshes a natural hill or is it a long barrow, a Neolithic burial mound, which has continued to be used as hallowed ground for burials for many thousands of years? Only excavation is likely to answer this question.
From the western side of the hillfort a spur of land leads to the ford by the camp site of the Mesolithic hunters. Across the ford in Hapton is a large area of flat raised land standing six feet clear of the surrounding water meadows to the north, east and south; only to the west is this low plateau joined to dry ground. The raised area is comparable in size to the Tasburgh hillfort and jointly with the fort it appears to guard the Tas valley at a narrow point. It is of unnatural shape for a spur of land leading down to the marshes having a series of straight edges and a vertical drop on the south east side. Was this area constructed as an adjunct to the Tasburgh hillfort? Was it built as a raised beaching area for the boats of invading Danes in AD865?
Tsburgh Hillfort
