Early history The first people to visit Castle Hill were probably hunters and gatherers of the
Mesolithic age, camping amongst the forests which at that time covered the land. In the
Neolithic and
Bronze Age, there appears to have been widespread travel or trade along the river valleys connecting the
Yorkshire Wolds, the
Peak District and the
Mersey and
Ribble estuaries. This is shown by various characteristic types of stone and bronze tools in a place far from their points of origin. The hillfort was constructed in the early Iron Age, around 555 BC taking up the whole hilltop. Modifications were made around 43 AD to improve the defences, probably in response to the threat from the
Roman invaders. Excavations on part of the hillfort in 1970 demonstrated that Castle Hill had at some stage suffered from a severe episode of burning.
Vitrified forts such as Castle Hill are rarely found in England, and are more usual in Scotland. The banks and ditches that remain are more likely to be the result of recutting and other alterations carried out during the
Middle Ages, and modified by centuries of erosion. After the
Norman Conquest of 1066,
Almondbury became part of the Honour of
Pontefract, which was held by the
de Laci family. They established a small
castle on the hill. It is mentioned in a charter of
King Stephen to
Henry de Laci of about 1142 to 1154. Archaeological excavation has provided a wooden stake, radiocarbon-dated to the late 1140s, and a coin of about 1160. It can be assumed that the castle was complete and occupied by the 1140s. In the early 14th century there was an attempt to found a settlement in the lower bailey, and possibly elsewhere on the hill. Aerial photography revealed a central roadway flanked by regularly laid-out plots. It was probably abandoned by the 1340s, although memory of it may have lingered, since the map of Almondbury drawn up in 1634 marks the hill as the site of a town. After the end of the Middle Ages, Castle Hill remained uninhabited until the early 19th century. Its prominent position made it an ideal site for a warning beacon, as part of a network of such beacons on other prominent hills all over the country, spreading out in lines from the coast.
Modern history Castle Hill's flat top was a venue for large political, religious, and other meetings.
Chartist rallies were held at least four times, in 1843 and 1848. During the great weavers’ strike of 1883 a rally of between two and three thousand people braved bitter weather to listen to speeches by union leaders. A tavern to cater for pleasure-seekers was built on the hill in about 1810–11. A bowling green was formerly situated to the south of it. Other pursuits recorded there included bare-knuckled
prize fights,
dogfights and
cockfights. The Thandi Partnership bought the
public house on land
leased from Kirklees Borough Council and applied for planning permission to renovate it. After breaching planning conditions, the pub was demolished. Subsequent plans to rebuild it have been rejected. An
anti-aircraft battery was built near the south-east end of the hill and a
range finder is located at the north side of the outer bailey, the remains of which may be seen, and pieces of high-explosive shell casings are occasionally picked up in the adjacent fields. Today the hill retains the remnants of all its past uses, and is a popular site for local people and tourists. Overhead electricity cables were relocated below ground in 2006 to enable
kite users to make use of the hilltop winds. ==Victoria Tower==