Stanwick Iron Age Fortifications  Stanwick Iron Age Fortifications (also known as 'Stanwick Camp'), a huge Iron Age hill fort, sometimes but not always considered an oppidum, comprising over of ditches and ramparts enclosing approximately 300 hectares (700 acres) of land, are situated in Richmondshire, North Yorkshire, England. Whether Stanwick was the stronghold of Venutius or Cartimandua, or perhaps of them both for a brief time before their acrimonious split some time after 51 AD, it is certain that this settlement was one of the most important in Brigantia, the Brigantes kingdom during the early stages of the Roman occupation of Britain. The fortifications are located north of the town of Richmond and south west of Darlington, close to Scotch Corner and the remains of the Roman fort and bridge at Piercebridge. Rising to a height of almost 5 metres (16 ft) in places, the ramparts completely surround the village of Stanwick St John and form one of the largest Iron Age settlements in Britain, in extent if not necessarily in population. The name 'Stanwick' is thought to be derived from the Old Norse word 'steinvegges', meaning stone walls; although an Anglo-Saxon etymology, from "stān" "stone" and "wic" "settlement", is also plausible. In 1845 a hoard of 140 metal artefacts known as the "Stanwick Hoard" which included four sets of horse harness for chariots and a bronze horse head 'bucket attachment', were found half a mile away at Melsonby. These are now held by the British Museum, which also has the Meyrick Helmet, which may have been part of the hoard, or made at Stanwick. Stanwick was the site of Sir Mortimer Wheeler's last major archaeological excavation in Britain, which he carried out over the summers of 1951 and 1952. Wheeler argued that the vast site had been constructed in three separate 'phases' starting from a modest earthwork enclosure on a low hill known as 'The Tofts', dated to around 40 AD (Phase I) then extended around 50-60AD with a new enclosure to the north of over 130 acres (Phase II), and then finally, around 72AD, extended by a further to the south (Phase III). During the course of his excavations, Wheeler cleared a section of ditch that the Brigantes had cut from the underlying limestone rock. He partially reconstructed a length of dry-stone revetment wall from the fallen stones found in the ditch.