Stark stairing bonkers
Ancient hillfort ‘ruined’ by £65k steps made of... fibreglass
IT has stood proudly as one of the country’s tallest Iron Age earthworks for centuries.
But town councillors have been accused of desecrating Castle Hill by installing an ‘eyesore’ fibreglass stairway which climbs straight up the 80ft hillfort’s grassy slope.
Work has been going on for over a month to install the £65,000 steps with handrails leading to the summit at the medieval motte- and- bailey in Thetford, Norfolk.
But while the new staircase will improve access to the hill, residents have condemned the council for using a modern material instead of wood, which they argue would be more in keeping with the historic mound, which is a national scheduled monument.
Matthew Spencer, a retail worker who lives near the hill, said: ‘It’s an eyesore. I think steps could be a good idea for access but how they’ve done it is terrible. The material looks horri- ble. They should have used something more natural. I think they’ve ruined how it looks. It’s ugly and over-modern.’
Victoria Firman, who grew up in Thetford and still works in the town, said ‘the postcard picture has been ruined by whopping great big metal steps’ which she would like to see replaced with ‘something more subtle and gentler on the eye’.
Others took to social media to condemn the new structure on the northeast of the mound. Gary Connelly said: ‘It looks like a huge scar on a beautiful face to me, an act of vandalism.’
But Thetford town council, which has looked after Castle Hill since 2008, defended the installation and said fibreglass was chosen because it has no scrap value and will not interfere with the chemical balance of the land. It
‘It’s ugly and over-modern ’
said that the stairway was installed to prevent further erosion on the hillside, in a plan agreed by Natural England, Historic England and Norfolk Historic Environmental Services.
The majority of the cost of the steps will be covered by a grant from Natural England.
The earthworks were originally constructed during the Iron Age, before the Roman invasion. A thousand years later, Normans built a motte-and-bailey castle inside the ramparts. The fortifications comprise a motte, or large conical mound of earth or rubble, topped by a tower. This motte adjoins an embanked enclosure containing additional buildings – the bailey. In the case of Castle Hill, the tower was destroyed, but the mound, which is made of chalk, remained. Although 68 per cent of respondents to a local newspaper poll recently branded the new stairway ugly, some have welcomed the increased access. Writing on Facebook, Mel Izzard said: ‘Lots of [the] older generation can now get up and experience the view that many of them have wanted to for years but not been able to. Stairs or not, [accessing the summit] was a safety issue.’
A council spokesman said that the hill’s erosion was in part caused by a ‘lack of management’ prior to it taking ownership of the monument.
He added: ‘Wooden steps would have required more foundations and had ‘greater need of costly maintenance and replacement’.
A Historic England spokesman said: ‘While we accept the steps will change the visual appeal of the site, they also bring significant benefits in terms of increased public access and better management.’
A petition set up on Change.org calling for ‘Better looking steps for Castle Hill in Thetford’ had been backed by 399 supporters yesterday.