[If the text below uses any of the terms ‘hill-letter’, ‘river-letter’, ‘old-style name’, ‘transitional name’ and ‘inversion-type name’ a reader who is not familiar with those terms may wish to refer briefly to ‘The Celtic names of hillforts’, where an explanation of those terms is given].

The Celtic names of hillforts

Credenhill Park Wood

Location: northeast of Kenchester, Herefordshire

OS map reference:  SO 451 445                                                           

Celtic name:  Magnis

Source:  Ravenna Cosmography (57) – Magnis

             Antonine Itinerary (Iter XII) - Magnis

This is a large, elongate hillfort built around the summit of a steep hill, the rampart being in places some 30 metres below the summit.

The name is an old-style compound in the hill-letters m and n, where gn means 'steep hill'.

The name will simply have been transferred by the Romans to the new town which they built nearby at Kenchester. Presumably the surviving inhabitants of the hillfort made up the bulk of the population of the new town.

[This page was last modified on 16 May 2019]