[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

Crickley Hill

Location: east of Gloucester

OS map reference:  SO 928 162                                                       

Celtic name:  Glevon

Source:  Ravenna Cosmography (62) – Glebon Colonia

             Antonine Itinerary (Iter XIII) - Clevo

This is a roughly triangular promontory fort built around the southwestern end of a ridge extending NE-SW, the highest point of the ridge being to the northeast of the eastern rampart of the fort. The fort extends some way down the slopes to north and south of the ridge, the slopes beyond the northern and southern ramparts being very steep.

The writer’s reasons for associating the name Glevon with Crickley Hill are given in the entry for Glebon Colonia in the Alphabetical List. Glev is an old-style name meaning ‘steep hill slope’, so the name Glevon appears entirely appropriate for the Crickley Hill fort. The name was apparently adopted by the Romans for their fort at Kingsholm, in the northern part of Gloucester, and later transferred to the legionary fortress standing on the site of the modern city centre. After the departure of the military the settlement at Gloucester acquired the status of colonia, and it is this which was the Glebon Colonia of Ravenna and the Clevo of the Antonine Itinerary.