[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

Norton Camp

Location: just north of Norton Fitzwarren, to the west of Taunton, Somerset

OS map reference:  ST 197 263                                                  

Celtic name:  Morionio

Source:  Ravenna Cosmography (30) - Morionio

This is a roughly circular univallate hillfort on the summit of a low hill.

The writer’s reasons for associating the name Morionio with Norton Camp are given in Chapter 10 (Roman place-names in southwest England) of the Home menu. The name is a straightforward compound in the hill-letters m and r with an onio ending.

It is not clear whether the name as it appears in Ravenna refers to the hillfort itself, to a Roman post built inside the hillfort once the occupants had been evicted, or to a Roman fort which was built nearby and to which the name of the hillfort was transferred.