ABSTRACT
The settlement site of Simy Folds (NY 888277) lies at a height of 350 m (1150 ft) above sea-level on Holwick Fell in Upper Teesdale, County Durham. The radiocarbon evidence indicates prehistoric occupation of the Simy Folds area during the Late Iron Age, the Middle Bronze Age and possibly even earlier in the Neolithic. When the report was written only one other site similar to Simy Folds had been published. This was the settlement at Ribblehead in North Yorkshire excavated by Mr Alan King. In Teesdale itself there are at least four more within a few miles of Simy Folds: Willy Brig Sike (NY 916254), White Earth (NY 906263–909260), Stonehouses (NY 907282) and Holwick Castles (NY 899271). For Simy Folds an important geographical feature must be taken into account when trying to explain repeated occupation. From the Iron Age onwards there was another important reason for the existence of settlement at Simy Folds.
