The history

Hillforts, from early farmers to the diggers

Before the forts, the Iron Age forts themselves, what came after, and how we know.

Jump to: Mapping them all | Before the forts | The Iron Age | The Romans | Later lives | The digs | For teachers

Mapping them all

The Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland maps 4,147 sites, from well-preserved forts to ones where only crop marks are left. University of Edinburgh: Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland site launched It was the first time the locations and details of all ancient hillforts in Britain and Ireland had been mapped and put on one website. University of Edinburgh: Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland site launched

The Atlas was made by researchers from the University of Edinburgh, the University of Oxford and University College Cork. University of Edinburgh: Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland site launched Members of the public, “citizen scientists”, recorded the hillforts they visited, and the team added their records to the database. University of Edinburgh: Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland site launched

The greatest densities of sites are in west and south Wales, much of southern Scotland, and Northumberland and Cornwall. University of Edinburgh: Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland site launched Over 40% of the confirmed sites are in Scotland, and more than 25% in England. University of Edinburgh: Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland site launched

Wales has over 600 sites in the Atlas’s “definite” category, and Ireland nearly 350. University of Edinburgh: Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland site launched The highest example is in County Kerry, followed by sites such as Ingleborough, South Barrule on the Isle of Man and Ben Griam Beg in Sutherland. University of Edinburgh: Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland site launched

Two of the very biggest sites are in County Wicklow; others are on Ham Hill in Somerset and at Hengistbury Head in Dorset. University of Edinburgh: Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland site launched

Within an hour of its launch, the Atlas website was receiving around 250,000 hits. University of Edinburgh: Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland site launched

Before the forts

The hillfort was built over a Neolithic causewayed enclosure made about 5,500 years ago. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle About 90 causewayed enclosures are known in Britain, named for the gaps of untouched ground left in their banks and ditches. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle

A Neolithic “bank barrow” there stretched 546 metres along the spine of the hill. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle

Long before the hillfort, Neolithic people mined flint at Cissbury: there are around 270 pits, up to 12 metres deep. National Trust: History of Cissbury Ring The miners probably dug with a deer antler as a pick and an ox shoulder blade as a shovel. National Trust: History of Cissbury Ring

Most of the tools found at Cissbury have been axes. National Trust: History of Cissbury Ring

The first settlement there dates to about 1000 BC, before the first ramparts. English Heritage: History of Old Oswestry Hillfort

The Iron Age

Hillforts were mostly built in the Iron Age: the oldest date to around 1000 BC and the most recent to about AD 700. University of Edinburgh: Atlas of Hillforts of Britain and Ireland site launched Old Oswestry was built and lived in during the Iron Age, which English Heritage dates from 800 BC to AD 43. English Heritage: History of Old Oswestry Hillfort

Hillfort building began across Britain over 2,600 years ago, perhaps marking the rise of larger tribal groups ruled by new elites. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle

Danebury was built about 2,500 years ago and lived in for nearly 500 years. Hampshire County Council: Danebury Iron Age Hill Fort Local Nature Reserve Cissbury’s hillfort was built around 400 BC and used for defence for around 300 years. National Trust: History of Cissbury Ring

Radiocarbon dates show the Brown Caterthun was built between 700 BC and 200 BC. Historic Environment Scotland: Brown and White Caterthuns, history and stories

Work on Maiden Castle’s defences began about 2,400 years ago and went on for 300 years; at its peak hundreds of people lived there. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle

The first Maiden Castle was a single rampart and ditch enclosing the size of ten football pitches. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle About 2,400 years ago its defences were pushed west to enclose three times the area; the inner rampart became 2km long. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle

The first Iron Age fort followed the line of the Neolithic enclosure, abandoned nearly 3,000 years before, perhaps out of respect for an ancient relic. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle

An Iron Age hillfort may have been set up at Old Sarum about 400 BC. English Heritage: History of Old Sarum

Large Iron Age hillforts are rare; most are on the high chalklands of the southern counties of England. English Heritage: History of Uffington Castle, White Horse and Dragon Hill

The Romans

KS2 Roman examples include Julius Caesar’s attempted invasion in 55–54 BC. GOV.UK (DfE): National curriculum in England, history programmes of study

By the time the Romans invaded, Maiden Castle was almost deserted. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle

In the eastern gateway the Wheelers found a large Iron Age cemetery; 34 skeletons from the very end of the Iron Age had terrible injuries. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle English Heritage says the dead were almost certainly not victims of a Roman assault: they were carefully buried, with grave goods, by their own people. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle

Around AD 370 a Romano-British temple was built inside the long-deserted hillfort. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle A bronze plaque of Minerva, found in 1882, suggests the temple was dedicated to her. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle

Three Roman roads met outside the east gate of the hillfort, then called Sorviodunum. English Heritage: History of Old Sarum

Later lives

After it was abandoned, the hillfort was built into a 40-mile earthwork called Wat’s Dyke. English Heritage: History of Old Oswestry Hillfort

Coins struck between 1009 and 1023 suggest there was once a mint at Cissbury. National Trust: History of Cissbury Ring

After the Norman Conquest a motte was thrown up in the middle of the hillfort. English Heritage: History of Old Sarum Old Sarum uniquely combines a medieval royal castle and cathedral inside an Iron Age fortification. English Heritage: History of Old Sarum

In 1226 the cathedral moved to nearby Salisbury. English Heritage: History of Old Sarum

In the Middle Ages the land inside Uffington Castle was ploughed. English Heritage: History of Uffington Castle, White Horse and Dragon Hill

In Tudor times Cissbury was part of a chain of warning beacons; watchers could see 78 miles of coast. National Trust: History of Cissbury Ring

From at least 1677 until the late 18th century, local people “scoured” the horse clean every seven years and feasted inside the hillfort. English Heritage: History of Uffington Castle, White Horse and Dragon Hill

Old Sarum was a “rotten borough” that elected members of Parliament until 1832. English Heritage: History of Old Sarum

With no water on the hilltop, a clay-lined dewpond was made for sheep in the 1860s. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle Thomas Hardy lived close by and visited the 1880s dig at the temple. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle

In the First World War it was a training area; the poet Wilfred Owen finished his army training there. English Heritage: History of Old Oswestry Hillfort

The digs

Mortimer and Tessa Wheeler excavated Maiden Castle in 1934–7. English Heritage: History of Maiden Castle

Excavations in 1939 showed its ramparts were built in four main phases, not all at once. English Heritage: History of Old Oswestry Hillfort

Digs in the 1950s at Blackbury found a hut, a cooking pit, an oven, pottery and a hoard of over 1,000 slingstones. English Heritage: History of Blackbury Camp

Barry Cunliffe led digs there from 1969 to 1988, uncovering 57% of the inside. Hampshire County Council: Danebury Iron Age Hill Fort Local Nature Reserve They found 73 roundhouses, 500 rectangular buildings and thousands of deep storage pits. Hampshire County Council: Danebury Iron Age Hill Fort Local Nature Reserve

Finds include more than 180,000 pieces of pottery and 240,000 bits of bone. Hampshire County Council: Danebury Iron Age Hill Fort Local Nature Reserve

When Hampshire County Council bought the hillfort in 1958, its earthworks were covered in beech trees. Hampshire County Council: Danebury Iron Age Hill Fort Local Nature Reserve

Castell Henllys is one of the most extensively excavated Iron Age sites in the UK. Pembrokeshire Coast National Park: About Castell Henllys

For teachers: where this fits

In England’s KS2 curriculum, “changes in Britain from the Stone Age to the Iron Age” can include Iron Age hill forts: tribal kingdoms, farming, art and culture. GOV.UK (DfE): National curriculum in England, history programmes of study A KS2 local history study can trace how aspects of national history are reflected in the locality. GOV.UK (DfE): National curriculum in England, history programmes of study

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