Maiden Castle

One of the largest Iron Age hillforts in Britain, situated on the chalk downlands south of Dorchester in southern England. Excavated by Sir Mortimer Wheeler, Sir Robert Eric Mortimer in 1934–7 and more recently by Niall Sharples in 1985–6, the hilltop has a long and complicated history starting in the middle Neolithic with the construction of a causewayed enclosure around 4000 bc. This was followed around 3400 bc by the building of a long mound partly over the infilled ditches of the earlier camp. The site was not heavily used during Bronze Age times, but occupation resumed around 500 bc with the construction of a hillfort. This fort was remodelled several times by the 3rd century, extending to 20ha with three or four concentric ramparts and ditches and massive heavily defended entrances to the east and west. Maiden Castle was at that time a permanent settlement with stone and wooden houses linked by surfaced trackways. During the Roman conquest, the fort was sacked by Vespasian's legions. The Romans established a new centre for the Durotriges at Durnovaria (Dorchester), and the hillfort was abandoned until the 4th century ad when a Romano–Celtic temple was built there.

[Rep.: N. Sharples, 1991, Maiden Castle excavations 1985–86. London: English Heritage]