Dorset’s hillforts, a visitor’s guide Dorset’s hillforts, a visitor’s guide Introduction 4 Hillfort archaeology 6 Hillfort nature 8 Hillfort management 10 Coney’s Castle 12 Lambert’s Castle 14 Pilsdon Pen 16 Lewesdon Hill 18 Eggardon Hill 20 Top Badbury Rings Cerne Giant 22 Above Yellowhammer Hod Hill 24 Right Common spotted orchid Hambledon Hill 26 Badbury Rings 28 Left Hod Hill 2 Dorset’s hillforts Dorset’s hillforts This guide introduces you to the Iron Age hillforts of Dorset. Many were built more than 2,000 years ago and all are significant landmarks. It is easy to understand why our ancestors chose these places in which to live and to defend themselves. Now the hillforts are home to very special nature and wildlife, and all have untold stories from an archaeological perspective. Enjoy and explore these landscapes, all year round. Right Evening light on ramparts, Hambledon Hill. 4 Dorset’s hillforts Visitor’s guide 5 Hillfort archaeology The Iron Age hillfort is one of the most There is evidence, too, that many of these impressive earthworks of the Wessex prominent sites were used by people long landscape. It reflects the organisational and before the hillforts were constructed. This can engineering skill, as well as the defensive be seen in the form of burial mounds such as mastery of its maker. Theories differ as to why the Neolithic long barrow within Hambledon they were built. They may have been created Hill dating back to before 3,500 BC. Similarly, as a defence against hostile neighbours or Bronze Age burial mounds found within as a status symbol for a local chief. But what Pilsdon Pen, Eggardon Hill and Badbury Rings is certain is that the construction of these date from 2,300-1,500 BC. After the Iron Age, Right Reconstruction massive earthworks demanded a co-ordinated some hillforts were used as bases and camps of Hod Hill with Roman physical effort by a large number of people. by the Roman army. fort, winter AD 44. Some hillforts had a single bank (termed We imagine that hillforts were of strategic Far right Hambledon rampart) and ditch, known as univallate. significance enabling the occupants to control Hill, ramparts and massive defences were linked by tracks lined with thatched of the areas around Badbury Rings, Eggardon Hill, Hod Those with two or more banks and ditches trackways. Some hillforts, such as Coney’s footprint of Iron Age roundhouses; the small circular areas of levelled ground Hill and Pilsdon Pen show traces of field systems and are described as multivallate hillforts. The Castle and Lambert’s Castle, Hambledon Hill roundhouses. inside the ramparts show their position. People with a wide farmsteads, revealing how much of the land was cultivated gateways to hillforts were the weakest part and Hod Hill, may have been built in pairs range of skills and occupations would have lived there. 2,000 years ago. of the defence and they were often defended for this purpose. To get a feel for what these Below Reconstruction Some hillforts became, in effect, small towns. However, the We can guess that many generations lived in these hillforts by complicated earthworks. This was to force places would have been like, imagine these hill of Eggardon Hill, beliefs, legends and stories of their occupants have been during the 600 years or so that they were occupied; some hostile warriors to weave between ramparts tops as they were then, crowded with people autumn, during the lost because theirs was an oral tradition. before reaching the gates. and their livestock. The entrances through the Iron Age. settlements may even have been built, abandoned and then Winter, when the vegetation is short and there is a touch of re-used. We are never likely to know the names of these The hillforts featured in this guide were built frost on the ground, is an ideal time to see the footprint of people, although we do know that in Dorset the local tribe about 2,500 years ago and lived in until the the roundhouses on these sites, especially at Hod Hill and was called the Durotriges, and in neighbouring Devon, the Roman conquest in AD 44. It is through Hambledon Hill. Survey and excavation has enabled us to Dumnonii. The hillforts and the Cerne Abbas Giant are archaeological research and investigation that understand how food was grown locally. Aerial photographs legally protected scheduled ancient monuments (SM). we learn about them. What knowledge we have comes from chance finds, excavations, surveys, and comparisons with other hillforts. The only things that usually survive in the ground are durable artefacts made of pottery, Hillforts occupied metal, stone, bone and shell. There are also clues as to where people lived. Inside the inner Mesolithic Neolithic Bronze Age Iron Age Roman Anglo- Medieval ramparts you will see circular hollows terraced around around around around around Saxon/Viking around into the hillslope, thought to be the remains 10,000 6,000 4,000 2,800 1,950 around 1,550 1,000 of Iron Age roundhouses. to 5,000 to 4,000 to 2,800 to 1,950 to 1,550 to 1,000 to 500 21st years ago years ago years ago years ago years ago years ago years ago Century BC/AD 6 Dorset’s hillforts Visitor’s guide 7 Hillfort Left Green hairstreak nature Below Yellowhammer on gorse. Bottom left Devil’s bit scabious Bottom right Autumn lady’s tresses The places in this guide are home to a wide vetch, thyme, dropwort, small scabious, Above Green woodpecker heath bedstraw, milkwort, catsear, sheep’s bit range of wildlife. The profile of hillforts with clustered bellflower, knapweed, devil’s bit and local climbing corydalis. Coney’s Castle their steep ramparts and ditches mean that scabious, betony and saw-wort. There are is particularly striking for bluebells at the they have never been intensively farmed. also large populations of orchids including beginning of May. These landscapes have, by virtue of their the common spotted, fragrant, autumn lady’s At the foot of these steep hills, gault clay formation, position and isolation, evolved tresses and pyramidal with smaller numbers forms a waterproof layer and a spring into outstanding habitats supporting rare of early purple and bee orchid. line where bog pimpernel, bog asphodel, wildflowers, butterflies, bats and birds. They These plants support many butterflies lousewort, lesser skullcap, sundew and the are our living textbooks, detailing the natural including marsh fritillary, which lays its eggs occasional heath spotted orchid grow. and cultural footprint of our ancestors and on devil’s bit scabious, and the Adonis blue, past generations over thousands of years. which prefers to lay its eggs on horseshoe Species Chalk downland vetch. Other significant butterflies are A wide variety of birds can be seen at chalkhill blue, brown argus, dingy skipper, each site. Buzzards, kestrels and ravens fly Hillforts in this group include Badbury Rings, grizzled skipper and green hairstreak. overhead. Woodpeckers and willow warblers Eggardon Hill, Hod Hill and Hambledon can be seen in the woodland. Lambert’s Castle Hill. The chalk soils on the steep rampart Acid heathland is known for meadow pipits, stonechat and slopes are thin and infertile and provide ideal The hillforts of Coney’s Castle, Lambert’s yellowhammers. Mammals include badgers, conditions for fine grasses, sedges and a Castle, Lewesdon Hill and Pilsdon Pen are built bats, dormice, foxes, roe deer, stoats and wonderful variety of flowering plants. on the acid greensand hills of West Dorset. weasels. Badbury Rings is noted for its Typical flowers, in order of flowering from The ramparts, where they are not wooded, ground nesting birds, such as corn bunting May to September, include cowslip, milkwort, support dwarf shrub species such as ling, bell and skylark. horseshoe vetch, rockrose, fairy flax, kidney heather, western gorse, bilberry, tormentil, 8 Dorset’s hillforts Visitor’s guide 9 Hillfort management foraging by sheep and cattle are the key Walkers welcome to sustaining species-rich grassland. Cattle forage across the hill, whilst sheep graze on The hillforts offer a host of walking routes, the steeper slopes encouraging a short, tight each one unique across a range of prominent turf. Grazing limits the unwanted spread of terrains. While the walks are suitable for trees and scrub, and stops vigorous grasses all, some feature a steep assent. Routes are smothering the finer grasses and wildflowers. outlined in this guide, but to find out more, The tight grassland cover binds the soil visit the individual site websites. Please leave together, protecting the archaeological only footprints, take only memories. remains from weathering and water erosion. Dog walking Scrub management Dogs are welcome if kept under control at all times, to minimise disturbance of ground In managing hillforts, the goal is to strike a are scheduled ancient monuments and most Above Cattle grazing Scrub is made up of a variety of attractive shrubs including gorse, hawthorn, spindle nesting birds, grazing cattle and sheep. Please balance that protects the buried archaeology, are designated as Sites of Special Scientific on Hambledon Hill always clean up after your dog, to protect the makes place for nature to thrive, and provides Interest (SSSI) and National Nature Reserve and wayfaring tree, all home to many kinds of insects, birds and small animals. Work is fragile soils, flora and fauna, and the wellbeing a welcome to visitors. The hillforts’ steep (NNR). Many also sit within the Dorset Area of livestock. ramparts and deep ditches mean that they of Outstanding Natural Beauty (DAONB). needed to keep scrub at various heights tend not to have been intensively farmed.