Hillforts of Leicestershire

Hillforts are widely seen as emblematic of the Iron Age in Britain but their distribution is uneven. Hardly any hillforts in Leicestershire have seen substantive or recent investigation. There are very few examples known from the East Midlands, in comparison with other areas of the country. Two of the best known large and multivallate sites are Maiden Castle in Dorset and Danebury in Hampshire.

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Breedon Hill Beacon Hill

Bury Camp Burrough Hill

Danebury, Hampshire Maiden Castle, Dorset Strongly defended homesteads

Known hillforts in Leicestershire Enclosed homesteads

Villages and open settlements

Hillfort dominated zones Other possible hillforts in Leicestershire.

• Bardon Hill – 3 miles west of Beacon Hill • Robin-a-Tiptoe Hill – 3 miles South-East of Burrough Hill (Private land) • Whatborough Hill – between Burrough and Robin-a- Tiptoe (Private land) Beacon Hill, Leicestershire • Sconsborough Hill – 2 miles from Whatborough Beacon Hill, situated on the ancient Salt Way, (Private land) • Ranksborough Hill – just over Leicestershire/Rutland has evidence of Bronze Age settlement, with border (No access) bank and ditch surrounding 75% of the hilltop, and a smaller outer bank. Pottery and late bronze artefacts have been found here, including a mould for casting axeheads. It is now a wooded country park accessible to the public.

Breedon Hill, near Melbourne Breedon Hill, Hillfort, situated near the northwest county boundary with Warwickshire, is probably the largest in the county but has also been largely destroyed by quarrying. This Bury Camp, Ratby univallate earthwork, overlooking the valleys of Bury Camp, Ratby, Although traditionally thought the Rivers Soar and Trent, has revealed pits and to be a Roman fort, recent evidence shows that postholes across the site and numerous querns the earthworks are most likely that of a univallate of both Hunsbury and saddle type, suggesting a (single banked) Iron Age hillfort. long period of occupation