Chillerton Down is

downland Downland, chalkland, chalk downs or just downs are areas of open chalk hills, such as the North Downs. This term is used to describe the characteristic landscape in southern England where chalk is exposed at the surface. The name "downs" is deriv ...

between the villages of

Shorwell Shorwell (pronounced Shorrel by some locals and Islanders) is a village and civil parish on the Isle of Wight, United Kingdom. It is from Newport in the southwest of the island. Shorwell was one of Queen Victoria's favourite places to visit o ...

and

Chillerton Chillerton is a village between Newport and Chale in the Isle of Wight in southern England. Chillerton is in the middle of a farming community. It is in the civil parish of Chillerton and Gatcombe, along with nearby Gatcombe; the parish had a tot ...

, on the

Isle of Wight The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...

, England.

Description

The highest point of the hill is , and its

prominence In topography, prominence (also referred to as autonomous height, relative height, and shoulder drop in US English, and drop or relative height in British English) measures the height of a mountain or hill's summit relative to the lowest contou ...

is . There is a

trig point A triangulation station, also known as a trigonometrical point, and sometimes informally as a trig, is a fixed surveying station, used in geodetic surveying and other surveying projects in its vicinity. The nomenclature varies regionally: they a ...

within 2 metres of the summit. Part of Chillerton Down is a property of the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

."Chillerton Down"
''The National Trust''. Retrieved 10 November 2021.

Chillerton Down transmitting station The Chillerton Down transmitting station is a broadcasting facility for FM and DAB radio at Chillerton Down, above the village of Chillerton on the Isle of Wight off the south coast of England (). The transmitter was erected in 1958 and uses a ...

is nearby.

"Five Barrows" earthworks

Across a spur of the hill running north-east to south-west, there are earthworks, originally a rampart, thought to be an unfinished

promontory fort A promontory fort is a defensive structure located above a steep cliff, often only connected to the mainland by a small neck of land, thus using the topography to reduce the ramparts needed. Although their dating is problematic, most seem to da ...

of the

Iron Age The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age (Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic) and the Bronze Age (Chalcolithic). The concept has been mostly appl ...

. The feature has been called the Five Barrows, because it has sunk in places, giving the appearance of separate mounds. The rampart is about long, wide and up to high, and there is a depression, formerly a ditch, on the south-west side.

References

{{reflist Hills of the Isle of Wight Archaeological sites on the Isle of Wight National Trust properties on the Isle of Wight