Hollingbury Castle, also known as Hollingbury Camp and Hollingbury Hillfort, is an

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 ...

hillfort A hillfort is a type of earthwork used as a fortified refuge or defended settlement, located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typically European and of the Bronze Age or Iron Age. Some were used in the post-Roma ...

on the northern edge of

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

, in

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East ...

, England. It is adjacent to Hollingbury Park Golf Course. It is a

scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage and ...

Description

There is a single bank and ditch, in roughly the shape of a square with rounded corners, enclosing an area of about . There are original entrances on the east and west sides, the western entrance being inturned on both sides.Richard Wainwright. "Hollingbury Hill-Fort". ''A guide to the Prehistoric Remains in Britain: Volume One:South and East''. Constable, 1978. Page 233. The pottery found during excavations dates from about 450–250 BC. Hollingbury Castle Digital Terrain Model

Hollingbury Castle Digital Terrain Model

The enclosure contains three

Bronze Age The Bronze Age is a historic period, lasting approximately from 3300 BC to 1200 BC, characterized by the use of bronze, the presence of writing in some areas, and other early features of urban civilization. The Bronze Age is the second pri ...

bowl barrow A bowl barrow is a type of burial mound or tumulus. A barrow is a mound of earth used to cover a tomb. The bowl barrow gets its name from its resemblance to an upturned bowl. Related terms include ''cairn circle'', ''cairn ring'', ''howe'', ''ker ...

s, aligned roughly north-south near the centre. There is documentary evidence suggesting that the southernmost barrow, of diameter about and height about , was the site of a beacon in medieval and post-medieval periods.

Excavations

There was excavation of the site by E. C. Curwen in 1931. It was established that there was an earlier, slightly smaller enclosure: the eastern side of this survives as a low bank aligned north-south, with a filled-in ditch to its east, about within the eastern rampart, the other sides of the earlier enclosure being beneath the later fort. The 1931 excavation also revealed

posthole In archaeology a posthole or post-hole is a cut feature used to hold a surface timber or stone. They are usually much deeper than they are wide; however, truncation may not make this apparent. Although the remains of the timber may survive, most ...

s at the north-east side and east entrance, showing that the rampart was originally a box rampart, filled with rubble and reinforced with timbers, with a

berm A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a border/ separation ...

and a ditch beyond the outer timbers. Modern posts were placed to mark the position of the postholes. Excavation of 1967–69 showed the remains of five round houses, of diameters , from the early 6th century BC, in the south-west corner.

References

{{Iron Age hillforts in England Hill forts in East Sussex Scheduled monuments in East Sussex