Maiden Castle is an

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

hill fort A hillfort is a type of fortification, fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late Bronze Age Europe, European Bronze Age and Iron Age Europe, Iron Age. So ...

, one of many fortified hill-top settlements constructed across Britain during the Iron Age, but one of only seven in the county of

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

in northern England. The hill fort was probably occupied from its construction in 600 BC until the

Roman conquest of Britain The Roman conquest of Britain was the Roman Empire's conquest of most of the island of Great Britain, Britain, which was inhabited by the Celtic Britons. It began in earnest in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, and was largely completed in the ...

in the 1st century AD. At this time the Cornovii tribe are recorded to have occupied parts of the surrounding area but, because they left no distinctive pottery or metalworking, their occupation has not been verified. Since then it has been quarried and used for military exercises. It is protected as a

Scheduled Ancient 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, visu ...

, and is owned by the

National Trust The National Trust () is a heritage and nature conservation charity and membership organisation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Trust was founded in 1895 by Octavia Hill, Sir Robert Hunter and Hardwicke Rawnsley to "promote the ...

. The hill fort is open to visitors, but unrestricted access to the site has resulted in it being classified as "at high risk" from erosion.

Location

Although there are over 1,300 hill forts in England, they are concentrated in the south of the country, with only seven in Cheshire. There are two groups of hill forts in Cheshire, each with three members, but Maiden Castle is the outlier, about south-south-west of the southernmost group. Located at , Maiden Castle lies on the central ridge that runs north–south through the county, as do all of the hill forts in Cheshire.Forde-Johnston (1962), p. 25. Maiden Castle sits on a slight

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the s ...

which is the highest point of a plateau on

Bickerton Hill Bickerton Hill refers to two low red sandstone hills that form the southern end of the Mid Cheshire Ridge in Cheshire, north-west England. The high point, Raw Head, lies on the northerly hill and has an elevation of 227 metres. Parts of the ...

, . The ground to the west and north of the hill fort is steeply sloping, making artificial defences unnecessary and providing a commanding view of the

Cheshire Plain The Cheshire Plain is a relatively flat expanse of lowland within the county of Cheshire in North West England but extending south into Shropshire. It extends from the Mersey Valley in the north to the Shropshire Hills in the south, bounded by t ...

. To the east of Maiden Castle, the

plateau In geology and physical geography, a plateau (; ; : plateaus or plateaux), also called a high plain or a tableland, is an area of a highland consisting of flat terrain that is raised sharply above the surrounding area on at least one side. ...

continues for about and wide, where ramparts were constructed in lieu of natural defences.

Layout

Maiden Castle has no artificial defences on its northern and western sides because of the naturally steep slope of the hill, but there are two artificial banks, apart. The banks are similar in dimension, both are wide, and because the ground they are on slopes, the exterior side of each bank is higher than the side on the inside of the fort; they are high on the inside of the fort and on the exterior face. There is no evidence that Maiden Castle was protected by a ditch along with the banks. The main entrance is on the east side of the fort where the inner bank turns in towards the fort, and while there is a gap in the outer rampart it does not turn in.Forde-Johnston (1962), p. 26. There may also be two other entrances to the site where the banks meet the cliffs to the north and south; the outer ditch runs inwards at both ends, possibly indicating an in-turned entrance abutting the edge of the cliff – similar to the entrance at the Helsby hill fort also in Cheshire – or perhaps an attempt to make the banks run flush to the cliff-edge to ensure there were no gaps in the site's defences.

History

Radiocarbon dating Radiocarbon dating (also referred to as carbon dating or carbon-14 dating) is a method for Chronological dating, determining the age of an object containing organic material by using the properties of carbon-14, radiocarbon, a radioactive Isotop ...

indicates that the ramparts defending Maiden Castle were built in around 600 BC. Built from earth and timber, the inner rampart was originally wide, with a

revetment A revetment in stream restoration, river engineering or coastal engineering is a facing of impact-resistant material (such as stone, concrete, sandbags, or wooden piles) applied to a bank or wall in order to absorb the energy of incoming water an ...

dry stone Dry stone, sometimes called drystack or, in Scotland, drystane, is a building method by which structures are constructed from stones without any mortar to bind them together. A certain amount of binding is obtained through the use of carefully ...

walling behind the bank, and at least high. The outer bank was originally wide and about high. It was built from sand and had a dry stone facing at the front and no revetment behind. The outer bank was later enlarged: the outer face was extended away from the fort and the revetment moved. Its height was probably increased to . The defences cover about out of the entire of the Maiden Castle site. According to archaeologist James Forde-Johnston, who conducted a study of the hill forts of

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

and Cheshire in 1962, this was an unusually strong defence for such a small site. Few artefacts have been recovered from the site; they include a piece of Iron Age pottery. Maiden Castle was probably occupied until the Roman conquest of Britain in 1st century AD, and the outer bank may have been reconstructed around this time. Maiden Castle Bickerton2

The name Maiden Castle is not unique to the site and occurs in several other places in Britain, such as

Maiden Castle Maiden Castle or the Maiden's Castle may refer to: Historical fortifications in England ''Maiden'' derives from the Celtic ''Mai Dun'' which means 'great hill'. *Maiden Castle, Cheshire, an Iron Age hill fort * Maiden Castle, Cumbria, a Roman for ...

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, and probably means a "fortification that looks impregnable" or one that has never been taken in battle. Despite quarrying in the 17th century and 20th-century military exercises on the site, Maiden Castle survives well. It was excavated between 1932 and 1935 by W. J. Varley, who also undertook excavations at

Eddisbury hill fort Eddisbury hill fort, also known as Castle Ditch, is an Iron Age hill fort near Delamere, Cheshire, in northern England. Hill forts are fortified hill-top settlements constructed across British Iron Age, Britain during the Iron Age. Eddisbury is ...

, as part of his investigation into the origin of Cheshire's hill forts. Further excavations were undertaken in 1980–1981. The structure was made a

in 1995, giving Maiden Castle protection against unauthorised change. The environment of the hill fort is a mixture of

heathland A heath () is a shrubland habitat found mainly on free-draining infertile, acidic soils and is characterised by open, low-growing woody vegetation. Moorland is generally related to high-ground heaths with—especially in Great Britain—a coole ...

, heather, and

bracken Bracken (''Pteridium'') is a genus of large, coarse ferns in the family (biology), family Dennstaedtiaceae. Ferns (Pteridophyta) are vascular plants that undergo alternation of generations, having both large plants that produce spores and small ...

. The site is owned by the

and is open to the public. Unrestricted access has led to problems such as erosion. Maiden Castle has been damaged by animal burrows and is designated as "at high risk" due to erosion caused by visitors and the spread of bracken. Five of Cheshire's seven hill forts have been assessed as being "at high risk" compared to 15% of

North West England North West England is one of nine official regions of England and consists of the ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial counties of Cheshire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Lancashire and Merseyside. The North West had a population of 7,4 ...

's Scheduled Monuments.

References

;Bibliography * * * * *

Location

Layout

History

See also

References

Further reading