Britain's Largest Hillfort? It is not Maiden Castle in Dorset, so where is the UK's largest hillfort

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What is Britain's largest Hillfort?
Maiden Castle Is often said to be “Britain and Europe’s largest Hillfort”
At 914 m long, that's about as long as 10 football pitches
Impressive yes!
But is it really Britain's largest hillfort?
Just 20 miles to the north, there is said to be a much larger Iron Age Hillfort
Ham Hill Iron Age Hillfort
It's nearly 88 hectares in area compared with 44 hectares for Maiden Castle
It's fortified perimeter is 3 miles 5 k long
Making this probably Britain's largest Iron Age Hillfort by area
The total area within the perimeter defenses, are marked in red
Ham Hill is a geological Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), Scheduled Ancient Monument, Iron Age hill fort, Roman site, Local Nature Reserve and country park.
A flight around Ham Hill Iron Age Hillfort
Starting at the northernmost point we'll fly clockwise around the perimeter.
Massive banks and ditches, now partially hidden by vegetation.
Prince of Wales Public House , Not many Hillforts contain Public Houses!
Strip Lynchets We are looking at Medieval or even Iron Age field markings The perimeter banks and ditches are surrounded by such field systems, of which may have originated at the time the hillfort settlement was in use during the Iron Age.
This hilltop has witnessed centuries of human activity, from the Neolithic Age to the Middle
Ages. Archaeological discoveries here reveal a rich tapestry of life, work, and settlement over thousands of years.
The Iron Age Hillfort was captured by the Roman commander Vespasian in 45AD He then built a temporary camp over the hillfort followed later by a Villa
Mysterious circle feature What is it? Anyone know what it is? comment pls
Hillfort South East Entrance A modern road still utilizes the older hillfort entrance
Strip Lynchets; the strip lynchets are even more pronounced here on the southern side where a lost medieval village lies below.
Working Quarry
'Hamstone' a unique soft highly venerated limestone, has been quarried here for centuries.
Many local buildings are constructed from the honey coloured Hamstone (Many buildings in the surrounding area as well as further afield have been built with Hamstone)
The entire western flank of the Ham Hill plateau is riddled with old quarry workings Quarrying has unearthed many important historical artefacts, but also destroyed much of the archaeological context.
Ham Hill Country Park is popular for picnicking, walking and mountain biking in the grassy hollows
of the old quarry workings.
2. War Memorial
3. Modern Stone Circle and Amphitheatre
There are some terrific views from this high
location.
Maiden Castle
Arguably deserves the title of
1. 'The Jewel of the Crown' of British Hillfort's for it’s impressive defenses
2. This Lidar image with both hillforts shown to scale demonstrates the difference in size’s
At Ham Hill, I think we could be looking at Britain's largest 'known' intact Hillfort
1. Or maybe you have other thoughts? (Maybe you know of somewhere larger?)
2. So...Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
Narration: Ella Jo
Filmed and produced by Steve Spon
~
Additional notes from www.hillforts....
Bindon Hill Hillfort, Dorset, at 110 hectares, but it has just 1 ring, and little evidence of occupation
50 hectares for Oldbury Camp in Kent
Borough Hill in Northamptonshire may hit 52 hectares.
Wales
Llanymynech Hillfort, that sat on a hill overlooking this Mid Wales, North East Powys, village, that even crossed over into Shropshire over the border. It was 57 hectares in size,
Republic of Ireland
Tinoran, in the republic of Ireland has remnants of up to 5 rings, which enclose 82 hectares.
Spinans Hill-Brusseltown Ring complex which encloses 2 major hillforts, and as1 ring, grandly encloses 131 hectares.
Scotland
Tap o' Noth in North East Scotland (Pictish Iron Age is a thousand years later than elsewhere
1. Ham Hill Hillfort
2 Llanymynech Hillfort
3 Borough Hill
4 Oldbury Castle
5 Maiden Castle
6 Countisbury Castle
7 Walbury Camp
8 Brusseltown Ring
9 Titterstone Clee Camp
10 Penycloddiau
11 Hod Hill
12 Tap O'Noth
13 Ballylin Hillfort,
14 Cissbury Ring
~
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[@deancarter9210]

Fascinating, had often wondered about this, and now seeing that you include the plateau section, which usually unfrequented and by most visitors not even thought of as part of the site , it makes sense. The hill's proper name is Hamdon, and the village that nestles under it, thus, Stoke-sub-Hamdon. The lost Medieval village below the SE flank is given on O/S maps as 'Witcombe', a plague village, I believe. Thanks you for posting!

[@astronomusedallas2152]

OMG. Fabulous. The footage, the voice, the music, the pacing, the history- ALL is well done.

[@DronescapingBritain]

Nice one thank you very much for your kind feedback.

[@diamondseeds2107]

Very interesting, great graphics and audio! Love your style!

[@steveandrews7515]

really loved the film and the use of the original soundtrack, ignore the naysayers Well done🤠

[@DronescapingBritain]

Thank you for your feedback and encouragement.

[@Paul-tp9vf]

Llanymynech in Shropshire, at 57 hectares,is also larger than Maiden Castle, and a possible contender for the site of Caratacus' last stand.

[@DronescapingBritain]

Shame half of it is quarried away!

[@Paul-tp9vf]

@@DronescapingBritain Not if you're a rock climber. 👍

[@davemcintoshyt277]

Very interesting. Nice footage 👍

[@steveandrews7515]

Thank you!

[@runningin533]

Cheers Steve great video mate! I learn more about Britain's history than I ever did when I lived there. Beautiful location with very interesting history ,well done to you and the crew! 🙂🙃🙏

[@garybrindle6715]

A creative use of modern tech to display very old tech...my thanks.

[@citizencairn5230]

Thanks for this... as someone who's spent the past 30 years visiting prehistoric monuments across the UK I have to say the aerial view is invaluable for grasping scale - I'm indebted to the work of Toby Driver and friends assisting with an ongoing deep dive into Mid Wales, so more inspiration please. As for the soundtrack, there are of course those who prefer a bland "incredibly irritating and pointless" - to quote one of your, shall we say, somewhat 'limited' detractors? - 'new agey muzak' to soothe them. Whatever.

[@mikec8765]

I'm fortunate to live in its shadow! by this evidence it certainly looks the biggest! Great video thank you very much.

[@DronescapingBritain]

Thanks kindly for your feedback

[@bonzey1171]

Not my preferred side of the Severn, but interesting none the less. Cheers Steve and co. Hope you enjoyed your time filming in Lloegyr

[@DronescapingBritain]

Made for a change of scenery for a few days, was lucky with the weather as well!

[@stephenmudiecastles.2938]

My interest is castles and you have added a new one for me to visit, Montacute motte and bailey which you can see in your video.

[@DronescapingBritain]

Yes Montacute. I have some footage ready for a future video. At the time of filming I didn't realize how dramatic this M&B Castle looked on the Lidar. I got some lovely footage flying around it though. Thanks for your comment.

[@rtk3543]

Fascinating subject though presentation style not for me, but good content.

[@DronescapingBritain]

Thanks for the feedback, please feel free to watch some of my other 'instrumental' videos

[@alienfish8396]

I wonder where Credenhill in Herefordshire fares compared to Maiden Castle in area? I quite liked the music...

[@DronescapingBritain]

On our research that didn't feature, but I will have a look into it. Thanks for the feedback

[@FiveLiver]

Can't say I've heard of it before.

[@JohnEdmonds-qi2yv]

This site ( ham hill) deserves more respect and protect

[@DronescapingBritain]

Thanks , Yes it certainly does.

[@garrymartin6474]

Was it able to support enough people to defend it successfully ? That looks an awfully large perimeter

[@John-pp2jr]

Music is out of place. Terrible choice, just spoiled the video.

[@DronescapingBritain]

Thank you for your feedback it is very important to us. We are sorry you didn’t get on with the audio, to explain, the music wasn’t chosen, but composed directly to the film by our in-house team. All our videos are Art and Dronecaped Production pieces, that is, we plan, film, edit, research and compose and produce the sound directly to the footage. We are trailing new audio formula so it’s not going to conform to the regular production expectations, so not everyone will ‘get it’ at first. We have had other criticism about the soundtrack but we have also had people say they love our new style. so from our point of view, our work is attempting historical, informative and experiential art and soundscapes that hopefully stretch the boundaries of the normal production format. Thank you again, perhaps you could view some of our other films on the channel for a better understanding,

[@grandaddyoe1434]

@@DronescapingBritain Good info, but skip the ego trip with weird 'music' please.

[@DronescapingBritain]

@@grandaddyoe1434 My good man, if ego has anything to do with it, it is in the wholistic expression that all artists use to convey their work, for without 'ego' there would be no art!. No one made you watch this video. It was your choice alone. All artists primarily make art for themselves initially , the fact that sometimes others appreciate , is secondary. For your interest, many people do like our pioneering approach to revealing historical landscape art in context with sound. Not all people like Picasso, but millions do.

[@grandaddyoe1434]

@@DronescapingBritain Just as well there's a mute button, n'est-ce pas ?

[@DronescapingBritain]

@@grandaddyoe1434 Yes you could and turn on the subtitles, that's your choice. You still get the story.

[@johnbruce2868]

I do have other thoughts. I think my thoughts were disrupted by the intrusive, irritating, background noises. A pity. The subject was interesting. I'm not entirely convinced that the structures are even comparable as hill forts. I know it's designated as such, but is Ham Hill only a hill fort or is it more of an enclosure around a summit? Possibly a hybrid attempt at a combination of both? It is distinctly angular in construction and very different from Maiden Castle, Badbury Rings, British Camp, Caer Drewyn and thousands of others across the UK. Is it related to neolithic causewayed enclosures that were not necessarily settlement sites? The large size and irregular shape of the enclosed area, the length of bank and ditch, make it a difficult position to defend. It doesn't match standard compact Iron Age military architectural conventions. A fuller description of any differences of bank and ditch between the sites, plus details of any archaeological evidence within the sites would have been helpful. Aside from the comment clarifying the nature of the stone circle, descriptions of other contemporary features are irrelevant to the objective of the video.

[@DronescapingBritain]

Thank you your feedback. Just to explain. We are artists and like to challenge preconceptions, the soundtrack this video is using a formula that is new in the sound design trade. Its bound to upset some I am afraid as anything distinctly new would. We shall take onboard your points however. Nearly every 'Hillfort' is unique in itself, in fact so unique, that trying to judge one against another could be seen as futile. Since we researched and posted this up (we wanted to open the debate instead of being 'told' continually by the mainstream media and Social Media lazy journalism that Maiden Castle is the largest Hillfort). In fact it is highly possible that 'Ham Hill' might be an 'Opidium rather than a Hillfort par se. An Opidium is an administrative regional capitol. However I didn't see any evidence for this. But in any consideration the 'Hillfort go to' to check on such 'Hillfort' matters , The Hillfort Atlas has all fortified Bronze and Iron Age settlements listed under the 'Hillfort' context. Also one other thing, this video was never meant as a straight down the line academic archaeological look, that would be someone way more academic than myself, I am not an archaeologist but I am what you might call a citizen antiquarian who hopefully makes content with archaeological, historical and artistic context, to bring to light historical and beautiful landscapes that otherwise would be missed by folk.

[@WildwoodTV]

Old Oswestry is 62 acres

[@heraldbard]

Annoying soundtrack

[@DronescapingBritain]

Thank you your feedback. Sorry you found the soundtrack 'annoying' Just to explain. We are artists and like to challenge preconceptions, the soundtrack this video is using a formula that is new in the sound design trade. Its bound to upset some I am afraid as anything distinctly new would. We shall take onboard your points however.

[@gobstoppa1633]

ancient news,

[@66kbm]

Ham Hill

[@Flumstead]

Not sure why the need to discredit Maiden Castle ????

[@DronescapingBritain]

We love Maiden Castle! We are not trying to discredit it. We are providing a argument to counter the constant bombardment of inaccurate disinformation by lazy journalists on Social and mainstream media articles and posts.

[@paulbriody297]

Not visible.

[@DronescapingBritain]

You are right that with the vegetation Ham Hill is difficult to define. That's why we included Lidar imaging.