Hillfort Heritage Revealed

Hillforts - Prehistoric strongholds of Northumberland National Park A new book launched on the 15th of May 2007 by English Heritage is an eye-opening new investigation of hillforts, the iconic prehistoric monuments that form an integral part of the unique landscape of Northumberland National Park. The book presents key discoveries from nearly a decade of research, conservation, and interpretation focussing on the fascinating and extraordinarily well-preserved Iron Age hillforts that punctuate Northumberland’s landscape.
 
The meaning and purpose of these enigmatic monuments, dating to around 300 BC, have intrigued people for centuries, most concluding that they served as fortified settlements. What did they look like when they were first built?  What was life like for their inhabitants? When and why were they abandoned? These questions and more are posed and explored in this new title.
 
Hillforts – Prehistoric strongholds of Northumberland National Park explores the results of a series of detailed and extensive landscape surveys carried out by English Heritage as part of the National Park Authority’s Discovering our Hillforts Heritage project. The ambitious project, launched in 1998 has seen an unprecedented multidisciplinary barrage of research into hillforts and their settings. Though the project has combined the precision of the microscope with the broad brush of aerial photography, it has revolved around a suite of surveys by keen-eyed archaeologists who specialise in the analysis of every dent and ripple on the surface of the ground. 
 
The new research reveals:

• many hillforts, long thought to be military fortifications, were built by farming families to show off to neighbouring communities;
• the defences of many hillforts were remodelled by every generation, ensuring they remained smart and ‘fashionable’;
• Iron Age ‘territories’ can still be identified in the landscape by tracing the extent of the land farmed by each community, and
• people returned to the long-abandoned ruins of hillforts in the Roman period and built new settlements as an act of homage to their distant ancestors. 

Professor Barry Cunliffe, Commissioner for English Heritage and Professor of European Prehistory in the University of Oxford, said:  “The landscape of Northumberland National Park is truly one of the most remarkable in Europe and reveals over 10,000 years of activity. This project has undoubtedly improved our understanding of the National Park’s precious heritage. This is enabling the National Park Authority to communicate the land’s rich past to people, for example, through the creation of heritage trails.  I hope that this new English Heritage book will support the efforts of the National park Authority, that it will be a highly informative and accessible guide for those who cherish this unique landscape – primarily walkers and visitors to the National Park, but also the local people who still inhabit and use this land. “
 
The great period of hillfort construction in this country was during the Iron Age (750 BC – AD 50), but in most of Britain the all but the most massive remains have been erased by two millennia of activity. By contrast, the landscape of Northumberland National Park has escaped the worst ravages of modern development and agriculture, so that all kinds of ancient remains – some even earlier than hillforts – are visible as unremarkable humps and bumps on the surface. With the Countryside Rights of Way Act making the uplands of the National Park now accessible to walkers, this new guide allows even the untrained eye to discover and analyse the traces of prehistoric, and later, activity throughout the park. However, the new study does nothing to diminish the sense of mystery and intrigue that continues to surround hillforts. Instead, it presents the fascinating evidence gained over years of dedicated research which allows the reader to improve their understanding of the historic landscape of the National Park but to ultimately reach their own conclusions about this unique heritage.

Stewart Ainsworth, co-author of the book and ‘Landscape Archaeologist’ with Channel 4’s popular archaeological series Time Team, said “I began my career in archaeology in Northumberland National Park more than 30 years ago. It’s been thrilling to return here over the course of the last 9 years and really get to grips with what hillforts mean through all the traces preserved on the surface. This book is not particularly about excavation or scientific analysis – it is about normal people using their eyes and their brains to identify and analyse traces of past activity that are visible to us all. We don’t pretend that we have all the answers in this book but we want to encourage everyone to discover this beautiful landscape and do some detective work for themselves.”
 
Speaking at the book launch, Tony Gates, Chief Executive of Northumberland National Park Authority said: “This book is a tremendous asset to the living landscape of the National Park. It will enrich the understanding and thus the enjoyment of those who are fortunate enough to enjoy this unique element of the heritage of Northumberland National Park. The “Discovering our Hillfort Heritage “ project has greatly enhanced our knowledge and has built a tremendous foundation upon which we can now move forward to engage both visitors and local communities in the care and protection of our cultural heritage for future generations.

Hillforts – Prehistoric strongholds of Northumberland National Park can be ordered from the English Heritage Online Bookshop.