Maiden Castle

Among the largest and most complex of Iron Age hillforts in Europe, Maiden Castle’s huge multiple ramparts enclose an area equivalent to 50 football pitches, protecting several hundred residents. Excavations in the 1930s and 1980s revealed the site's 4,000-year history, reaching its apogee at a time of inter-tribal rivalry in the 2nd century BC. They also produced evidence of an extensive late Iron Age cemetery. Many of the burials had suffered horrific injuries in attacks or skirmishes, perhaps at the time of the Roman invasion.

NEW for 2008, information panels guide you around the hillfort and illustrate its long history.