Iron Age Life Inside the Hillfort

A cluster of roundhouses in the interior of the hillfort, shown in the early Iron Age. Drawing by Miranda Schofield.The nature of the occupation of the hillfort changed considerably as the Iron Age progressed.

At first, the fort was home to a small, self-sufficient community, but in the following 400 years, Maiden Castle became the pre-eminent settlement in southern Dorset.

Excavations have discovered early Iron Age post-holes in square arrangements within the hillfort. These are thought to have been above-ground stores, used for keeping grain produced in the surrounding fields, perhaps to sustain the workforce occupied in building the huge ramparts.

At the height of its occupation, the fort was densely populated and there were many roundhouses. These had central hearths, large pits for storing grain and were often circled by drainage gullies. Various finds from the site show that activities such as textile production and metalworking were taking place here.

Later, in the middle Iron Age, the houses were re-organised into rows. Drawing by Miranda Schofield.  In the middle Iron Age, the layout of the interior of the hillfort was reorganised. Once randomly arranged houses were now built in regimented rows, with traffic guided along roads. This reorganisation suggests some control existed over social life within the fort.

Later in the late Iron Age, this organised system broke down, and the focus of the settlement became once again, the eastern end of the hillfort. At this time, there was increasing trade with the continent, and specialised industries such as metalworking were becoming very important at the site.

With the arrival of the Romans and their establishment of the nearby town of Dorchester, the hillfort was finally abandoned.