Maiden Castle, Dorset
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Maiden
Castle is not a castle in the pointy-tower Disney sense.
It contains no battlements, stone walls, dungeons, dragons or
keep. It looks like a large, curiously flat hill at a distance
and - at 45 acres - is the largest hill-fort in Britain.
These
hill-forts were an Iron Age development around 500 BC
and there are hundreds in Britain, especially in the south of
the country. Some - like Maiden Castle - were established over
previous Neolithic settlements that had occupied the area for
several thousand years. Excavations at the eastern end of Maiden
have revealed 20 acres of Neolithic defensive works dated from
about 3,000BC.
The
aerial graphic on English Heritage's signboard [see above] shows
how the concentric rings protected a powerful Celtic tribal
settlement of the Durotriges who controlled the territory now
partly known as Dorset.
Maiden Castle would have been the home of the Durotriges elite
and their dependants, while commoners lived in farms around
the hill.

Archaeological
evidence of Iron Age man indicates usage of this hill from 3,000BC,
but Maiden Castle only became a serious fortification in 500BC,
expanding until the hilltop was fully occupied around 250BC.
Dorchester
photos
Although
a potent defence against warring Iron Age tribes, Maiden Castle
did not survive long against the sophisticated weaponry [catapults,
leather armour, helmets etc.], training and tactics of a Roman
Army under Vespasian. The Romans took control of the hill in
43AD in spite of defenders slinging a storm of 40,000 stones
[brought up by the Durotriges from Chesil Beach] at them.
The
Romans
appear to have treated the vanquished Celts with honour. A mass
grave of defenders was found in 1937, all laid to rest with
wine and meat to take on their last and greatest journey.
The remaining Durotrige tribespeople were moved to a new town,
Durnovaria [now Dorchester, just visible in the picture, top
left].
Maiden
Hill is a favourite exercise point for locals and is about 20
minutes walk or 5 minutes drive from Dorchester.

Dorchester
photos
Maiden
Castle
covers about 45 acres, surrounded by a couple of miles of 6m
[20ft] earth/chalk walls. The origin of the name was from the
Celtic language, 'Mai Dun' meaning 'Great Hill' or possibly
'Principle Fort.'
The site is maintained by the English Heritage organisation
and is open all day, every day. The only on-site impediment
is barbed wire fencing to prevent muppets from tumbling down
slopes and damaging a few thousand years of hard labour.
Dorchester's
Dorset County Museum
displays artefacts found on Maiden Hill such as flint tools
and bronze age pottery, as well as the bodies of Durotrige warriors
killed by the Romans. Also visit the Cerne
Giant 8 miles [13kms] on the other side of Dorchester.
Maiden
Castle is in Dorset [on the south coast], England. It is one
mile from Dorchester,
off the A354 and there is a free car park adjacent; it never
closes and entry is free.
The
Cerne Giant is a famously
rampant, naked 60 metre man carved into the chalk hills about
9 miles from Maiden castle.
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Pictures © Julian Loader