Maiden Castle: Great Britain's LARGEST Iron Age Hill Fortification

Maiden Castle is not only Great Britain's largest hill fort, it may be the largest in all of Europe. It evolved from a smaller bronze age hillfort built around 4000 BCE, into a gargantuan earthwork during the iron age, with multiple ramparts and ditches. The newer hill fort was constructed around 600 BCE and expanded two-fold around 400 BCE. It now encompasses 47 acres of land. It once housed numerous densely packed roundhouses, inhabited by the Celtic Durotriges tribe, until at least the Roman invasion of 43 CE, where it eventually fell to Roman control. It continued to be inhabited, though was mostly used as farmland until abandoned entirely by the 6th century. The ramparts and ditches were defensive measures and gates would have been installed to control entry into the fort. It's likely that palisades lined the top of the ramparts.

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