by Carol Larsson

Created on: February 04, 2010   Last Updated: February 05, 2010

Maiden Castle is in the county of Dorset, which is on the south coast of England.  It is about two miles to the south of Dorchester town center.  It is open all year round, every day of the week with no admission charge and there is a large free car park at the site.
     
If you go to Maiden Castle expecting to see a castle you will be very disappointed. But if you know you are going to see an Iron Age hill fort, you will be impressed, because what you will see is probably the largest and the most complex Iron Age hill fort in Europe. The Iron age is the period of British history from approximately 800 BC, until the Roman conquest of Britain in 43AD.

A hill fort is a fortified settlement or refuge built with stockades, earthworks and ditches.

Although the hill fort at Maiden Castle dates from the Iron Age approximately three thousand years ago, there are signs of use and possible occupation from the early Neolithic period two thousand years before that.

The size is breathtaking as it covers 45 acres and even after 2000 years of erosion (it was abandoned at the time of the Roman occupation) the enormous ramparts, which were dug by hand rise in places to a height of 20 feet (6metres). The earth ramparts are in concentric rings, which would originally have had a wooden palisade on the top and large wooden gates guarding the complex entrances.

At first, the fort was home to a small community. But over the years, it became densely populated probably with as many as 200 families, with many roundhouses and large storage pits for grain. Evidence has been found there for textile and metalworking.

 Maiden Castle has entrances at both the eastern and western end of the fort. Sir Mortimer Wheeler the archaeologist excavated the eastern entrance in the 1930s. He found stone platforms from where the entrance could have been guarded and if necessary defended. He also found Over 20,000 sling stones from Chesil Beach 11miles away on the south coast. The stones were Stored in pits ready to defend the entrance by either throwing or slinging.

The archaeologist Sir Mortimer Wheeler (1890-1976),  believed Maiden Castle had been attacked by the Romans following their invasion of 43AD. The second legion Augusta, commanded by Vespasian who was known to have led a campaign though this part of Southern England.

Even today standing on top of one of the large steep banks looking down it is easy to imagine the Roman legions advancing. However, in the last seventy years, ideas have changed and despite several of the male skeletons found in the late Iron Age cemetery within the fort, having horrific injuries there is no other real evidence of a battle taking place.
 
In the late 4th century, nearly two hundred years after the hill fort had been abandoned a small Romano-British temple was built. When excavated by archaeologists many objects were found including hundreds of coins and several statues, some had been imports from the Mediterranean. These were offerings to the deity to whom the temple was dedicated. This goddess was probably Minerva as a bronze plaque depicting her was found on the site. Minerva was the Roman goddess of arts, crafts and war. Now all you can see of the temple are the stone foundations in the grass.

I think a trip to see Maiden castle is well worth your time even if you are not interested in history, the walk to the top is well worth it for the wonderful views of the Dorset countryside alone. But I don't believe any one could visit this site and not be impressed by the people that once built and lived in this place.

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