Hill Fort - Types of Hill Fort

Types of Hill Fort

Beyond the simple definition of hill fort, there is a wide variation in types and periods from the Bronze Age to the Middle Ages. Here are some considerations of general appearance and topology, which can be assessed without archaeological excavation:

• Location
  • Hilltop Contour: the classic hill fort; an inland location with a hilltop defensive position surrounded by artificial ramparts or steep natural slopes. Examples: Brent Knoll, Mount Ipf.
  • Inland Promontory: an inland defensive position on a ridge or spur with steep slopes on 2 or 3 sides, and artificial ramparts on the level approaches. Example: Lambert's Castle.
  • Interfluvial: a promontory above the confluence of two rivers, or in the bend of a meander. Example: Kelheim.
  • Lowland: an inland location without special defensive advantages (except perhaps marshes), but surrounded by artificial ramparts; typical of later settled oppida. Examples: Maiden Castle, Stonea Camp.
  • Sea Cliff: a semi-circular crescent of ramparts backing on to a straight sea cliff; common on rocky Atlantic coasts, such as Ireland. Examples: Daw's Castle, Dinas Dinlle, Dún Aengus.
  • Sea Promontory: a linear earthwork across a narrow neck of land leading to a peninsula with steep cliffs to the sea on three sides; common on indented Atlantic coasts, such as Ireland, Cornwall, Brittany and west Wales. Examples: The Rumps, Huelgoat.
  • Sloping Enclosure: smaller earthwork on gently sloping hillsides; not significant defensive position. Examples: Goosehill Camp, Plainsfield Camp, Trendle Ring.
• Area
  • > 20 ha: very large enclosures, too diffuse to defend, probably used for domesticated animals. Examples: Miholjanec.
  • 1–20 ha: defended areas large enough to support permanent tribal settlement. Examples: Scratchbury Camp
  • < 1 ha: small enclosures, more likely to be individual farmsteads or animal pens.
• Ramparts, walls and ditches
  • Univallate: a single circuit of ramparts for enclosure and defence. Example: Solsbury Hill.
  • Multivallate: more than one layer of defensive earthworks, outer works might not be complete circuits, but defend the weakest approaches; typically the inner circuit is original, with outer circuits added later. Example: Cadbury Castle.
• Entrances
  • Simple opening: might indicate an enclosure, rather than a defended position; sometimes the main ramparts may turn inward or outward, and be widened and heightened to control the entrance. Example: Dowsborough.
  • Linear holloway: straight parallel pair of ramparts dominating the entrance; projecting either inward, outward, or occasionally overlapped along the main rampart. Example: Norton Camp.
  • Complex: multiple overlapping outer works; staggered or interleaved multivallate ramparts; zig-zag entrance way, sling platforms and well planned lines of fire. Examples: Maiden Castle.

Some forts were also settlements, while others were only occupied seasonally, or in times of strife. Archaeological excavation reveals more about the dates of occupation and modes of use. Typical features for excavation include:

• Ramparts and ditches
  • Original depths and profiles of ditches.
  • Rampart construction: murus gallicus, pfostenschlitzmauer.
  • Guardhouses and defended entrances.
• Settlement and occupation
  • Raised platforms, roundhouses, longhouses.
  • Post holes for rectangular granary huts.
  • Pits for food storage, souterrains, fogous.
  • Pottery
  • Coins, jewellery and hoards.
• Temples and peacetime burials
  • Platforms and temple foundations.
  • Graves and offerings
• Warfare
  • Weapons: sling-shot, shields, armour, swords, axes, spears, arrows.
  • Sieges and conquest: ballista bolts, ash layers, vitrified stones, burnt post holes.
  • Wartime burials: typically outside the ramparts:
    • Contemporary individual burials by local inhabitants.
    • Massed grave pits dug by a conquering army.