Hill fort
The term
hill fort is commonly used by
archaeologists to describe fortified enclosures located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. This fortification consists of one or more circular or sub-circular earth or stone
ramparts, often with external ditches, following the contours of the hill.
Beyond this definition the variation in types and periods is wide. Some were also settlements whilst others appear only to have been occupied seasonally or in times of strife. Further, many so-called 'hill forts', after careful archaeological
excavation, have been discovered to have been used not for military purposes but to pen in cattle, horses or other domesticated animals.
Hill forts are especially common across Europe. In Central Europe, hill-forts start with the late
Neolithic but are especially common in the
Bronze Age Urnfield culture and in the
Hallstatt culture of the early
Iron Age, and were being built until the
Roman conquest in many areas.
Julius Caesar described the large late
Iron Age hill forts he encountered during his campaigns as
oppida. By this time the larger ones had become more like cities than fortresses and many were assimilated as Roman towns.
In
Scandinavia,
hill forts are fortifications from the
Iron Age which may have had several functions. They are usually located on the crests of hills and mountains making use of precipices and
marshes which worked as natural defenses. The crests' more accessible parts were defended with walls of stone and outer walls in the slopes beneath are common. Round and closed, so called,
ring forts are common even on flat ground. The walls often have remaining parts of stone, which were probably the support of pales. They often have well delineated gateways, the gates of which were probably of wood. Hill forts with strong walls are often located beside old
trading routes and have an offensive character, whereas others are reclusive and were weakly fortified, probably only for hiding during raids.
Many forts, located centrally in densely populated areas, were permanently settled strongholds and can show traces of settlements both inside and outside. Older place names containing the element
sten/
stein were usually hill forts.
In
Sweden, there are 1100 known hill forts with a strong concentration on the northern west coast and in eastern
Svealand. Only in
Södermanland, there are 300, in
Uppland 150,
Östergötland 130 and
Bohuslän and
Gotland 90-100 each.
In
Gotland,
ring forts can be from the
Pre-Roman Iron Age, but findings from the period
200 AD-
600 AD dominate. Many were still in use during the
Middle Ages. For a unique fort, see
Tingstäde Träsk.
Hill forts in
Britain are known from the
Bronze Age, but were a most prominent feature of the
Iron Age. They were apparently used for habitation or as fortified encampments during the middle to late
Iron Age, before the
Roman Conquest, and then again following the end of
Roman Britain, for a period of several decades into the
Anglo-Saxon period. There is however, strong debate among modern archaeologists about their exact nature & use. In Britain the great age of hill fort construction was between 200 BC and the Roman conquest in AD
43. Where Roman influence was less strong (for example, in uninvaded
Ireland and unsubdued northern
Scotland) hill forts were still built and used for several more centuries. Some hill forts were reoccupied by the
Anglo-Saxons prior to and during the
Viking invasions.
Well known French hillforts include
Bibracte (Mont Beuvray) and Mont St.
Odile (Mur Païen). The
Gaulish hero
Vercingetorix was famously besieged by
Julius Caesar in the hill fort of
Alesia.
Hill forts were used mainly in
Lithuanian Duke's wars for power and against invasion of
German orders. They are called
piliakalnis.
The
Māori people built hill forts, mostly in the country's
North Island, during the Classic period (AD 1350-1800). Known as
pa, the fortresses were sometimes sited atop extinct volcanoes and consisted of a settlement, sometimes even with cultivation plots, surrounded by ditches and banks. Wooden
palisade fences ran atop the banks along with raised fighting platforms. During the
Māori Wars, the design was gradually modified, with more below ground
entrenchments, thick earthern
ramparts and
camouflage, to successfully resist British
artillery, for example at
Gate Pa in
1864.
India has a large number of hill forts, especially in the state of
Maharashtra and
Rajasthan.
Maratha rulers like
Chatrapati Shivaji formed a very complex and robust defense mechanism using hill forts against raids from
Mughul rulers. The
Maratha king
Chatrapati Shivaji is credited to building and maintaining numerous hill forts in western
Maharashtra. Hill forts like Lohgad, Raigad, Rajgad, Torna, Panhala, Sinhagad are examples of architectural wonders.
*
Alfred's Castle,
Berkshire*
Badbury Hill,
Oxfordshire*
Barbury Castle,
Wiltshire*
Borough Hill,
Northamptonshire*
Cadbury Castle,
Somerset*
Castle Hill, Oxfordshire
*
Castle Ring,
Staffordshire*
Cherbury Camp, Oxfordshire
*
Cleeve Hill,
Gloucestershire*
Danebury,
Hampshire*
Dinas Emrys,
Gwynedd*
Eildon hill,
Scottish Borders*
Folly Hill, Faringdon, Oxfordshire
*
Ham Hill, Somerset
*
Hardwell Castle, Oxfordshire
*
Herefordshire Beacon (British Camp)
Malvern Hills,
Herefordshire*
Heuneburg,
Germany*
Kernavė,
Lithuania*
Liddington Castle, Wiltshire
*
Maiden Castle, Cheshire*
Maiden Castle, Dorset*
Mam Tor,
Derbyshire*
Mount Wellington, Auckland,
New Zealand*
Old Oswestry,
Shropshire*
Old Sarum,
Wiltshire*
Poundbury Hill, Dorset
*
Segsbury Camp, Oxfordshire
*
Traprain Law,
East Lothian*
Uffington Castle, Oxfordshire
*
Uley Bury, Gloucestershire
*
Wandlebury,
Cambridgeshire*
The Wrekin, Shropshire
*
Wincobank,
Sheffield,
Yorkshire*
Wychbury Hill,
Worcestershire
