Maiden Castle, Dorset

Maiden Castle itself was built in about 600 BC; the early phase was a simple and unremarkable site, similar to many other hill forts in Britain and covering 6.4 ha (16 acres).

[3] Further excavations were carried out under Niall Sharples, which added to an understanding of the site and repaired damage caused in part by the large number of visitors.

[6] Archaeologist Niall Sharples, who was involved in excavating the hill fort in the 1980s, has identified the hilltop views of the surrounding landscape as a likely factor for the enclosure's position.

[4] Situated on the side of the hill, it would have been visible from several miles away, and when first cut the ditches would have exposed the underlying white chalk and stood out against the green hillside.

[11] Around 1,800 BC, during the early Bronze Age, the hill was cleared and used to grow crops, but the soil was quickly exhausted and the site abandoned.

It has been argued that they could have been defensive sites constructed in response to invasion from continental Europe, built by invaders, or a military reaction to social tensions caused by an increasing population and resulting pressure on agriculture.

[17] This is supported by Cunliffe, who argues that the elaborate earthworks such as those around the entrances to Maiden Castle and Danebury were used to defend the weakest part of the hill fort.

[18][19] Constructed on a territorial boundary in about 600 BC, the first hill fort at Maiden Castle was a 6.4 ha (16-acre) area surrounded by a single ditch.

However, nearby Poundbury and Chalbury date to the same period, so through comparison it is possible to infer the Early Iron Age activity at Maiden Castle.

[25] Not much is known about the material culture and economy of the Early Iron Age, and the paucity of finds from this period at Maiden Castle makes it difficult to draw conclusions about activity on the site.

[26] In the Early Iron Age, Maiden Castle was generally unexceptional; it was one of over 100 hill forts of similar size built around the same time in the area that is now Berkshire, Dorset, Hampshire, and Wiltshire.

Their purpose on this site is uncertain however, since at 2 m (6.6 ft) square they have been considered by archaeologists to be too small for dwellings; as a result, it has been concluded that these structures were probably granaries.

The later houses appear to be organised in rows, and to be roughly similar in size, a reorganisation which indicates the increasing power of the elites over Iron Age society.

[53] Such change is not as obvious in Dorset as it is in the rest of Britain, but there is a trend for abandonment of hill forts in the area and a proliferation of small undefended farmsteads, indicating a migration of the population.

The amount of ore required could not have been supplied by local sources, so most likely originated from areas of specialist iron production such as the Weald, south west England, and Wales.

One area of the cemetery featured burials of 14 people who had died in violent circumstances,[57] including one body with a Roman catapult bolt in its back.

[59] Based on the discovery of a group of bodies in the Late Iron Age formal cemetery that had met a violent death, archaeologist Mortimer Wheeler created a vivid story of the fall of Maiden Castle to Roman forces.

However, there is little archaeological evidence to support this version of events, or even that the hill fort was attacked by the Romans, Wheeler's interpretation of a siege and subsequent massacre being unlikely.

This was a characteristic of Vespasian's campaign in the region; there was military occupation at Cadbury Castle in Somerset, Hembury in Devon, and Hod Hill in Dorset.

Maiden Castle had been abandoned by the end of the 1st century, a time when Durnovaria (Dorchester) rose to prominence as the civitas, or regional capital, of the Durotriges, a Celtic tribe whose territory was in southwest England.

[64] However, in July 2015 archaeologists from Bournemouth University discovered the remains of the Iron Age settlement of Duropolis and believe that the abandonment of the fort may be connected with the new site.

There is evidence for activity on the site in the form of a few post-Roman or Anglo Saxon burials, some possibly Christian, but the hill fort was not reused as a settlement.

[70] The only other significant activity on the hill top after the Romans was a short period of cultivation in the 17th century, as demonstrated by traces of ridge and furrow caused by ploughing.

[71] The modern name for the hill fort is first recorded in 1607 as Mayden Castell; it is not unique to the site and occurs in several other places in Britain and is widely taken to mean a "fortification that looks impregnable" or one that has never been taken in battle.

Thomas Hardy, who built his house within sight of it,[74] described the castle in a short story, "Ancient Earthworks and What Two Enthusiastic Scientists Found Therein" (1885) about a local antiquarian who spent much time investigating the site.

[84] Between 1985 and 1986 further excavations under Niall Sharples were prompted by the hill fort's deteriorating condition, partly caused by the large number of visitors to the site.

[87] The structure was made a Scheduled Monument in 1981, giving Maiden Castle protection against unauthorised change;[1][88] it is now maintained by English Heritage.

[1] English poet and novelist Thomas Hardy (1840–1928) wrote in his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge (1886), about the affair between Donald Farfrae and the novel's heroine, Elizabeth-Jane, at the hillfort whilst, in the 1967 movie version of Hardy's 1874 novel Far From the Madding Crowd, the ramparts memorably formed the place where the dashing Sergeant Francis "Frank" Troy (played by Terence Stamp) displayed his swordsmanship to Bathsheba Everdene (played by Julie Christie).

Hardy's short story from 1893 'A Tryst at an Ancient Earthwork' is centred upon an illicit night time excavation within the Roman temple of Maiden Castle.

In 1921, the English composer John Ireland (1879–1962) wrote the tone poem Mai-Dun, A Symphonic Rhapsody about the place, adopting Hardy's name for it.

3D view of the digital terrain model
Maiden Castle 3D model video
Maiden Castle from the north
The white line across the hill fort where the ramparts deviate inwards marks the extent of the early fort. Photograph taken in 1935 by Major George Allen (1891–1940).
Maiden Castle LIDAR topography
Maiden Castle's southern defences were made up of four ramparts and three ditches .
The ramparts and ditches of the developed hill fort
Site of the Roman temple at Maiden Castle
Excavations at Maiden Castle in October 1937. Photograph by Major George Allen (1891–1940).