Maiden Castle: An Iron Age hill fort

Maiden Castle is one of the largest Iron Age hill forts in Britain. It is in Dorset in the south of England. Experts think it was built almost 3,000 years ago.

Created in partnership with English Heritage

Why did people build Maiden Castle?

• The fort is on top of a large hill which is 914 metres long. That's about as long as 10 football pitches.
• In the Iron Age, hundreds of people lived there.
• They built the fort to protect themselves. They could see attackers better from high up.

Neolithic (early Stone Age) people made circular ditches in the land. They used the space in the middle to hold feasts and make flint axes.

The Iron Age people built the hill fort on top of the earlier Neolithic ditches. They made the entrances more complicated so it was harder to get into the hill fort. This also made the hill fort look impressive to other people.

People lived in roundhouses in Maiden Castle. These had thatched roofs. Inside each roundhouse, there was a hearth in the centre where people could light fires. They also had large pits for storing grain. Later on roadways were built in between houses.

• Most of the bank and ditches that you can see today were made in the 1st century BC, over 2000 years ago.
• Over 20,000 sling stones have been found near an entrance.
• People stored them in large pits ready to be thrown at attackers.
• Most of the pottery used by people at Maiden Castle was made near Poole Harbour on the south coast, which is more than 56 km (35 miles) away.
• This could mean that people bought and sold things outside of their local area.