As a teenager I was part of an Archeological dig on Hod Hill when the theory of it being attacked , and ballistae fired at the Chieftain's Hut was prevalent. We helped identify the position of the likely Celtic gateposts. Celtic jewellery was well known , as was the the fact that Celtic chariots were cleverly designed and the wheels were spoked ( unlike those on our Airfix models) . Our identification was dismissed on the grounds that the Celts couldn't have made something as complex as a gate and a locking bar , because "their society wasn't that well developed!" Ho hum . I'm glad things have moved on a bit in the last 50 years .😊
@@pwhitewick My abiding memory of Hod Hill is the longest cross-country run we ever did from school including 2 extra laps of the ramparts at the top for added pain! 😱 Going down to Poole at the weekend, so that's an idea for a Bank holiday Sunday walk! Or perhaps walk the line of the Roman Road heading up from Badbury Rings.
Man that's bonkers, it's pretty amusing to see some of the mental gymnastics so called scholars play on occasion. I mean even if their assertions were true, they have equally ruled out the gigantic amount of trade in every good imaginable that made it's way north and south everyday. So to posit that a gate of it's type would be completely alien to their culture is the apex of hubris lmao.
You will *always* run into that attitude from academia and 'professional' archaeologists. Because the both fields are dominated by people who are extremely arrogant, corrupt, and greedy. They never outgrew being the high school bully.
Yes, I was just thinking how much your videos have come on in terms of structure telling the story of your walking etc as well as the pure history of the monuments
What always amazes me is the amount of effort and organisation needed to build just one hillfort and here in Dorset there are 20 (according to Wikipedia) and over 1000 in England. They can't be built quickly in time of war, so were presumably gradually built and improved over generations using the tools they had in the Iron Age and Bronze Age.
Yes, it is amazing how much effort must have gone into building them. Especially when you consider the tools available were probably mostly pointy sticks and deer antlers. And I can't imagine they had a great deal of time and energy to spare.
Over and over we see from ancient history planning and construction involving many hundreds. I looked at the Jomon site on the north coast of Japan and viewed the massive tree bole tower of 2 floors. What else can this be but people protection from the sea. The site shows evidence of early trade plainly indicative of a remanent of fallen civilization struggling to revive.
@AndyBrice wait did they build the mound itself? I thought they just found a mound and used it and enhanced it? Is the whole thing put there by man? I've seen things like that which the active Americans did ...amazing! I honestly had no idea they didn't just find a hill and build their Fort on it!
Just a thought: What about the notion that Britain was mostly ancient woodland at the time these forts were built? If so then what goes with woods - bears, lynx and wolves - were also still plentiful as were the various deer they hunted. Put all that together and it sems reasonable to me that old disused hillforts would have been exceptionally useful as ready made stock pens for cattle, horses and sheep, especially through the winter months when they might have made quite a tempting snack for a hungry pack of wolves.
I’ve always figured they were stock pens to prevent / hinder cattle hustling, if you think about them in the context of that in Ireland, the Scottish Borders and Wild West in the US.
Maybe. But I seem to remember reading a study a few years back that deforestation started much further back in time than you’d expect, in fact starting with the Neolithic hunter gatherers slashing and burning. So there would still have been more forests than there are in the 21st century (which isn’t saying much) but there would have been far more open land than you’d think.
@@greva2904 This is correct, a huge amount of the moorland in Britain (Great Britain has 10-15% of the world's moorland) is the result of Neolithic farmers clearing and then overgrazing (with sheep/goats) what was once temperature rainforests until they become barren, a great example of this is the 'Green Desert of Wales'.
One thing against them being substantial settlements would be a lack of water. Especially on the chalk hills. You're not gonna find water at the top of them, which would mean having to haul all your water up a hill.
Never heard of a spring? Chalk holds water, at a high level, generally - commonly freshwater springs are found in chalk landscapes so you don't have to go down far to tap into it to fill a well or just use the spring/stream water. So yes, you are going to find water at the top of - or at least, not far down - a chalk hill.
Glad I clicked on your vid! First one I see, 10/10 exactly what youtube should be about. Great shots, great storytelling, great enthousiasm in explaining. Thanks!
Thank you! I thought it might mean "town," like the German "burg." So "Hengistbury" would be Hengist's Fort? Hengist was a Saxon king, right? Edit: Just looked in Wikipedia; apparently there is no link between Hengist and the location, but speculated that there was. :)
@@TysoniusRex "Burg" also meant 'fort'. The suffixes "-burg" and "-bury" share the same etymological root "beorgan" which meant 'to preserve, protect, or defend".
@@TysoniusRex: In german there is a diffence between Höhenburg ( height castle) on hilltops, large rocks ( Felsen) or clifflike terrain, and Wasserburg ( water castles) , they are build in flat terrain, rivers, even small ones ( in german Bache), swamps, or lakes had been used as natural fortifications ( in my village no more existing Castle used also no more existing fish ponds as fortifications). The reason that many german/austrian/ swiss towns have -burg as ending, is that there was at first only a Burg and the farm of castle owner. For example fortress Marienburg is the Burg , which gave Würzburg its name. In my homeregion, german state Baden-Württemberg there are also some Celtic fortifications/ oppidi. In Wikipedia you can search for Ipf, Heuneburg or Heidengraben, If you are intressted in celtic fortifications.
What amazes me about these "Hill Forts" is how they were actually built and over what timescale using nothing but antlers and basic tools to do the digging, and basic baskets to move the earth. Having tried to dig an allotment in Andover, I know just how difficult it is one you get to any depth. Anothere grea video Paul, I love them.
As so often the case, throw people at a problem and it becomes more manageable. Which in turn raises interesting questions about how that many people could be mobilised, then fed and housed while construction work was in progress. Whether you'd have to get the whole tribe involved, or even co-operation between several tribes. How wide an area would you need to scour in order to get two or three thousand workers together, along with the toolmakers, cooks, overseers and everyone else needed? Says a lot about how integrated society was in pre-Roman Britain.
Thank you, Paul. I may be slow in discovering this gem (the world is big but my concentration is not), however, again you bring me to tears(good ones). You bring history to life... wind, mud, steep hills, brambles and probably smelly boots. My vicarious life is the richer for it. Sincerely appreciated.
@@pwhitewick Thank you for a prompt reply. I wasn't actually expecting that. What time is it in Britain? Go to bed! When I work out the currency exchange rate(OK, just googled that...one Aussie dollar is 45 cents British...Ouch!...not that the average Brit. isn't suffering). Send your 'Government' to the Penal Colonies...we can feed them to the bloody rabbits!
The people who study hillforts tend to have weird obsessions with either playing up or playing down the violence associated with them. I get that most of them probably weren't the sites of regular bloody battles, but it's also a bit odd to discount the defensive aspects to their design, as some seem to. Even the ones that don't show evidence of human habitation could have been used for protection. It's pretty clear that livestock were key to the Iron Age economy, and people would have sought to protect their wealth. The surviving Celtic tales we have often feature cattle raiding, e.g. the Irish epic the Tain Bo Cualinge. My guess is that some forts might have been defensible animal corrals, designed to protect herds from bandits or rival tribes whilst moving them around the countryside.
My guess is that a cattle raid would not leave much in the archaeological record, since the raiders would seize what they could and run away. However, if the Romans conducted a siege and took a fort by force, their rule was to kill every living thing: all men, women and children and also every animal. The Roman army had several different awards for those who took part in siege warfare.
@@faithlesshound5621 from what I understand of recent research, Maiden castle had been abandoned some one hundred years prior to the Roman conquest. Raiders in my opinion, and as you suggest, would be less likely to besiege a ‘hill fort’ than a fully equipped army. I don’t think many of the forts actually had much in the way of a fresh water supply to last an extended siege. I don’t know if there is evidence in the archaeological record of wells being sunk inside the boundaries of these enclosures.
@@diogenesegarden5152 Perhaps siege warfare wasn't a thing in prehistoric Britain, if the "warriors" were actually all farmers taking a day off to go cattle-raiding, rather than professional soldiers.
@@faithlesshound5621 There are some hillforts that show evidence of having been stormed, both before the Roman conquest period and during it. The Iron Age Britons definitely could be very violent to eachother sometimes, but so were the Romans.
I love that you grew up in the area, grounding a passion that flourished with deep roots, which books cannot grasp. thank you for sharing your gift of wonder and the joy of felt discovery
I remember visiting a hill fort in Scotland where the stones seemed glazed, as if there had been some sort of enormous fire which had melted the stone and fused them together. The whole thing was set on a hill top with steep sides, with two or three rings, as I recall, and would have made a significant fort for dominating an area. Anyway, that video was very interesting and informative - thank you!
I think you may have fallen asleep while watching House of the Dragon. Resulting in memory fog and a very understandable wish that these things really happened and someday more eggs will hatch.
Some of my beloved mother’s ashes are scattered up at Danebury Hillfort. . She stayed in nearby Longstock as a child where her grandparents lived and often went up to Danebury Fort. It was one of her special places. The rest of her ashes were sprinkled in a park in Perth Australia where every year she pushes up wildflowers. Just as she would have wanted. ❤ Love your videos Paul. They help keep me connected to my birth heritage ❤
Wow. Nice work. I always wondered about them. Some seemed to have so little occupation (houses) but yet were huge constructions and expenditures of time and effort. Makes sense. The first you discuss reminds me of David and Solomon's 'Chariot Cities'.
I don't know what to be more impressed with - the production value soaring; the amazing trip you must have had going round these hillforts; or the fact that you made the weather gods of the uk bow down to you during this period
I think the idea of a place of commerce is great, I've noticed in Cornwall that there is often a hillfort near ancient tin stream areas, maybe for protection, ownership or market's, it has never been looked into I far as I know, but tin trading in Cornwall is very ancient. I really enjoy your channel its great work.
It doesn't quite make sens though. Goods tend to be heavy and cumbersome to move around. So why make the highest and most difficult place to reach your point of trade? Especially considering no one lived there. If you want to sell something, you go to where the people are. And why would you need to expend time and huge effort to reinforce that high place if all it's going to be used for is to receive traders?
@@DenDodde "highest and most difficult place to reach your point of trade" Because when wealth gathers in places that are harder to defend, it can draw in heavily armed looters. Medieval cities were definitely places of trade - this much is so well documented as to be beyond rational debate - and they were walled, and often built on the high ground, when there was high ground to be built on. You seem to be taking a contemporary American level of order for granted. This would have been absent in pre-Roman Britain. The "kingdoms" were small and they raided each other. As violent and chaotic as Medieval Europe was by our standards, the pre-Roman Celtic lands were so much worse. "Especially considering no one lived there." Not so. Some forts were settlements, others were only seasonally populated. Not really a surprise. A divided land constantly at war with itself will have trouble prospering.
@@Mens_Rights I would love to hear where you got the notion that there were heavily armed looters roaming around from, and why said looters wouldn't attack traders along the routes if they were such a problem that there was a need for fortifications to conduct trade. Then when said trade was done, why wouldn't said looters just raid the surrounding villages where presumably the goods had been moved? Or did they just leave whatever was traded on top of the hill and walk home? As is pointed out in the video, there is no evidence of settlement in or around these forts. As for medieval cities.. Of course there was trade going on in walled towns and cities, because that's where the people that traded were. Which is exactly my point.
I think it would be difficult to teach some of these subjects, knowledge is constantly evolving as excavations take place. What may have been true in my school days could be vastly different to today's understanding, probably better sticking to known, factual history with numerous sources backing up the material.
Mainly because history is a vast subject and they can’t cover everything in the school syllabus. That having been said, my son recently visited a hill fort near us, so some schools do cover this sort of thing. But he’s at an age where he could very well forget all or most of everything that’s taught to him about it!
I know this is the first time I even heard these things are built by man! I thought they were hills they just dug the ditch around it! I didn't realise they mounted all the earth up into a man made hill!! Never was mentioned at all! And there are very few pictures of them in school just a diagram of a circle about as useful as the atomic diagram.
Wow! Amazing video. I first learned about hillforts at the Andover Museum pictured in this vid! Excellent museum. Funny note: we became a little lost on the way back toward the museum after exploring the town. A university student helped us, then asked where we're from because we have American accents. He shook his head, saying even no one from England visits Andover! :-) (We were staying at a nearby now-closed country manor hotel for our anniverary).
Good stuff! I need to get up to see some of those big hillforts. My local one - The Trundle just outside Chichester - is lovely but not nearly as spectacular!
There is a Grimm's DItch near me. A casual search reveals Devil's Ditches/ Grimm's Ditch/ Grahams Dike Road etc dotted about the British Countryside. Up till now I thought there were built as defence fortifications against troublesome neighbours. Little did I think that maybe they were built to keep out Bears, Wolves and possibly lynx and protect people and/or livestock. Very interesting idea.
As posted on WalkingtheWyrds video, I love the idea of these forts as waymarkers and temporary markets rather than settlements. Lets face it, no-one wants to hike all the way up and down these hills several times a day just to get fresh water and supplies. I see them essentially as the early examples of a motte and bailey design, people live in and around the surrounding hillside, and can retreat up to the fort if needs be.
I absolutely love your work , mate . As a teenager and young man I lived very close to this route along the Stour valley and I've visited most of the places you refer to in this video many times . I like your notion that a lot of these enclosures were mercantile or maybe industrial in some way . If I am remembering correctly , one of the notable features of Avebury ( not Iron Age , at least in construction , I know ) is that the henge is constructed in reverse . That is to say , the ditch is much deeper inside the earthwork than it is outside . This has always suggested to me that the purpose of the earthworks at Avebury was to keep something inside the ring much more than it was to keep whatever might be outside from entering . Also interesting is that one entrance/exit and another entrance/exit at many henges are roughly opposite each other - as if they were constructed for orderly ingress and egress of some body of animals or people . I wonder whether it might have been for the purpose of containing herds for a time , perhaps with function like a cattle market / herd tally / place to bless your wealth / all of those . It doesn't seem unlikely to me that ancient peoples created extra-tribal spaces , for trade amongst sometimes hostile tribes , that were well maintained and adequately defended at times of market from nefarious raiders . One might imagine that all were safe from violence inside the sacred market space so long as they obeyed the local rules ( such as ; no weapons inside or also approaching the stockade ) . Such an undertaking would require significant regulation , not to mention expenditure of wealth and time , so one also imagines a tax ( involving a head count of cattle , most likely ) was imposed alongside the rules . There never was such a thing as a "free market" , perhaps .
Nice take, it’s nice to hear something other than Military or Ritualistic. Don’t get me wrong it probably did cater to both as well on special days or something but your take of a market to trade is interesting! Perhaps a market for things you wouldn’t entrust to a trader, fancy goods or something like that. Or a place to trade information and decide what will happen in the next year coming etc. it’s so interesting to speculate.
I agree with your scepticism about the free market. In mediaeval times a market was always "granted" by the king or a local lord or bishop, and fairly closely regulated as to when and where it could take place and what could be traded. There was normally a court and a set of rules for trading and perhaps also agreed weights and measures. Markets never grew up in "no man's land," where there was no way to be safe from robbers. What I find most interesting about English markets was how they policed the distinction between business and crime. On a market day, the buyer had good title to anything purchased in good faith, even if it later turned out to have ben stolen. What distinguished the City of London was that EVERY day was a "market day." The greatest market in the ancient world may have been in the city of Rome. The judge who dealt with foreigners, the praetor peregrinus, developed a body of commercial law which he announced at the start of his term of office. That had an unchanging part, the "perpetual edict," which was the ancestor of that part of the Roman Law which developed into the law of international or maritime trade. That's what sovereign citizens refer to when they babble about admiralty law.
I do look forward to your videos. You have such enthusiasm, and your research is first class. I love your theories and the way you are prepared to challenge perceived wisdom. Top marks for this one.
I know i'm always going to learn something, and it's going to be based on facts, and supported by evidence, so that's why i tune in to the page. History, pre-Roman history, Bronze age, Iron age, and all that. So pleased to have my Latin texts from early school information enlarged.
In Denmark we have found Iron-age Forts on the islands of Lolland and Falster which seems to have been built for local protection and to be reached within a relative short time from the land around, for people and cattle, if an invading Force landed on a beach! And we have the absurd amounts of sacrifized weapons found in the moors in "Illerup" and in Nydam on "Als"! The last also with a huge, preserved ship, where an invading Force seems to have been defeated by the locals and their weapons, or at least a part, given to the Holy Powers for their help! The lack of Oxygen has preserved the prematurely ruined weapons in the moors. Finn. Denmark
This is awesome! I’d love to hear more about the sacrificed tools. Are we talking like when British Neolithic folks in the peat bogs throwing tools into the bogs?
@@ActualLiteralKyle The Holy Powers in the Moors of course deserved some offerings for their help, so a lot of the weapons from the slaugtered invaders became ruined and left in the moor, as a thank! We have found more Roman Swords in Denmark, than in the rest of the world together, but still I suppose that some was kept, as a Dane! We normally don't through riches away!
@@ActualLiteralKyle It was a Danish Scientist that started to name the Periods according to their main tools: "Stoneage", "Bronzeage" and "Iron age" (We have found extreme Stone Axes made like weapons made from Bronze, and with similar markings from being poured) . And those Forts, from all over Denmark are from late Ironage, near the Viking times. I have just come home from Bornholm, in the Baltic, also with protective Forts. Being an island it was able to be invaded from all sides, if able to land on the rocky coast, so they found ways to protect themselves. We also have 4 round churches on the island , built as Forts in case of an attack. Finn
Hi Paul, when the first thing you do is disappear into a hedge we know we're in for a treat!! They are fascinating constructions which are illuminated when we get the chance to see them from above. Very enjoyable tour and as always lots of interesting comments to read from the Whitewick community. All the best!!
Another fantastic video Paul. I used to live less than 3km from Bury hill and never knew it existed. I know about Danebury though as I used to watch the massed helicopter displays from there during the wallop airshow in the '80s
@@pwhitewick Lots of copters now buddy, but you should have seen the sight of 100+ AAC helicopters taking off from all around you and flying off together towards wallop was some sight. Never seen anything better aircraft wise since.
In addition there is Dudsbury Rings (Dudsbury Camp) overlooking the River Stour on the way to Hengistbury Head. The rivers may been heavily used for moving goods etc.Perhaps the forts were the Toll Houses of their day😊
Great video and story telling, as always. I was up on Danebury hillfort just last week doing some amateur radio as part of Parks on the Air programme. Really beautiful spot.
I have lived and walked in almost all of these places but had absolutely no idea about the historical significance behind them. You've just got a new subscriber and I can't wait for your next video
Thank you for that interesting video. I grew up in Dorset, and Badbury Rings was always a special place for me. Now I live in Wiltshire opposite Roundway Down Hillfort, which is my favourite walk. I think I’ll make it my mission to explore others.
Thanks so much for for putting this together! I had the pleasure of visiting Britain for Offa's Dyke this Summer. At Beacon Hill Ringfort, I was struck by how similar our shared ancient past is. It's the same, with just a little 'accent' to keep the differences interesting.
Thank you very much for letting us know Belgians inhabited England so early in history, I always believed my ancestors moved to England after 1066. We have left many words to the English language, like rabbit (comes from robet), stove (from sitouf), look (from looki) and so many more. On a light note, that reminds me of two of my great-aunts who were visiting London in the 1920s and, on encountering a bowler hat, said to each other in Walloon to make sure they weren't being understood : 'look ô pô sila!' which means 'look at that funny guy!'. Busted.
@GhtPTR you should search Fir Bolg. The word Belg that is in present-day Belgium and in the Belgae tribes of prehistoric Britain, Ireland and the low countries is related to this pre-Celtic people. The name Fir Bolg translates as Bag-carrying People, indicating this people were characterised by carrying a bag of medicine or something else important. The #FirBolg even feature in the Ancient Aliens theories; that the item they famously carried was some advanced technology.
Thank you for your exceptional videos. I especially enjoyed this one as I did not realize that there were many hillforts in England. Keep up the grand work.
I recall my mum saying that Old Oswestry was covered in trees, and while it was known to have been a hill fort, it was only when the trees were cleared (early in the 20th Century?) that it was revealed in all its glory. The views from Old Oswestry are spectacular.
This was a most enjoyable walk through the past. I greatly appreciate that you began your journey thinking one thing, but after looking at the evidence you came away with a different conclusion. I've not been in England for decades, but it really brought back happy memories of hikes in the country. Thanks so much. Subscribed!
Long time viewer, first time commenting. It’s great to see another interesting video on the history of my local area. The production and research is of such high quality, I’m glad your videos are getting more and more recognition!!
That as really interesting..I never thought about the settlements being used as a safe route. Your videes always have something new to ponder. Thank you as always. 😊😊😊
It's reasonable to assume that highwaymen were as much a danger in pre-Roman Britain as they were in the 17th & 18th centuries. So having a spot protected by walls to spend the night would definitely be a welcomed improvement to travelers. Just a thought, Paul: are these hill forts a day's journey apart? The average person can walk 4 miles an hour, say walk 6-8 hours a day (8 hours maximum), that would calculate to 20-30 miles distance.
@@llywrch7116 Badbury Rings to Hengisbury Head is 15 miles as the crow flies (19.1 miles following modern roads). However between Badbury and Hengisbury sits Dudsbury. Badbury Rings to Dudsbury Camp (Dudsbury Rings) is 8 miles, and from Dudsbury on to Hengisbury Head is 6.9 Miles. However Dudsbury is far smaller (it's not even marked on Google Maps, a Girl Guide Camp sits atop it now) and sits right on the edge of the River Stour. It seems more like a convenient trade camp on the last leg of the route to/from Hengisbury Head, rather than a potentially defensive hillfort.
Thanks for a very interesting video Paul. Nice to see Figsbury Ring again after all these years. I used to go walking there in the early 1990's when I was doing my NBC Instructors Course at Winterbourne Gunner. Beautiful countryside there, packed with history.
There are many hill forts in Northumberland, and most have very clear round houses. However, the thing that always bothers me about them is that they have no water source. Some would have to travel down a steep hill to collect water but others have a substantial distance from the nearest water source and thus defensively, they appear useless unless the defense was against wild animals rather than other tribes. I have thought about whether they collected rain water perhaps but there's no evidence of that. Some of the hill forts the most inner rings are not large enough for human habitation, they are barely larger than a large round house. Excavations have found evidence that some of them were in use for centuries, including after the Roman occupation and into the start of the Anglification of Northumberland. I also note that the bronze age grave sites in Northumberland are set out in circles much like mini hill forts. I wonder if the sites were only occupied at times of ceremony and perhaps used as places for the cremation of the dead. However, there are a number of small homesteads of round houses that are not inside hill forts, these tend to be closer to springs, not too close but not in places where it would be a considerable chore to collect water like the hill forts. Who really knows how they functioned but from a defensive point of view, not being close to a readily accessible water source is a conundrum for me.
Shapwick is an interesting place-name because 'wick' sometimes derives from the Latin 'vicus'. Wicket Wood near Burton Joyce in Nottinghamshire is close to a small Iron Age earthwork. The excavator found a Roman level including a V-shaped ditch with a drainage channel which he associated with the Roman army. Historic England excavated at a hillfort at Woodborough two miles away and found there had been Roman occupation there too. In all there is an arc of nine Iron Age and Roman military sites with three villas and a Roman road within the area.
This was so fun to watch! Enjoy your questioning interpretations of the past, only way we revisit and learn....I'm NY 1962 Toms very British/Brazilian future wife MD
Difficult to get an idea of the scale of these amazing structures except by means of your excellent drone shots. Hillforts were probably adapted for purposes other than human settlements - including the making of military/other forms of 'hardware', such as domesrtic utensils. Was it possible that they might also have been used to protect vital livestock, including horses. Very interesting explore. Thank you.
There’s a little known hillfort on the stour river at west parley near Hengistbury..Great video on this subject and I’ve done a lot of research on Hengistbury as I love very near..In fact around this way there’s St.Catherines hill and Ramsdown next to it..By Ramsdown there is a man made slope that Neolithic and quite big..It has a Bronze Age barrow on it and it seems to connect up to both Ramsdown and St.Catherines..If you consider St.Catherines has both the Avon and Stour running past it and is the last high ground before both rivers meet at Christchurch it could be very meaningful to the people in our ancient history..There’s more about Ramsdown and it’s near man made slope I could write about but the comment will go on until Christmas.. Thank you again and all the very best with your research..
I live in Worthing, West Sussex and am close to Cissbury Ring (and Chanctonbury) which really dominates the skyline (I can see the site clearly from my upstairs window.) From so many points in Worthing - so many roads/thoroughfares it's visible and seems to be a marker to a route North. Whenever we trek up to Cissbury for a wander around we're struck by the incredible sightlines (in all directions!) and what a natural vantage spot it is, but also how, all year round, how inhospitable it is. It's so exposed to the elements and at times incredibly windy... anyone who lives in Worthing knows about the wind. I can't imagine any permanent occupation of the site. The trek to the top is pretty strenuous. Obviously the digs have uncovered extensive mining, and it must have held several roles over the years. Fascinating stuff though and the idea of these forts being 'safe passages' for trade etc really resonates. How fractured 'society' must have been back in these periods!
I think you were right to concentrate on doing content well rather than cranking out more. This is wonderful stuff, well shot, edited and presented. People will be watching this decades later.
Very interesting Paul -I think we still have much to learn on Hillforts -How the harvested the basics of life and how they lived ,shrouded in mystery but dictated by the simplicity of trading , living and war -I have posted this on my FB history group -Thank you 👍👍
Surely these ditches were used for the collection and storage of water. for domestic use and to gravity feed there crops. I live on a rural property without access to town water. Water collection and storage is my number 1 priority. Surely it was the same for these people.
Cricket arenas, presumably. Each team would wanna have a home field, which could explain the sheer amount of them and how close they are often located to each other. The ramparts were obviously to keep out anyone without a valid ticket. In regions without arenas the local folks were probably not fans of cricket all that much.
Maybe these forts served a double function: A corral for livestock AND defendable position. Crop Farming would happen on the low lying fields, where working the ground is easier and once per season farmers would drive the herds up the hill, from where they can't wander off into the fields. Over time ditches and berns get added to improve the enclosure and keep the livestock protected from would be raiders. From there they can be herded to the next hill enclosure, probably lots of trading going on, too.
That makes a lot of sense. as place to ‘corral ‘ livestock at night,, but what about water and grazing beyond the top of the hill. Could they be UFO landing sites?
Really interesting. I used to live just behind Bury Hill fort, and as a kids and would spend hours playing there. It was very hidden away and not many people knew about it.
I went to Clayesmore School in Iwerne Minster and saw the very impressive Hambledon Hill every morning. I was young and very fit and even then, found assaulting those ramparts tough going and that was without defenders being aggressive and nasty to me. The entrance is steep enough by itself. To steal someone else's lines, Dorset is beautiful.
Interesting topic, drew lots of contemplation from me. I often ponder why so much of life for our ancestors, whether habitat, industry or events, took place on the high ground. Other than the spectacular views of course. ;) We've been exploring the Welsh countryside relentlessly since moving here a few years ago, and it seems like you can't take a hike without stumbling upon an earthwork, a hill fort or a cairn of some kind. Not so densely populated today perhaps, but throughout prehistory, most certainly.
Great video as usual. Lots of time, effort, and distance has gone into this. Interesting information that I didn't know about before. Thank you again, Paul.
Very interesting. As someone that enjoys walking the long distance National Trails, I like the idea of a series of iron age campsites along a well travelled route. Unfortunately, I can't remember the last time I visited a hill fort that didn't have a golf course on top.
A line of hillforts like that has me coming up with the fantasy that they might be to support a chain of signal fires, like the beacons in "Lord of the Rings" going from Minas Tirith to Edoras.
Great video. Infomative and thought provoking. Linking the hill forts as in a trade route makes a great deal of sense. While normal use seems unlikely. A couple of uses come to mind. 1 especially if they would have been with in sight distance. Fire beacon that could be lit to inform the hills beyond. In the case of raids or other trouble. I have no idea if smoke or other communication uses would have been used but these would have been possible. 2 Rallying points for defense and trade. It makes sense to have a market in the shadow of one of these hill forts. They act as way points. If you look at how romans made maps and wrote directions a route like this through wooded terrain makes sense. 3 To support the above ideas. The question is could the beacons / rally point be created without a built up area. Was the surrounding area heavily wooded making a high cleared point valuable? 4 Traders moving through the area could have stayed on or near the hillforts and used them to keep goods more secure. Not all the people in the surrounding need to be at the point of sale so a representative could come and trade with goods stored at or near a hillfort spot. ..... Eh. It seems most likely though that these were slowly built up over time for several different purposes. Then used to do more then there originally specified use later. Or abandoned when no longer nessary.
Thanks so much for this film. I think you're right re the Route conjecture - the landscape screams it out loud really. I moved to Dorset 38 years ago now and have fallen in love with the county and it's history. Your films add to my knowledge and enthusiasm to learn more about the past and our predecessors.
Dudsbury Camp is said to be a hillfort on the same line between Badbury and Hengisbury. Lidar isn't very convincing, but it's right on the river so might have had a different use.
I'd Expect when "in Use" There was a clear line of sight between sites. As has been Mooted, Dudsbury.Also Cannon Hill plantation,at Colehill,which could see both Bradbury and Dudsbury.I live near Pamphill.Possibly itself a Hillfort, due to the Topography.
Very enjoyable, Paul. I think we have to remember that these were built at differing time periods and used for different things and we will keep finding new uses thanks to more archaeology.
A comment that has Nothing to do with this vlog/film/production (I have no idea what to call them these days as the production levels are no different to shows on the TV (That is a good thing 😁). But as a loyal view I would like to wish you and the Lovely Rebecca a very happy anniversary, and many more to come. ❤ And I am sure many others do as well.
I grew up in the shadow of Dolebury Warren hillfort. I loved the place as a boy, practically every free day I would be up there with my dog, reading, sketching, writing. It was my 'Rosebud' my parents moving house from Churchill to Teignmouth, wrenching me from the place. Very interestng!!!
@@pwhitewickCome and look at "Caer Gworthigernus" on The Doward, and its sister/opponent fort at Yat Rock (Yaettelinde). Here Gwrtheirin (Vortigern) supposedly died in flames in his tower - struck by lightning while besieged by Uther Pendragon. In the other fort, Erik Blutachse having landed in the Severn Estuary kidnapped a Bishop Camailgaret, was besieged by the King of Erging, and broke out to cross the Wye. He was ambushed at The Slaughter, and occupied Vortigern's old fort. There he was besieged but the king paid the ransom for Camailgaret, and the bloodied Erik left - later to return to Britain and take York. The Iron Age forts along Offa's Dyke are often paired. Why? Is the border of Wales a fossilised boundary of a prehistoric country? And what of nearby Goodrich Castle? It is Norman - but it guarded Constantine's Ford (that's Custennin of Kernow, Arthur's saintly successor) so was this cliff-top Castle built to replace a hillfort which did the same on tbe route from Monmouth (Blestium) to Ross-on-Wye, where an undated tower was recently found at The Prospect? Thanks for the view of Hambledon, btw. I lived on its slopes.
Trees on hills decrease the amount of runoff. There would have been an increased need for charcoal from the Bronze Age onwards. Chopping down trees for charcoal for metal work increased run off from the hills and hence increased flooding in the winter and decreased the water table. A solution to this would be to dig ditches on the hills to catch the run off.
Thanks - so in theory had there been more trees then the water table would have been higher and hence the video about water in hill forts could be explained by wells where there is a higher water table than today.
Just also thought - could inhabitants have tapped into the water flow through the trees as the trees transpires and therefore have acquired water during the growing season which would also be the time of year when water would been needed most.
Now my local hill fort has had very few finds on it, some iron age pottery and some roman...I'm currently exploring a field on the next hill over, probably just a bit over a mile from the hill fort and I'm finding a lot of iron age pottery in one area. Does rather make me wonder, given that I can find no information saying about iron age settlements etc, whether I've found something interesting. I'll keep looking and exploring, hopefully the oxfordshire finds experts can clue me in at some point as to whether there is potential for a dig on the site.
Hengistware pottery has been found in Hillforts all over Uk James Dyer a befordshire teacher and Archeologit wrote some interesting books about Hillforts in which he comes to the same conclusion you have here, Cheers very interesting.
It’s a really big hill fort with views right across Southampton being built on the highest ground around that way it takes about 15 mis to walk around it ( public footpaths) with massive ramparts still visible
Go watch a deeper dive on Hod and Hambledon here with @walkingthewyrd
Thank you, Paul! I really enjoyed our walk!
Nice video, but isn't it about time to get a deadkitten or similar?
@@Fetgufwhat's a "deadkitten"? Sounds depressing.
@@RichardWatt windshield for microphones. Google it.
Oooh @RichardWatt a mic! Haha... I have a few, just can't seem to get on well with them.
As a teenager I was part of an Archeological dig on Hod Hill when the theory of it being attacked , and ballistae fired at the Chieftain's Hut was prevalent. We helped identify the position of the likely Celtic gateposts. Celtic jewellery was well known , as was the the fact that Celtic chariots were cleverly designed and the wheels were spoked ( unlike those on our Airfix models) . Our identification was dismissed on the grounds that the Celts couldn't have made something as complex as a gate and a locking bar , because "their society wasn't that well developed!" Ho hum . I'm glad things have moved on a bit in the last 50 years .😊
Brilliant. Thanks for sharing Gareth. I would love to know more of the dig.
A gate? Must be aliens.
@@pwhitewick My abiding memory of Hod Hill is the longest cross-country run we ever did from school including 2 extra laps of the ramparts at the top for added pain! 😱
Going down to Poole at the weekend, so that's an idea for a Bank holiday Sunday walk! Or perhaps walk the line of the Roman Road heading up from Badbury Rings.
Man that's bonkers, it's pretty amusing to see some of the mental gymnastics so called scholars play on occasion.
I mean even if their assertions were true, they have equally ruled out the gigantic amount of trade in every good imaginable that made it's way north and south everyday. So to posit that a gate of it's type would be completely alien to their culture is the apex of hubris lmao.
You will *always* run into that attitude from academia and 'professional' archaeologists.
Because the both fields are dominated by people who are extremely arrogant, corrupt, and greedy. They never outgrew being the high school bully.
putting the history aside, the quality of the cinemaphotography and production of this video is amazing.. very professional
Yes, I was just thinking how much your videos have come on in terms of structure telling the story of your walking etc as well as the pure history of the monuments
Why isnt this on tv?
Agreed. Brilliant formatting and blocking. So glad the countryside cooperated. Ha
TV would ruin it with nasty politics. They can’t resist having a go.
Yes. Every bit as good, if not better, than on TV
What always amazes me is the amount of effort and organisation needed to build just one hillfort and here in Dorset there are 20 (according to Wikipedia) and over 1000 in England. They can't be built quickly in time of war, so were presumably gradually built and improved over generations using the tools they had in the Iron Age and Bronze Age.
if you have at least 500 years it's not that big a number.
Check out Fin Cop in Derbyshire.
Yes, it is amazing how much effort must have gone into building them. Especially when you consider the tools available were probably mostly pointy sticks and deer antlers. And I can't imagine they had a great deal of time and energy to spare.
Over and over we see from ancient history planning and construction involving many hundreds. I looked at the Jomon site on the north coast of Japan and viewed the massive tree bole tower of 2 floors. What else can this be but people protection from the sea. The site shows evidence of early trade plainly indicative of a remanent of fallen civilization struggling to revive.
@AndyBrice wait did they build the mound itself? I thought they just found a mound and used it and enhanced it? Is the whole thing put there by man? I've seen things like that which the active Americans did ...amazing! I honestly had no idea they didn't just find a hill and build their Fort on it!
Just a thought: What about the notion that Britain was mostly ancient woodland at the time these forts were built? If so then what goes with woods - bears, lynx and wolves - were also still plentiful as were the various deer they hunted.
Put all that together and it sems reasonable to me that old disused hillforts would have been exceptionally useful as ready made stock pens for cattle, horses and sheep, especially through the winter months when they might have made quite a tempting snack for a hungry pack of wolves.
Most definitely yes. To all of that!
Maiden castle is a hillfort full of sheep shit. 🤔
I’ve always figured they were stock pens to prevent / hinder cattle hustling, if you think about them in the context of that in Ireland, the Scottish Borders and Wild West in the US.
Maybe. But I seem to remember reading a study a few years back that deforestation started much further back in time than you’d expect, in fact starting with the Neolithic hunter gatherers slashing and burning. So there would still have been more forests than there are in the 21st century (which isn’t saying much) but there would have been far more open land than you’d think.
@@greva2904 This is correct, a huge amount of the moorland in Britain (Great Britain has 10-15% of the world's moorland) is the result of Neolithic farmers clearing and then overgrazing (with sheep/goats) what was once temperature rainforests until they become barren, a great example of this is the 'Green Desert of Wales'.
Huge amount of work went into this Paul. Excellent.
I’ve got hillforts on my mind at the moment, so this was really useful!
Cheers Boss. It was quite the trek I can tell you. The hardest part... which ones to leave out.
One thing against them being substantial settlements would be a lack of water. Especially on the chalk hills.
You're not gonna find water at the top of them, which would mean having to haul all your water up a hill.
Yeah, but when you do get the water and drag it up the hill, it gets made into beer... so you don't mind so much getting the next lot 😂
They are not Hill forts, no water like u point out, it's another bollock narrative.
@@ahmed-ed4sd I agree. But what do you think the purpose of these structures were?
Well, I mean we know they were fortified, and on the top of hills, so hillfort isn't the worst descriptive...
Never heard of a spring? Chalk holds water, at a high level, generally - commonly freshwater springs are found in chalk landscapes so you don't have to go down far to tap into it to fill a well or just use the spring/stream water. So yes, you are going to find water at the top of - or at least, not far down - a chalk hill.
Glad I clicked on your vid! First one I see, 10/10 exactly what youtube should be about. Great shots, great storytelling, great enthousiasm in explaining. Thanks!
The suffix "bury" in a place name means “a fort or fortified place”, that makes perfect sense.
Here in Shropshire there is a hill fort with ditches around it.
Funnily enough, it is called Bury Ditches.
Burg, old german for hilltop fortress.
Thank you! I thought it might mean "town," like the German "burg." So "Hengistbury" would be Hengist's Fort? Hengist was a Saxon king, right? Edit: Just looked in Wikipedia; apparently there is no link between Hengist and the location, but speculated that there was. :)
@@TysoniusRex "Burg" also meant 'fort'. The suffixes "-burg" and "-bury" share the same etymological root "beorgan" which meant 'to preserve, protect, or defend".
@@TysoniusRex: In german there is a diffence between Höhenburg ( height castle) on hilltops, large rocks ( Felsen) or clifflike terrain, and Wasserburg ( water castles) , they are build in flat terrain, rivers, even small ones ( in german Bache), swamps, or lakes had been used as natural fortifications ( in my village no more existing Castle used also no more existing fish ponds as fortifications). The reason that many german/austrian/ swiss towns have -burg as ending, is that there was at first only a Burg and the farm of castle owner. For example fortress Marienburg is the Burg , which gave Würzburg its name.
In my homeregion, german state Baden-Württemberg there are also some Celtic fortifications/ oppidi. In Wikipedia you can search for Ipf, Heuneburg or Heidengraben, If you are intressted in celtic fortifications.
What amazes me about these "Hill Forts" is how they were actually built and over what timescale using nothing but antlers and basic tools to do the digging, and basic baskets to move the earth. Having tried to dig an allotment in Andover, I know just how difficult it is one you get to any depth. Anothere grea video Paul, I love them.
Yup, and some of these are just huge!
2000 Years ago everyone knew what they were marking, today that has been reduced to 1% ... but not for long.
As so often the case, throw people at a problem and it becomes more manageable. Which in turn raises interesting questions about how that many people could be mobilised, then fed and housed while construction work was in progress.
Whether you'd have to get the whole tribe involved, or even co-operation between several tribes. How wide an area would you need to scour in order to get two or three thousand workers together, along with the toolmakers, cooks, overseers and everyone else needed?
Says a lot about how integrated society was in pre-Roman Britain.
Even with slave labor, one needs some infrastructure to support it.
It always feels easier when everyone is doing it. Humans are very relative creatures
Thank you, Paul. I may be slow in discovering this gem (the world is big but my concentration is not), however, again you bring me to tears(good ones). You bring history to life... wind, mud, steep hills, brambles and probably smelly boots. My vicarious life is the richer for it. Sincerely appreciated.
Thank you Jay, thats very kind.
@@pwhitewick Thank you for a prompt reply. I wasn't actually expecting that. What time is it in Britain? Go to bed! When I work out the currency exchange rate(OK, just googled that...one Aussie dollar is 45 cents British...Ouch!...not that the average Brit. isn't suffering). Send your 'Government' to the Penal Colonies...we can feed them to the bloody rabbits!
The people who study hillforts tend to have weird obsessions with either playing up or playing down the violence associated with them. I get that most of them probably weren't the sites of regular bloody battles, but it's also a bit odd to discount the defensive aspects to their design, as some seem to. Even the ones that don't show evidence of human habitation could have been used for protection. It's pretty clear that livestock were key to the Iron Age economy, and people would have sought to protect their wealth. The surviving Celtic tales we have often feature cattle raiding, e.g. the Irish epic the Tain Bo Cualinge. My guess is that some forts might have been defensible animal corrals, designed to protect herds from bandits or rival tribes whilst moving them around the countryside.
My thoughts exactly.
My guess is that a cattle raid would not leave much in the archaeological record, since the raiders would seize what they could and run away. However, if the Romans conducted a siege and took a fort by force, their rule was to kill every living thing: all men, women and children and also every animal. The Roman army had several different awards for those who took part in siege warfare.
@@faithlesshound5621 from what I understand of recent research, Maiden castle had been abandoned some one hundred years prior to the Roman conquest. Raiders in my opinion, and as you suggest, would be less likely to besiege a ‘hill fort’ than a fully equipped army. I don’t think many of the forts actually had much in the way of a fresh water supply to last an extended siege. I don’t know if there is evidence in the archaeological record of wells being sunk inside the boundaries of these enclosures.
@@diogenesegarden5152 Perhaps siege warfare wasn't a thing in prehistoric Britain, if the "warriors" were actually all farmers taking a day off to go cattle-raiding, rather than professional soldiers.
@@faithlesshound5621 There are some hillforts that show evidence of having been stormed, both before the Roman conquest period and during it. The Iron Age Britons definitely could be very violent to eachother sometimes, but so were the Romans.
Paul thank you for this glimpse into the past. history is not gone, we are walking over it each day
I love that you grew up in the area, grounding a passion that flourished with deep roots, which books cannot grasp. thank you for sharing your gift of wonder and the joy of felt discovery
I remember visiting a hill fort in Scotland where the stones seemed glazed, as if there had been some sort of enormous fire which had melted the stone and fused them together. The whole thing was set on a hill top with steep sides, with two or three rings, as I recall, and would have made a significant fort for dominating an area.
Anyway, that video was very interesting and informative - thank you!
I think you may have fallen asleep while watching House of the Dragon. Resulting in memory fog and a very understandable wish that these things really happened and someday more eggs will hatch.
@@bj6515 No, those hill forts with vitirified stones are a real thing.
Some of my beloved mother’s ashes are scattered up at Danebury Hillfort. . She stayed in nearby Longstock as a child where her grandparents lived and often went up to Danebury Fort. It was one of her special places. The rest of her ashes were sprinkled in a park in Perth Australia where every year she pushes up wildflowers. Just as she would have wanted. ❤ Love your videos Paul. They help keep me connected to my birth heritage ❤
Wow. Nice work. I always wondered about them. Some seemed to have so little occupation (houses) but yet were huge constructions and expenditures of time and effort. Makes sense. The first you discuss reminds me of David and Solomon's 'Chariot Cities'.
I don't know what to be more impressed with - the production value soaring; the amazing trip you must have had going round these hillforts; or the fact that you made the weather gods of the uk bow down to you during this period
Thank you. Very kind
I think the idea of a place of commerce is great, I've noticed in Cornwall that there is often a hillfort near ancient tin stream areas, maybe for protection, ownership or market's, it has never been looked into I far as I know, but tin trading in Cornwall is very ancient. I really enjoy your channel its great work.
It doesn't quite make sens though. Goods tend to be heavy and cumbersome to move around. So why make the highest and most difficult place to reach your point of trade? Especially considering no one lived there. If you want to sell something, you go to where the people are. And why would you need to expend time and huge effort to reinforce that high place if all it's going to be used for is to receive traders?
@@DenDodde "highest and most difficult place to reach your point of trade" Because when wealth gathers in places that are harder to defend, it can draw in heavily armed looters. Medieval cities were definitely places of trade - this much is so well documented as to be beyond rational debate - and they were walled, and often built on the high ground, when there was high ground to be built on.
You seem to be taking a contemporary American level of order for granted. This would have been absent in pre-Roman Britain. The "kingdoms" were small and they raided each other. As violent and chaotic as Medieval Europe was by our standards, the pre-Roman Celtic lands were so much worse.
"Especially considering no one lived there." Not so. Some forts were settlements, others were only seasonally populated. Not really a surprise. A divided land constantly at war with itself will have trouble prospering.
@@Mens_Rights I would love to hear where you got the notion that there were heavily armed looters roaming around from, and why said looters wouldn't attack traders along the routes if they were such a problem that there was a need for fortifications to conduct trade. Then when said trade was done, why wouldn't said looters just raid the surrounding villages where presumably the goods had been moved? Or did they just leave whatever was traded on top of the hill and walk home?
As is pointed out in the video, there is no evidence of settlement in or around these forts.
As for medieval cities.. Of course there was trade going on in walled towns and cities, because that's where the people that traded were. Which is exactly my point.
@@DenDodde LOL. What?
Den, go read a book. You're display a remarkable level of ignorance, and educating you out of it isn't my job.
To protect from raiders
I don't know why we weren't taught this at school, this ancestral knowledge and places is inspired and fascinating.
Thank you.
Yup. Quite agree.
I think it would be difficult to teach some of these subjects, knowledge is constantly evolving as excavations take place. What may have been true in my school days could be vastly different to today's understanding, probably better sticking to known, factual history with numerous sources backing up the material.
Mainly because history is a vast subject and they can’t cover everything in the school syllabus.
That having been said, my son recently visited a hill fort near us, so some schools do cover this sort of thing. But he’s at an age where he could very well forget all or most of everything that’s taught to him about it!
"Because it wasn't written"!
I know this is the first time I even heard these things are built by man! I thought they were hills they just dug the ditch around it! I didn't realise they mounted all the earth up into a man made hill!! Never was mentioned at all! And there are very few pictures of them in school just a diagram of a circle about as useful as the atomic diagram.
I love these ancient hillforts and routes between such places your research and footage is well done thankyou
Thanks so much.
Great stuff..spent a few windy nights on old hill forts.Wonderful to see them from another angle.Thanks for showing us.
Im really liking your walks through history. I love the way they are put together and delivered. I am a convert. Look forward to next.
Wow! Amazing video. I first learned about hillforts at the Andover Museum pictured in this vid! Excellent museum. Funny note: we became a little lost on the way back toward the museum after exploring the town. A university student helped us, then asked where we're from because we have American accents. He shook his head, saying even no one from England visits Andover! :-) (We were staying at a nearby now-closed country manor hotel for our anniverary).
Good stuff! I need to get up to see some of those big hillforts. My local one - The Trundle just outside Chichester - is lovely but not nearly as spectacular!
Makes perfect sense Paul,the tribal elites would have wanted to protect their trade routes and traders from atrack.
Was that Atrack the Goth?
There is a Grimm's DItch near me. A casual search reveals Devil's Ditches/ Grimm's Ditch/ Grahams Dike Road etc dotted about the British Countryside. Up till now I thought there were built as defence fortifications against troublesome neighbours. Little did I think that maybe they were built to keep out Bears, Wolves and possibly lynx and protect people and/or livestock. Very interesting idea.
As posted on WalkingtheWyrds video, I love the idea of these forts as waymarkers and temporary markets rather than settlements. Lets face it, no-one wants to hike all the way up and down these hills several times a day just to get fresh water and supplies.
I see them essentially as the early examples of a motte and bailey design, people live in and around the surrounding hillside, and can retreat up to the fort if needs be.
With your livestock too, to defend them against raiding.
@@peteglass3496 Exactly!
doesn't Caesar talk about a use ust like that?
I absolutely love your work , mate . As a teenager and young man I lived very close to this route along the Stour valley and I've visited most of the places you refer to in this video many times . I like your notion that a lot of these enclosures were mercantile or maybe industrial in some way . If I am remembering correctly , one of the notable features of Avebury ( not Iron Age , at least in construction , I know ) is that the henge is constructed in reverse . That is to say , the ditch is much deeper inside the earthwork than it is outside . This has always suggested to me that the purpose of the earthworks at Avebury was to keep something inside the ring much more than it was to keep whatever might be outside from entering . Also interesting is that one entrance/exit and another entrance/exit at many henges are roughly opposite each other - as if they were constructed for orderly ingress and egress of some body of animals or people . I wonder whether it might have been for the purpose of containing herds for a time , perhaps with function like a cattle market / herd tally / place to bless your wealth / all of those . It doesn't seem unlikely to me that ancient peoples created extra-tribal spaces , for trade amongst sometimes hostile tribes , that were well maintained and adequately defended at times of market from nefarious raiders . One might imagine that all were safe from violence inside the sacred market space so long as they obeyed the local rules ( such as ; no weapons inside or also approaching the stockade ) . Such an undertaking would require significant regulation , not to mention expenditure of wealth and time , so one also imagines a tax ( involving a head count of cattle , most likely ) was imposed alongside the rules . There never was such a thing as a "free market" , perhaps .
Nice take, it’s nice to hear something other than Military or Ritualistic. Don’t get me wrong it probably did cater to both as well on special days or something but your take of a market to trade is interesting! Perhaps a market for things you wouldn’t entrust to a trader, fancy goods or something like that. Or a place to trade information and decide what will happen in the next year coming etc. it’s so interesting to speculate.
I agree with your scepticism about the free market. In mediaeval times a market was always "granted" by the king or a local lord or bishop, and fairly closely regulated as to when and where it could take place and what could be traded. There was normally a court and a set of rules for trading and perhaps also agreed weights and measures. Markets never grew up in "no man's land," where there was no way to be safe from robbers.
What I find most interesting about English markets was how they policed the distinction between business and crime. On a market day, the buyer had good title to anything purchased in good faith, even if it later turned out to have ben stolen. What distinguished the City of London was that EVERY day was a "market day."
The greatest market in the ancient world may have been in the city of Rome. The judge who dealt with foreigners, the praetor peregrinus, developed a body of commercial law which he announced at the start of his term of office. That had an unchanging part, the "perpetual edict," which was the ancestor of that part of the Roman Law which developed into the law of international or maritime trade. That's what sovereign citizens refer to when they babble about admiralty law.
I do look forward to your videos. You have such enthusiasm, and your research is first class. I love your theories and the way you are prepared to challenge perceived wisdom. Top marks for this one.
Wow, thank you!
I know i'm always going to learn something, and it's going to be based on facts, and supported by evidence, so that's why i tune in to the page. History, pre-Roman history, Bronze age, Iron age, and all that. So pleased to have my Latin texts from early school information enlarged.
In Denmark we have found Iron-age Forts on the islands of Lolland and Falster which seems to have been built for local protection and to be reached within a relative short time from the land around, for people and cattle, if an invading Force landed on a beach! And we have the absurd amounts of sacrifized weapons found in the moors in "Illerup" and in Nydam on "Als"! The last also with a huge, preserved ship, where an invading Force seems to have been defeated by the locals and their weapons, or at least a part, given to the Holy Powers for their help! The lack of Oxygen has preserved the prematurely ruined weapons in the moors. Finn. Denmark
This is awesome! I’d love to hear more about the sacrificed tools. Are we talking like when British Neolithic folks in the peat bogs throwing tools into the bogs?
@@ActualLiteralKyle The Holy Powers in the Moors of course deserved some offerings for their help, so a lot of the weapons from the slaugtered invaders became ruined and left in the moor, as a thank! We have found more Roman Swords in Denmark, than in the rest of the world together, but still I suppose that some was kept, as a Dane! We normally don't through riches away!
@@ActualLiteralKyle It was a Danish Scientist that started to name the Periods according to their main tools: "Stoneage", "Bronzeage" and "Iron age" (We have found extreme Stone Axes made like weapons made from Bronze, and with similar markings from being poured) . And those Forts, from all over Denmark are from late Ironage, near the Viking times. I have just come home from Bornholm, in the Baltic, also with protective Forts. Being an island it was able to be invaded from all sides, if able to land on the rocky coast, so they found ways to protect themselves.
We also have 4 round churches on the island , built as Forts in case of an attack. Finn
Quick correction: I think you mean marshes (moser), not moors (heder) 😉
Hi Paul, when the first thing you do is disappear into a hedge we know we're in for a treat!!
They are fascinating constructions which are illuminated when we get the chance to see them from above.
Very enjoyable tour and as always lots of interesting comments to read from the Whitewick community.
All the best!!
Another fantastic video Paul. I used to live less than 3km from Bury hill and never knew it existed. I know about Danebury though as I used to watch the massed helicopter displays from there during the wallop airshow in the '80s
Cheers Dave. You could still watch the helicopters now! Seem to be loads about, day and night
@@pwhitewick Lots of copters now buddy, but you should have seen the sight of 100+ AAC helicopters taking off from all around you and flying off together towards wallop was some sight. Never seen anything better aircraft wise since.
In addition there is Dudsbury Rings (Dudsbury Camp) overlooking the River Stour on the way to Hengistbury Head. The rivers may been heavily used for moving goods etc.Perhaps the forts were the Toll Houses of their day😊
Ah missed that one! How close to Hengistbury
@@pwhitewick Dudsbury Fort is near West Parley, Ferndown, Dorset. It's about 12km straight line from Hengistbury. I'm not sure what it's like there.
Very interesting video.
You are really very lucky to live in a landscape where so many of such old structures are still visible today.
I quite agree. :-)
A wonderful video. Great videography and good music. I visited Maiden Castle once. But my companion did not fancy the walk to the top.
Great video and story telling, as always. I was up on Danebury hillfort just last week doing some amateur radio as part of Parks on the Air programme. Really beautiful spot.
Great video. Now I'm more homesick than ever!
🙀 That squeaky gate on the way to the place William Stukley drew woke up both my cats. 😸
Haha... my apologies
Haha
I have lived and walked in almost all of these places but had absolutely no idea about the historical significance behind them. You've just got a new subscriber and I can't wait for your next video
Thank you for that interesting video. I grew up in Dorset, and Badbury Rings was always a special place for me. Now I live in Wiltshire opposite Roundway Down Hillfort, which is my favourite walk. I think I’ll make it my mission to explore others.
I bet there is a list somewhere!
@@pwhitewick There is! en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_hillforts_in_England
According the Wikipedia article there are 1224 hillforts in England - visiting all those should keep you busy for quite some time!
I live not far away from you. Visiting hill forts was my lockdown hobby.
There’s so much near you and you’ll get some great walks out of it!
@@richardmorgan9273 Thank you.
Thanks so much for for putting this together! I had the pleasure of visiting Britain for Offa's Dyke this Summer. At Beacon Hill Ringfort, I was struck by how similar our shared ancient past is. It's the same, with just a little 'accent' to keep the differences interesting.
Thank you very much for letting us know Belgians inhabited England so early in history, I always believed my ancestors moved to England after 1066. We have left many words to the English language, like rabbit (comes from robet), stove (from sitouf), look (from looki) and so many more. On a light note, that reminds me of two of my great-aunts who were visiting London in the 1920s and, on encountering a bowler hat, said to each other in Walloon to make sure they weren't being understood : 'look ô pô sila!' which means 'look at that funny guy!'. Busted.
@GhtPTR you should search Fir Bolg.
The word Belg that is in present-day Belgium and in the Belgae tribes of prehistoric Britain, Ireland and the low countries is related to this pre-Celtic people.
The name Fir Bolg translates as Bag-carrying People, indicating this people were characterised by carrying a bag of medicine or something else important.
The #FirBolg even feature in the Ancient Aliens theories; that the item they famously carried was some advanced technology.
Thank you for your exceptional videos. I especially enjoyed this one as I did not realize that there were many hillforts in England. Keep up the grand work.
Come have a look around Oswestry Hill Fort. Excellent example and well preserved.
Thanks, its on the list.
I recall my mum saying that Old Oswestry was covered in trees, and while it was known to have been a hill fort, it was only when the trees were cleared (early in the 20th Century?) that it was revealed in all its glory. The views from Old Oswestry are spectacular.
This was a most enjoyable walk through the past. I greatly appreciate that you began your journey thinking one thing, but after looking at the evidence you came away with a different conclusion. I've not been in England for decades, but it really brought back happy memories of hikes in the country. Thanks so much. Subscribed!
great video again Paul, well done and thank you 😊
Very welcome
Long time viewer, first time commenting. It’s great to see another interesting video on the history of my local area. The production and research is of such high quality, I’m glad your videos are getting more and more recognition!!
Thank you. Appreciated
That as really interesting..I never thought about the settlements being used as a safe route. Your videes always have something new to ponder. Thank you as always. 😊😊😊
It's reasonable to assume that highwaymen were as much a danger in pre-Roman Britain as they were in the 17th & 18th centuries. So having a spot protected by walls to spend the night would definitely be a welcomed improvement to travelers.
Just a thought, Paul: are these hill forts a day's journey apart? The average person can walk 4 miles an hour, say walk 6-8 hours a day (8 hours maximum), that would calculate to 20-30 miles distance.
@@llywrch7116 Badbury Rings to Hengisbury Head is 15 miles as the crow flies (19.1 miles following modern roads). However between Badbury and Hengisbury sits Dudsbury.
Badbury Rings to Dudsbury Camp (Dudsbury Rings) is 8 miles, and from Dudsbury on to Hengisbury Head is 6.9 Miles. However Dudsbury is far smaller (it's not even marked on Google Maps, a Girl Guide Camp sits atop it now) and sits right on the edge of the River Stour. It seems more like a convenient trade camp on the last leg of the route to/from Hengisbury Head, rather than a potentially defensive hillfort.
Thanks for a very interesting video Paul. Nice to see Figsbury Ring again after all these years. I used to go walking there in the early 1990's when I was doing my NBC Instructors Course at Winterbourne Gunner. Beautiful countryside there, packed with history.
There are many hill forts in Northumberland, and most have very clear round houses. However, the thing that always bothers me about them is that they have no water source. Some would have to travel down a steep hill to collect water but others have a substantial distance from the nearest water source and thus defensively, they appear useless unless the defense was against wild animals rather than other tribes. I have thought about whether they collected rain water perhaps but there's no evidence of that. Some of the hill forts the most inner rings are not large enough for human habitation, they are barely larger than a large round house. Excavations have found evidence that some of them were in use for centuries, including after the Roman occupation and into the start of the Anglification of Northumberland.
I also note that the bronze age grave sites in Northumberland are set out in circles much like mini hill forts. I wonder if the sites were only occupied at times of ceremony and perhaps used as places for the cremation of the dead. However, there are a number of small homesteads of round houses that are not inside hill forts, these tend to be closer to springs, not too close but not in places where it would be a considerable chore to collect water like the hill forts. Who really knows how they functioned but from a defensive point of view, not being close to a readily accessible water source is a conundrum for me.
Lived in Andover for the majority of my 21 years and I can say that this video has certainly urged me to visit! Great stuff
The Iron Age museum that is, haha!
The museum is great. It'll be gone soon apparently so make the most of it!
Shapwick is an interesting place-name because 'wick' sometimes derives from the Latin 'vicus'. Wicket Wood near Burton Joyce in Nottinghamshire is close to a small Iron Age earthwork. The excavator found a Roman level including a V-shaped ditch with a drainage channel which he associated with the Roman army. Historic England excavated at a hillfort at Woodborough two miles away and found there had been Roman occupation there too. In all there is an arc of nine Iron Age and Roman military sites with three villas and a Roman road within the area.
This was so fun to watch! Enjoy your questioning interpretations of the past, only way we revisit and learn....I'm NY 1962 Toms very British/Brazilian future wife MD
Difficult to get an idea of the scale of these amazing structures except by means of your excellent drone shots. Hillforts were probably adapted for purposes other than human settlements - including the making of military/other forms of 'hardware', such as domesrtic utensils. Was it possible that they might also have been used to protect vital livestock, including horses. Very interesting explore. Thank you.
There’s a little known hillfort on the stour river at west parley near Hengistbury..Great video on this subject and I’ve done a lot of research on Hengistbury as I love very near..In fact around this way there’s St.Catherines hill and Ramsdown next to it..By Ramsdown there is a man made slope that Neolithic and quite big..It has a Bronze Age barrow on it and it seems to connect up to both Ramsdown and St.Catherines..If you consider St.Catherines has both the Avon and Stour running past it and is the last high ground before both rivers meet at Christchurch it could be very meaningful to the people in our ancient history..There’s more about Ramsdown and it’s near man made slope I could write about but the comment will go on until Christmas..
Thank you again and all the very best with your research..
I live in Worthing, West Sussex and am close to Cissbury Ring (and Chanctonbury) which really dominates the skyline (I can see the site clearly from my upstairs window.) From so many points in Worthing - so many roads/thoroughfares it's visible and seems to be a marker to a route North. Whenever we trek up to Cissbury for a wander around we're struck by the incredible sightlines (in all directions!) and what a natural vantage spot it is, but also how, all year round, how inhospitable it is. It's so exposed to the elements and at times incredibly windy... anyone who lives in Worthing knows about the wind. I can't imagine any permanent occupation of the site. The trek to the top is pretty strenuous. Obviously the digs have uncovered extensive mining, and it must have held several roles over the years. Fascinating stuff though and the idea of these forts being 'safe passages' for trade etc really resonates. How fractured 'society' must have been back in these periods!
Thank you Paul, another fascinating video.
Glad you enjoyed it
As Catuvellauni I appreciate this excellent video. Hertfordshire born Hertfordshire bred strong in the arm but weak in the head!
Gerr off my Belgea Manor!
I think you were right to concentrate on doing content well rather than cranking out more.
This is wonderful stuff, well shot, edited and presented. People will be watching this decades later.
Thank you 😊
Very interesting Paul -I think we still have much to learn on Hillforts -How the harvested the basics of life and how they lived ,shrouded in mystery but dictated by the simplicity of trading , living and war -I have posted this on my FB history group -Thank you 👍👍
Surely these ditches were used for the collection and storage of water. for domestic use and to gravity feed there crops. I live on a rural property without access to town water. Water collection and storage is my number 1 priority. Surely it was the same for these people.
Very cool! Great editing, topic, & overall presentation. Super watchable.
Much appreciated!
You mentioned Barry Cunliffe: he was greatly involved in the excavations at Fishbourne Roman Palace, clearly a busy man!
Very interesting and informative. Thank you as always for all your research and enthusiasm. Great video and filming
Cricket arenas, presumably. Each team would wanna have a home field, which could explain the sheer amount of them and how close they are often located to each other. The ramparts were obviously to keep out anyone without a valid ticket. In regions without arenas the local folks were probably not fans of cricket all that much.
Really enjoyed that thanks Paul. Please take care
Thanks, you too!
Maybe these forts served a double function: A corral for livestock AND defendable position.
Crop Farming would happen on the low lying fields, where working the ground is easier and once per season farmers would drive the herds up the hill, from where they can't wander off into the fields. Over time ditches and berns get added to improve the enclosure and keep the livestock protected from would be raiders.
From there they can be herded to the next hill enclosure, probably lots of trading going on, too.
That makes a lot of sense. as place to ‘corral ‘ livestock at night,, but what about water and grazing beyond the top of the hill. Could they be UFO landing sites?
Really interesting. I used to live just behind Bury Hill fort, and as a kids and would spend hours playing there. It was very hidden away and not many people knew about it.
I went to Clayesmore School in Iwerne Minster and saw the very impressive Hambledon Hill every morning. I was young and very fit and even then, found assaulting those ramparts tough going and that was without defenders being aggressive and nasty to me. The entrance is steep enough by itself. To steal someone else's lines, Dorset is beautiful.
Very cool! Thank you.
Interesting topic, drew lots of contemplation from me. I often ponder why so much of life for our ancestors, whether habitat, industry or events, took place on the high ground. Other than the spectacular views of course. ;)
We've been exploring the Welsh countryside relentlessly since moving here a few years ago, and it seems like you can't take a hike without stumbling upon an earthwork, a hill fort or a cairn of some kind. Not so densely populated today perhaps, but throughout prehistory, most certainly.
Excellent really enjoyed it
Great video as usual.
Lots of time, effort, and distance has gone into this.
Interesting information that I didn't know about before.
Thank you again, Paul.
Another great episode! Thank you.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very interesting. As someone that enjoys walking the long distance National Trails, I like the idea of a series of iron age campsites along a well travelled route.
Unfortunately, I can't remember the last time I visited a hill fort that didn't have a golf course on top.
A golf course on a Hillfort!?
@@pwhitewickfor example Painswick Beacon. I don't think the iron age invented golf but there is a strong relationship in the Cotswolds.
A line of hillforts like that has me coming up with the fantasy that they might be to support a chain of signal fires, like the beacons in "Lord of the Rings" going from Minas Tirith to Edoras.
Excellent stuff.
Your videos are extremely well made and full of interesting material 👍🏻🏆
Thank you very much!
Great video as always.
Absolutely fascinating. So glad to have discovered this channel!
Welcome aboard!
Wow Paul what a doozy ! Amazing episode nice one !
Great video. Infomative and thought provoking.
Linking the hill forts as in a trade route makes a great deal of sense.
While normal use seems unlikely.
A couple of uses come to mind.
1 especially if they would have been with in sight distance.
Fire beacon that could be lit to inform the hills beyond. In the case of raids or other trouble.
I have no idea if smoke or other communication uses would have been used but these would have been possible.
2
Rallying points for defense and trade.
It makes sense to have a market in the shadow of one of these hill forts.
They act as way points.
If you look at how romans made maps and wrote directions a route like this through wooded terrain makes sense.
3
To support the above ideas.
The question is could the beacons / rally point be created without a built up area. Was the surrounding area heavily wooded making a high cleared point valuable?
4
Traders moving through the area could have stayed on or near the hillforts and used them to keep goods more secure.
Not all the people in the surrounding need to be at the point of sale so a representative could come and trade with goods stored at or near a hillfort spot.
.....
Eh.
It seems most likely though that these were slowly built up over time for several different purposes.
Then used to do more then there originally specified use later.
Or abandoned when no longer nessary.
Very interesting. Not many hill forts in the area I come from. But, ever thought doing a post about Scutchamer Knob?
I visited there a few months back actually. Needs to be part of a bigger story I feel.
Thanks so much for this film. I think you're right re the Route conjecture - the landscape screams it out loud really. I moved to Dorset 38 years ago now and have fallen in love with the county and it's history. Your films add to my knowledge and enthusiasm to learn more about the past and our predecessors.
Dudsbury Camp is said to be a hillfort on the same line between Badbury and Hengisbury. Lidar isn't very convincing, but it's right on the river so might have had a different use.
I'd Expect when "in Use" There was a clear line of sight between sites. As has been Mooted, Dudsbury.Also Cannon Hill plantation,at Colehill,which could see both Bradbury and Dudsbury.I live near Pamphill.Possibly itself a Hillfort, due to the Topography.
Very enjoyable, Paul. I think we have to remember that these were built at differing time periods and used for different things and we will keep finding new uses thanks to more archaeology.
in one day, 100k people clicked on this video about hill forts, thats awesome
I'm a simple person: I see a hillfort, I click.
The trundle overlooking the south coast and Goodworth is well worth a visit
A comment that has Nothing to do with this vlog/film/production (I have no idea what to call them these days as the production levels are no different to shows on the TV (That is a good thing 😁).
But as a loyal view I would like to wish you and the Lovely Rebecca a very happy anniversary, and many more to come. ❤
And I am sure many others do as well.
Well thanks.
I grew up in the shadow of Dolebury Warren hillfort. I loved the place as a boy, practically every free day I would be up there with my dog, reading, sketching, writing. It was my 'Rosebud' my parents moving house from Churchill to Teignmouth, wrenching me from the place. Very interestng!!!
Figsbury Rings? To me this looks like a racetrack. I mean, you've got all these chariots...
A good place for chariot racing.
Ignore the negative comments. I enjoyed seeing the countryside and hearing about the history. Thank you.
Thanks, very kind.
There are several hillforts here in Herefordshire.
I hope to have time one day
@@pwhitewickCome and look at "Caer Gworthigernus" on The Doward, and its sister/opponent fort at Yat Rock (Yaettelinde).
Here Gwrtheirin (Vortigern) supposedly died in flames in his tower - struck by lightning while besieged by Uther Pendragon. In the other fort, Erik Blutachse having landed in the Severn Estuary kidnapped a Bishop Camailgaret, was besieged by the King of Erging, and broke out to cross the Wye. He was ambushed at The Slaughter, and occupied Vortigern's old fort. There he was besieged but the king paid the ransom for Camailgaret, and the bloodied Erik left - later to return to Britain and take York.
The Iron Age forts along Offa's Dyke are often paired. Why? Is the border of Wales a fossilised boundary of a prehistoric country? And what of nearby Goodrich Castle? It is Norman - but it guarded Constantine's Ford (that's Custennin of Kernow, Arthur's saintly successor) so was this cliff-top Castle built to replace a hillfort which did the same on tbe route from Monmouth (Blestium) to Ross-on-Wye, where an undated tower was recently found at The Prospect?
Thanks for the view of Hambledon, btw. I lived on its slopes.
A heavy hit of nostalgia for me. I grew up around those hills.
Love this - one question- would landscape have been wooded at the time of construction
Not significantly no
Trees on hills decrease the amount of runoff. There would have been an increased need for charcoal from the Bronze Age onwards. Chopping down trees for charcoal for metal work increased run off from the hills and hence increased flooding in the winter and decreased the water table. A solution to this would be to dig ditches on the hills to catch the run off.
Thanks - so in theory had there been more trees then the water table would have been higher and hence the video about water in hill forts could be explained by wells where there is a higher water table than today.
@@archielatus If you had more trees then you would not need the ditches around the hills
Just also thought - could inhabitants have tapped into the water flow through the trees as the trees transpires and therefore have acquired water during the growing season which would also be the time of year when water would been needed most.
Very well made video. I was at the Badbury Rings a few years back. There's definitely a unique magic to the place.
Now my local hill fort has had very few finds on it, some iron age pottery and some roman...I'm currently exploring a field on the next hill over, probably just a bit over a mile from the hill fort and I'm finding a lot of iron age pottery in one area. Does rather make me wonder, given that I can find no information saying about iron age settlements etc, whether I've found something interesting. I'll keep looking and exploring, hopefully the oxfordshire finds experts can clue me in at some point as to whether there is potential for a dig on the site.
What's the Hillfort Matthew?
@@pwhitewick Badbury hill, known as Badbury camp, near a place called Faringdon. It's a lovely woodland known for it's bluebells.
Hengistware pottery has been found in Hillforts all over Uk James Dyer a befordshire teacher and Archeologit wrote some interesting books about Hillforts in which he comes to the same conclusion you have here, Cheers very interesting.
Tachbury mount hillfort would be worth a visit on the outskirts of Southampton
Oh wow... never heard of it!
It’s a really big hill fort with views right across Southampton being built on the highest ground around that way it takes about 15 mis to walk around it ( public footpaths) with massive ramparts still visible
Great video, detailed research, very interesting to see how my ancestors lived, love it. Please keep them coming.
Those earthworks must have required enormous manpower to construct.
Absolutely
While I don't disagree you'd be surprised at just how much mass you can move in a day with a shovel and a wheelbarrow!
Did they have wheelbarrows?
Still a lot of work