Interested in hill forts?

[Captain Blood]

Very interesting article in today's Guardian:

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/jun/22/hillforts-uk-ireland-mapped-first-time-online-database-atlas

Comprehensive online atlas of all 4,147 identified hill forts in the British Isles to go live shortly... 

[Lowtardog]

I never realised there were so many, interesting article

[Mad Lord Snapcase]

Thanks for that link, indeed very interesting. When I worked in Dorchester I used to walk round the ramparts of Maiden Castle every lunchtime.

Now I'm in Devon I shall use this atlas to have a look at all the Devon hill forts, thanks Captain.

[Cubs]

For some reason they haven't included Barbury Castle in Wiltshire (just outside Wroughton near Swindon). We used to take the dog walking up there as kids. It was also great for sleighing down in those wonderfully snowy winters we got in the early 80's (luckily our car was one of the few that could get up the hill). Nice to see it looks like they've cleared out a lot of the gorse bushes and brambles in more recent years which choked it up a lot and prevented us seeing the shape of it properly.

[Jagannath]

Thanks for this link Captain - I've just discovered that there was a hillfort about 300 yards from my childhood home:

http://www.coflein.gov.uk/en/site/95308/details/dinas-camp

I had no idea!

[gostgost]

Interesting

[Clach Umha]

.

[Eoin OCnaimhsi]

I would say that this vastly under counts what could be included as "hillforts". Here in Ireland there are "Raths" every couple of Kilometres, mounds upon which some sort of human activity was carried out, probably settlement. The clue is often in the Gaelic placename, for example "Rathangan", "Rathmolyan", so the Hill fort of a certain famous person lost to history. I assume there may be a similar trend in the U.K, most probably Scotland anyway.

A Hillfort or Rath or something similar would be a great terrain project, if a little impractical for play.

[Mindenbrush]

Spent many a Sunday afternoon running around Badbury Rings or Spetsbury Rings as a kid, of turning blue when swimming off the pebble beach at Hengistbury Head.
Sometimes we don’t know what we have on our own doorsteps.

My son has just sent me pictures of him and his two boys exploring Greco-Roman ruins in Cyprus, I am sure they will remember that for years to come.

[Sir_Theo]

Great article.  I live very close to the Clwydians mentioned in the article. This is a photo I took on a walk last September traversing one of them, you can see the remnants of a rampart on the hill side of the path, and can appreciate its strategic value with its views over the Vale of Clwyd beyond.

[3Fingers2]

Spent many a Sunday afternoon running around Badbury Rings or Spetsbury Rings as a kid, of turning blue when swimming off the pebble beach at Hengistbury Head.
Sometimes we don’t know what we have on our own doorsteps.

My son has just sent me pictures of him and his two boys exploring Greco-Roman ruins in Cyprus, I am sure they will remember that for years to come.

Grew up just 8 mile from Blandford