Uffington Castle is an early

Iron Age The Iron Age () is the final epoch of the three historical Metal Ages, after the Chalcolithic and Bronze Age. It has also been considered as the final age of the three-age division starting with prehistory (before recorded history) and progre ...

(with underlying

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

)

univallate hillfort A hillfort is a type of fortified refuge or defended settlement located to exploit a rise in elevation for defensive advantage. They are typical of the late European Bronze Age and Iron Age. Some were used in the post- Roman period. The fortif ...

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

, England. It covers about and is surrounded by two earth banks separated by a ditch with an entrance in the western end. A second entrance in the eastern end was apparently blocked up a few centuries after it was built. The original defensive ditch was V-shaped with a small box rampart in front and a larger one behind it. Timber posts stood on the ramparts. Later the ditch was deepened and the extra material dumped on top of the ramparts to increase their size. A parapet wall of

sarsen Sarsen stones are silicification, silicified sandstone blocks found extensively across southern England on the Salisbury Plain and the Marlborough Downs in Wiltshire; in Kent; and in smaller quantities in Berkshire, Essex, Oxfordshire, Dorset, an ...

stones lined the top of the innermost rampart. It is very close to the

Uffington White Horse The Uffington White Horse is a Prehistoric Britain, prehistoric hill figure, long, formed from deep trenches filled with crushed white chalk. The figure is situated on the upper slopes of Whitehorse Hill in the English civil parishes in En ...

on White Horse Hill.

Excavations

Excavations have indicated that it was probably built in the 8th or 7th century BCE and continued to be occupied throughout the Iron Age. Isolated

posthole This page is a glossary of archaeology, the study of the human past from material remains. A B C D E F ...

s were found inside the fort but no evidence of buildings. Pottery, loom weights and animal bone finds suggest some form of occupation however. The most activity appears to have been during the Roman period as the artefacts recovered from the upper fills of the ditch attest. The ramparts were remodelled to provide more entrances, and a shrine seems to have been built in the early 4th century CE. Two oblong mounds, one containing 46

Romano-British The Romano-British culture arose in Britain under the Roman Empire following the Roman conquest in AD 43 and the creation of the province of Britannia. It arose as a fusion of the imported Roman culture with that of the indigenous Britons, ...

burials and one containing eight Saxon burials, lie nearby.

The Ridgeway

An ancient track passes by the northern entrance to the hillfort; it is known as The Ridgeway. It links to the

Icknield Way The Icknield Way is an ancient trackway in southern and eastern England that runs from Norfolk to Wiltshire. It follows the chalk escarpment that includes the Berkshire Downs and Chiltern Hills. Background It is generally said to be, withi ...

at the Goring Gap, and passes close to

Avebury Avebury () is a Neolithic henge monument containing three stone circles, around the village of Avebury in Wiltshire, in south-west England. One of the best-known prehistoric sites in Britain, it contains the largest megalithic stone circle in ...

before heading south across

Salisbury Plain Salisbury Plain is a chalk plateau in southern England covering . It is part of a system of chalk downlands throughout eastern and southern England formed by the rocks of the Chalk Group and largely lies within the county of Wiltshire, but st ...

. It also passes very close to a Neolithic chambered long barrow, Waylands Smithy, about a mile to the west.

Protection

The hillfort is a

Scheduled Monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

, and was included in the

Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 The Ancient Monuments Protection Act 1882 ( 45 & 46 Vict. c. 73) was an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was introduced by John Lubbock, 1st Baron Avebury, recognising the need for a governmental administration on the protection ...

as one of the first 68 sites in Britain and Ireland to receive legal protection. Along with the

on the slopes below the ramparts, it is in the care of English Heritage. File:Uffington Castle - geograph.org.uk - 713182.jpg , Ditch and ramparts File:Whitehorse Hill - geograph.org.uk - 292571.jpg , Western side File:Uffington Castle - geograph.org.uk - 292746.jpg , Ditch and bank on the southeast side

References

External links

Ancient Britain – Uffington CastleYouTube – Uffington Castle Iron age hillfort
{{Iron Age hillforts in England Buildings and structures in Oxfordshire English Heritage sites in Oxfordshire Hill forts in Berkshire Vale of White Horse Tourist attractions in Oxfordshire Archaeological sites in Oxfordshire Scheduled monuments in Oxfordshire Bronze Age sites in Oxfordshire